Thursday Night Fun!

really. I just spent the last hour and a half doing homework. but the great news.... I don't have anymore until next tuesday!!! well, a little reading....but no papers. I feel good about school this time around. I am really going to try to stay on top of it all and make sure my times is well spent... but defintely make sure i have a good healthy balance of play and serious time. Tonight worked out well with Jeremy having band practice, I've got a nice quiet time to focus.

enough of the boring stuff. life group last night was AMAZING. this _Love and Respect_ seriously, i really don't know where to begin. God was totally there last night and really speaking to all of us. After the Hayes' and the Metz's left, the boys continued to engage in conversation about how they want to learn to be the leaders in their marriages... it was really a treat to listen to them discuss how they're going to have guy time and really dig into this issue. I really feel like Jeremy and I connected last night spiritually...its so funny how you normally wouldn't say things to your spouse, but when in you're in a group of trusted friends, its SO easy:) needless to say, I am learning SO much each week that passes..our marriage is only getting better and better... today even, when I got home from work, God put in on my heart to clean up the house a little, especially the living room where my honey likes to relax after work, for Jeremy. and it felt wonderful cleaning with someone else in mind...which makes me wonder if I clean with the wrong motivations or intent...is that possible? or does that even make sense?

some good news............... i sorta got my wish with working 1/2 days on Sundays. starting in a couple weeks I'll be working 5:30-10:30 Sunday mornings. A total blessing but I was really hoping to be home by 10 so Jeremy and I could go to church with our friends at The Door. I'm going to be patient though and just keep praying-God totally got me hooked up on this and I belive He can do it again!

good news #2: I found out that I actually qualified for a grant after all!! I forget what its called, but honestly, does it matter??? I'm getting free money for school! If I remember right the max is 2G's...so hopefully God will bless us with that amount because then I know we wouldn't have any out of pocket expenses.

good news #3: almost all of my classes from Shasta transfered to UoP! *sweet* so pretty much I have one Math class to take and then the rest will all be towards my actual BA! *whoohoo* I was so thankful to hear that!!

Tonight's dinner was quite tasty.. it was "Tex-Mex Corn Chip Chili" from the latest Rachael Ray... seriously.. so good. check out how easy....

all you need:

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

1/2 of a sweet onion chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

1 tbs. chili powder

1tsp cumin

1 can each: black beans, pinto beans, and diced tomatoes w/green chiles

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cups shredded pepperjack

a bag of Fritos!

ok..brown your meat in some EVOO(say 2 turns of the pan).... for about 7 minutes, then throw in your onion, garlic, chili powder, and cumin cook another 5 minutes on medium-low heat. add your beans(with their liquid) & tomatoes and bring it to a simmer. Let cook about 15 minutes..stirring every now and again until its nice and thick.... throw in your cilantro and stir, then top with your cheese. Cover and let rest about 5 minutes until cheese melts. Best part: put a handful of Fritos in each bowl then top with chili. DE-licious! probably would've been even better with a nice cold Pacifico but I didn't think that far ahead..

I did though enjoy a nice Horchata Latte tonight. *YES* only the Junebugs will know what I'm talking about. and yes my little Junebugs, it was incredible. Maybe my new favorite. On that note...I'll leave you with another hilarious picture that my sister sent me... I seriously think she must check this site every day for new pictures!! good stuff!

bleh.

