Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day!

I was excited for Louie to take the cupcakes to work, truthfully, I hoped they would make it to his work in one piece. Luckily, they did, and were a hit. I was glad. He also took a ton of avocados to work as well today. Seeing that we have, oh, SEVEN trees it doesn't hurt to have more people to give some avocados to!

While Louie was at work, I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. More than I normally do in one day, I wanted the house to be perfect when he got home. The plan was to surprise him with dinner on the table, BUT, my crock pot didn't cook the soup quick enough (boo!). But we'll get to that in a minute.

So I didn't decorate for Valentines Day this year (gasp!, I know) but since the plan was to surprise him with dinner I wanted to have the table decorated. So I went downstairs to fish out a few of my favorites to put on the table. After I decorated the table I was finishing up the dishes and something made me want to look under the sink. I honestly don't remember why or what made me want to look down there, I don't recall looking for something specific and as I opened the cabinet water was spraying out of the pipe. For a good few seconds I freaked out, I didn't have Louie here to yell for to fix the problem so I knew for the first time, I had to fix it. Silly, I know, but I never have had to with my dad around when i was young, and my husband generally around all the time. So I collected myself and realized I should turn the water off. The issue really wasn't a big deal, but I was proud of myself for doing it none the less! So anyway, I got the rest of the house done, and I noticed it was almost time for Louie to get off work, I go to the crock pot and realize it isn't done. The recipe (which i will post in the bottom of this) calls for 4-6 hours. It definitely needed to go for six, and I only planned for four. I was bummed, but its okay.

Louie came home and surprised me with chocolates (which is exactly all I wanted this year). We had a nice dinner.

All in all, it was a great Valentines Day. How was your Valentines Day??

Here are some pictures...














Here is the recipe for the soup:

Fajita Soup-
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of garlic (or more if you love garlic like me)
1 cup corn (if you do frozen, make sure it is thawed)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5 can of diced tomatoes with liquid
1 tablespoon chili powder
Cayenne pepper if you like spice
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Put in slow cooker and cook 4-6 hours. Mine took 6 hours.




Put into bowls, and top with Monterey cheese, then melt in broiler. Bowls will be VERY hot!



If wanted, add a little sour cream (sour cream always makes it better!)

Day before Valentines Day

So tomorrow is Valentine's Day! We have never been huge Valentines Day fans, we always celebrate but we don't make a huge deal out of it. A few times we have gone out, 2 years ago Hubby went ALL out with a fancy resturant, tons of roses, and a pearl necklace I love, but I don't need that every year. So this year with money tight, I wanted to do something special at home. I thought I would make some cupcakes to start, for Louie and his office. I have never claimed to be a very good baker, I can cook, but baking is a whole other ball game. But even I was surprised at how cute they turned out. For me, anyway. :)

I also make Louies lunch every day for work. I have this little press out for sandwiches that cuts off the crust of bread into desgins, and it cuts the sandwich into two hearts. So I did that for his sandwich, and to keep with the red/pink thing I also packed him some dried cranberries. To go inside his lunch I made a little homemade valentine as well. I went and found a cute little vintage valentine picture and made my own little valentine with my picture editing program. Then I glued it on some red scrapbook paper, and used a cute little red and white ribbon to tie it together. Hopefully he likes it!

Here are some pictures!

Open Face Meatball Sandwiches

So I made this recipe before deciding to get back into blogging so I have no pictures for this, BUT I will be making this again because we really enjoyed it so when I do I will try to remember to take some pictures. Now on to the recipe!

Open Faced Meatball Sandwiches:

Prep: 5 Minutes
Cook: 6 Hours

*24 frozen cooked Italian Style meatballs, Thawed (I used Trader Joes frozen meatballs, I used LESS than 24 since its just the two of us)
*1 jar of favorite pasta sauce (I used Trader Joes Tomato Basil)
*1 14.5 oz Italian style diced tomato's
*1 5.5 spicy tomato juice (v8 has some, I didn't use it this time, I added just a splash of water instead)
*Hoagie Rolls, split and toasted (or you can just pop them in the microwave a bit)
*Shredded Mozzarella Cheese to top


Combine first 4 ingredients in slow cooker.
Cover and cook on high for ONE hour. Reduce heat to LOW, and cook for around 4-5 hours. Mine only took four, or even a little less, just make sure sauce is slightly thickened. Spoon mixture evenly into rolls and top with cheese.

Enjoy!

So funny!

A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I had to share. SO funny. My husband and I were cracking up.

Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Soup

So I don't have a picture for this recipe, from now on when I post recipes I am going to try to take a picture of them to go along with the recipes, but this one was SO good I had to share it tonight. If you don't have a crockpot you MUST go get one! I love them. They are so easy! Especially for a busy lifestyle or if you aren't a fan of cooking they are great to have. And did I mention how EASY they are? :)

5 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 garlic cloves roughly chopped (or a few more if you love garlic like me)
1 onion chopped
2 14oz cans of chicken broth
2 cups diced cooked ham (I use the thick ham steaks)
1 1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets
Salt
Pepper
2 Cups whipping cream
2 cups Cheddar Cheese

*Combine the first 8 ingredients in at least a 5 qt slow cooker.
*Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours (mine only took six) or until the potatoes are tender.
*Process half of the soup in a food processor until smooth.
*Add puree, whipping cream and cheese back into the crockpot and combine well.