work today. Poppy. one of those days i was just tempted to clock out and walk out those doors. never to return. Its hard when you've worked somewhere as long as I have... I've got all these "ties" to my work.. they're like my second family...and i feel like I'm being taken advantage of..but if i do anything, I'll be betraying them. bleh. someone please give me a million dollars so i won't have to work anymore. seriously, is that too much to ask? all i want is one 1/2 of a day off so i can spend some time with my husband and go to church with him.. like normal married couples do. but no. bullshit. excuse my language, but I'm in a sour mood right now.
good news. i got my new Cooking Light in the mail yesterday.. new inspiration! *yes* that means my new Light and Tasty will be coming in the next week and then the new Rachael Ray! i love my cooking magazines!! and hey, if you ever want to borrow any of them..just let me know-i love to recycle my old mags instead of throwing them out!
its been weird lately, hearing everyone talk about a "recession."... wondering if its really going to happen. business is slow everywhere. hours getting cut. i wonder what the economy is going to look like in the next year. such a weird time to be in your mid-20's. houses are dirt cheap right now..but Jeremy and i still couldn't afford our mortgage. last year we pulled in just under 40G's and yet, we make TOO much money to get any financial aid when it comes to school. i just don't get it. sometimes i feel like the people that don't work as hard as i do, have it better. .. . but that's not entirely true. i hate money. I've really decided that. i wish we lived in a society where you didn't have to have money.. if you needed to "buy" sometime, you'd trade a service... like cleaning their house. or changing the oil in their car. you know what i mean? money just complicates things and makes us selfish. sometimes i don't think living in America all its cracked up to be either, but that's a whole different story.
my mind is full these days. of all sorts of things. just curious. just dreaming.
we made tacos last night. just plain old tacos. nothing gourmet about it, and shoot we're they good!:) Jeremy even fried the tortillas for our taco shells. he looked SO cute in my flowery apron:)!! love it!
anyway. I'm starting school today. pretty excited about it. give me a little something more to do than work. . . .
well, I'm going to make some pizza sauce for pizza tonight.. . heading over to Jonesy's to watch Rob&Big.. our new Tuesday night tradition.

stormy sunday............siesta.

just got home from work.. its CRAZY windy outside. plus the stupid, giant, palm tree outside our apartment makes it sound really windy. nice to be home.. its so hard to work when its all rainy and what not..but then again its hard to work when its sunny. hhmm. work was fine today, went by fast and i got tons accomplished. i like those days.
so i start school tomorrow. craziness. I'm excited though...it's about damn time i got my butt in gear.. my mom, so cute, called me and asked what she could get me as far as school supplies go:) she didn't really understand that it truly was all online:) I'm sure she'll still send me something, my mom is cute like that.
OK..so those shredded beef sandwiches were amazing!! and oh-so-crock-pot-easy. seriously..check this out.. get a 2lb chuck roast, 2 onions, regular cola, wortchestire sauce, garlic, red pepper, chili powder, beef bouillon granules and ground mustard.oh, and some ketchup. okay.. chop up your onions (or slice...its all in how you dice it! ) :) ...and put 'em in the bottom of your crock pot.. cut your roast in 1/2 and brown in a couple turns of the pan of EVOO on all sides... don't cook it-just brown it. this locks in the flavor when you're crock-potting. okay..so then you put your roast in atop the onions..next, in a bowl mix together, 3/4 cup cola, 1/4 cup wort. sauce, 2 cloves minced garlic (once again, fresh is always best!), 1 tsp beef bouillon, 1/2 tsp red pepper and chili powder, 1 tsp ground mustard..once again-just eyeball your seasonings.. so much easier than getting all your little measuring spoons out..i save that for when i bake! anyway, so then you pour 1/2 of the "sauce" over the roast.. works out to be like 1/2 a cup i think.. put yer lid on and cook for approx 8-10 hours on low. mine was done in 7 1/2, but just check it about then and see if its tender enough to shred. so you pull your meat out and let it cool so you can shred it(with 2 forks.) strain your onions, discarding the liquid. return onions and shredded meat back to pan.. in a small saucepan combine the rest of your sauce and 1/2 cup ketchup..heat through then stir into onions & meat. You can use hoagie rolls or kaiser rolls..or really any kind of roll you'd like..but i don't recommend cinnamon rolls. that'd be just gross. anyway-super easy meal and DE-licious! jeremy and i sprinkled a little cheese on top and he had some Fat Daddy's BBQ sauce on his.. i thought it was good w/o anything extra though. a 5 star in both our books!
so there you go. a little inspiration for a dinner night this week. take it easy kids. i think its time for my siesta before the stirring...

success? not quite.

lunch was delicious. san francisco deli...can't go wrong. jeremy seemed pretty tired at lunch, not saying much... which I've learned (through love and respect) is okay to be quiet sometimes:) Doesn't mean anything is wrong, just that he's tired:).... so we said goodbye and i focused myself on finding some black pants for work. well I made it to TJMaxx.... and ended up leaving with another tanktop (am i ready for summer or what?!?!) and something... cute for jeremy:) teehee. no pants. i think i'll make my sister go shopping with me tomorrow... i always do better when she's around. Plus we normally make the WinCo trip together on Saturday mornings..that place is not quite so daunting when you have someone with you:) well.... time to go switch the laundry over...ah the beauties of living in a 45 unit apartment complex with only 4 washers and dryers!! there was a note on one of the washers that said "Don't touch my laundry, I don't touch yours." so what did I do.... lifted the lid to see if there was anything in there. boy clothes. hilarious.

one of THOSE mornings.

jeremy is probably glad he was at work this morning when I was getting ready for the day.. it was one those mornings, I hated everything I put on. seriously. Everything. i felt better in my tanktop and chonies. but its kinda frowned upon to leave your house in just your skivvies. stupid. just went to ross to try on some clothes. out of 8 i got 1... tanktop. i'm seriously the worst at clothes shopping. i need to live somewhere its okay to just wear a tanktop, long shorts or jeans, and flip flops. that's what i'm most comfortable in.
anyway, its my saturday..and a gorgeous day. i'm going to meet jeremy for lunch in a few... think I'll go to San Francisco Deli and pick up a tri-tip sandwich... been a while. then off to macy's i think and tjmaxx.. gotta find some work pants. damn black pants. can't i just wear jeans!?!?! Seriously!!
oh.. by the way.. last nights dinner was 3 stars from jeremy.. only 2 from me. *blah* oh well. happens every once in a while:)

dreams. its what we're made of.

i have an incredible life group. seriously. last night, SO inspiring. First of all, love and respect has completely changed my way of dealing with relationships, not just with my husband. (although I really do see Jeremy in a whole new light and love him even more. The Borgic's are some of the best hosts I know. They are such a kind family, there house is always comfortable, and you can always rely on the two of them for good laugh. anyway... towards the end of group, andrew brought up some questions about dreams... and how from the stirring how we are going to bring Heaven on Earth...in tangible ways. I'm such a dreamer, I had a hard time not "spiderwebbing" to all my different dreams:) But just listening to Aaron talk about the school he teaches at and the students he has was all very inspiring. Our group got pretty pumped about helping out Cypress Elementary..and I can't wait for our first annual June-bug's Cypress Sand-down :) love it! It is just completely such an incredible feeling when you can grasp on to the dream that God has for you, such power. I really felt insprired though, since i'm pursuing my teaching degree. I cannot wait till I can impact these children in a positive way... I can't wait to love on them... it will be amazing.
today is my friday. just got home from work an hour ago. its pouring outside and I love it! Got home and threw some Lentils and Turkey Sausage in the crockpot for dinner tonight. I'm super excited about this meal because I love lentils....but I've never cooked the b/c I figured Jeremy wouldn't like them at all... he's always surprising me! Anyway, we were over at our good friends, The Harrison's, a few weeks ago and Kelly made this really yummy Morrocan dish with lentils and Jeremy LOVED it! Crazy! So anyway..... I'll keep you posted on how many stars I get:)
Last night I ended up making Pasta with a Chickpea Garlic Sauce. Super yummy. Another 5 star:) It was good, very garlicky..but nice b/c there was no meat involved...I try to cook vegetarian one night a week... Just to keep it healthy:) I've really been feeling the baking too. Tuesday I made Hot Buttered Rum Quick Bread (delicious..and a good excuse to buy yourself some rum:).... I swear, I only use it for baking. . . . Last night i made some Banana Crumb Muffins to take to life group. They were Ok.. not my best..but I think that's b/c i opted for no nuts, not being sure of our friends preferences..... Tomorrow till be Shredded Beef Sandwiches.. I kinda forgot to put the roast in the crockpot yesterday morning..but that's what happens when you work at 5 in the am! I think I'll try making some more sourdough this weekend..hopefully my starter is getting nice and sour. The bread last week was really good..just not as sour as jeremy and I like it.
Tonight will be menu planning night.... Jeremy has band practice tonight... so I won't feel bad burying my nose in cookbooks for a couple hours:) .... I should probably go shower. Lately I've been feeling quite hippy..only showering every 3 days. gross. but hey, I'm conserving water, which is a good thing.