If its too cool for you, you can leave it in the crock pot on low for an additional 30 minutes, but I found that it was perfect to serve right away.

Serve with desired toppings, I just added a little cheese.

My husband LOVED it!

Fast forward 5 months!

Why hello! Haven't posted much in 5 months! Quite a bit has changed!

Louie got a job!!!!! Since this is public, I won't say where, but its been such a BLESSING. The people are great, and the job is great. He loves it. It is pretty close to our home as well, so no commute which is great. He really can see himself working there for a very long time, so we pray that over time opportunities for him to advance will come about. We are so thankful!

As for me, I went back to school to finish up my child development classes. After this semester I should be able to apply for a permit to work within childcare which is great. I am really enjoying school, and being home to be a housewife. Life is pretty good at the moment. :)

We have also discovered Dave Ramsey who has pretty much saved our (financial) life. He is a Godsend to us. We have been following his Total Money Makeover plan and loving it. We should be debt free by the fall. I will vouch to say we will NEVER EVER use credit cards again! No new cars ever again! The buyer is slave to the lender and we will never be slaves again. With the exception of a home, whenever we buy our first home since now that we live at my Grandmas home since shes passed, the how is paid off so there is no mortgage to worry about currently.

I have also gotten back on track with weight loss again. I hate having to say that! lol! But I have, and I hope to stick with it THIS time. The holidays really threw me off, but I have lost about 25 pounds total.

Which leads into baby making! Now that Louie has gotten a job, and we will be getting insurance again shortly, and our debt will be paid off, we are going to be getting back to trying to conceive in the next few months. Well, probably more than just a few months, our goal is to be pregnant BY the end of the year. In the mean time we want to pay off our debt and loose weight while we wait until around the end of summer to start really trying. My dad turned 70 this past January, I refuse to wait much longer. My parents are the most important people in our lives, and I want my child to KNOW them, to really KNOW them. Not to mention, I have been dreaming of becoming a mother for years, and years. I am ready. My husband is ready. So that's exciting.

I was thinking of doing some posts about cooking as well. We never eat out, I'm always cooking so I figured maybe I would do posts about some of the meals I make, along with the recipes. We'll see. It was actually my husbands idea. :)

This past weekend I chopped my hair off also. Which was great! I wish I would have done it years ago! I mean its still to my shoulders, but it was around the middle of my back before, so that's a lot of hair to me!

2010 wasn't a very great year for us, and already 2011 has been great. We are in a very good place in our lives and the only thing better would be to add a little addition to our family which HOPEFULLY will not be too far off into the horizon.

Update

So I haven't done too well with this now have I?

Lets see, well since I last blogged I was in the process of working at my DREAM location (The Queen Mary). After going 4 times, wasting almost 2 tanks of gas, I never got a call back. Discouraging FOR SURE. BUT, finding out how much gas and time it takes to get there, not to mention the pay wasn't that great, it probably ended up being for the best. But I am a little bummed. It would be amazing to work on the ship. Maybe down the road a better position there will pop up, if we live closer. Louie STILL hasn't heard from TSA. He finished all he has to do, and now its just the waiting game. He's so anxious and wants this so badly.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago! I had a great day. My family all drove down to my moms, and we went to lunch at my favorite restaurant. Before lunch though my parents surprised us all that they bought a new house! I LOVE IT! I'm so excited. My parents have a horse boarding facility, so they are renting the house to a client to take care of the every day duties like feeding and whatnot, so my parents now that my dad is retired have the ability to go on vacations and whatnot. My mom *of course* will still be there every day though. We have spent the past week helping them move. I love the house. Its great. I can't wait until they are settled and we can go spend a few days there. Fingers crossed my Dad caves and puts in a pool!! Wishful thinking lol.

My brother also moved in with us, he hasn't been here much so there isn't that much of an adjustment yet, the kids will be staying here about every other week (switching off with the soon to be ex wife), and I will be taking the kids to school and what not to help my brother out since he doesn't get home from work until 6:30ish. Theres been some issues because of my ex sister in law. But a public blog isn't really the place to get into ALL of that drama lol.

While the kids were here last week, they have the southern california disneyland annual passes, so they were blocked most of the summer. Well the past Monday their passes were finally good again so Louie and I decided to surprise them. We decided to tell them we had to run an errand first thing the next morning. Come monday morning they wanted to know where we were going. We decided to make up a cheesy story about how we have to go see an exterminator because we had a MOUSE problem. haha!! The kids were kinda interested hoping they would get to see some bugs and stuff, so about a block away from Disneyland Louie stopped to get some gas, he took the kids inside to get a drink, and while they were inside I set up the video camera on the dashboard so we could film their reaction. When they got back in Louie said "hey guys, maybe we should go ask the Mice's cousin what to do about the problem" and they asked who that was and Louie told them Mickey Mouse, and they laughed lol. So I asked Alyssa "Alyssa do you know what that means?" and she said "yeah cause of the mice" and I told her "No, that means we're going to Disneyland, we were never going to see an exterminator, we wanted to surprise you, we are on our way there right now!" and the look on her face was priceless, and she goes "RIGHT NOW?!...your the best aunt EVER!" It was adorable. We all had a great time. Of course it was like 100 degrees that day which wasn't fun but kids seem to not even notice the heat lol.

Other than that, things are kinda same old same old over here. :)