Tuesday afternoon with the Captian.

well well well.. looks my little dinner post went over quite well, eh? good:) i'm glad i could inspire some of you lovely ladies... and seriously, rosetta, when i was typing that up, i felt like i was on my very own cooking show:) love it!
so its raining out. smells absolutely marvelous. i'm actually kind of glad its raining out because i've been having a really hard time believing the groundhoug saw his shadow. Good ole puxatawny pete. pete? or phil? whatever, its just a silly groundhoug.
just got home from work a little while ago. enjoying the quiet home for a short while until jeremy comes home. we're so very lucky to have similar schedules. seriously. i couldn't imagine if one of us had to work evenings or whatever. now if only i didn't have to work at the crack of dawn we'd be talkin!
do you love this picture? holy crap. another one that my sister sent me. love you jilly! we tend to like the captain. me and the captain, makin' it happen!. :)
We're heading over to our friend Jonesy's house tonight. should be fun. He's selling his house and I look at it every day on craigslist to see if he's dropped the price anymore:) dreaming. keep dreaming. anyway, we're going over there, gonna eat some grub. have a glass of wine. watch some show called "Rob&Big" .... i've never even heard of it but Jonesy gave me the guarrantee we'd be laughing.. so i'll let you know.
so no dinner posts tonight, sorry girls. but look forward to tomorrow's Shredded Beef Sandwiches (love the crockpot in the middle of the week!!) and Banana Crumb Muffins. (yes Rosetta, these will be for L&R :)

grub 2.18

I decided i'd post dinners i've made..especially ones that turn out and jeremy likes:) Tonight was a five star. You see, I made Jeremy rate my dishes with stars. 1 star being, gross, I can't even eat this sh*t. 2 stars being, this is okay, but i'm only eating it so you won't cry. 3 stars, this is good, but I really wouldn't care if you made it again. 4 starts, oh, now this is nice, you could make this again. 5 stars, WOW, amazing, make this again or i'll die. yea, that pretty much sums it up.

anyway..tonight was Cuban Chicken Pizza. Delicious and easy. All you need... a rotisserrie chicken (seriously, makes cooking dinner quick and easy), shredded. one 11 oz. can corn, drained (or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed.) 1/2 tsp. cumin seed (eyeball it like Rachael Ray says!!-seriously, who needs measuring spoons!!) 1 can black beans, rinsed & drained. 1 clove garlic, minced. 1 lime(i know you're tempted to skip this, but don't, it really throws in alotta flavor). 1 cup grated pepperjack cheese. 4 8-inch flour tortillas. some fresh cilantro chopped up.

so here you go. preheat the ole oven to about 350. coat your baking pans with cooking spray. bake tortillas in oven for about 10 minutes until brown and crispy on the edges. in the meantime.... coat your large skillet with nonstick cooking spray... and "char" your corn for about 5 minutes...toss in your cumin seeds and stir for about 30 seconds to "toast" them seeds. Add in your beans, garlic, and chicken and cook another 2 minutes or so until heated through. remove from heat and squeeze in fresh lime juice....and stir.

Your tortillas are probably all crispy now *yum*. stack and press down to flatten tortillas (they get a little puffy in the cooker).... spoon about 1 cup on each "pizza" and then top with as much cheese as you like... pop in the cooker for about 2 minutes until cheese is melty, then throw on some cilantro. waaaa-laaaaaa. jeremy threw on some Tapatio on his....i thought it was fine on its own:)

anyway..that's all for tonight.

ps... i wish i could say i came up with this on my own..but my inspiration came from an old cooking light my mom had from 2004. i'm going vintage with my cooking...:)

sharing means caring.

jeremy is going to crack up when he sees that i have a blogspot. i think i created this back in november..and until he started his, had completely forgotten about it. maybe i will be able to end my love-hate-relationship with myspace one of these days. yes yes. maybe i will. just a quick note to say hello.

my sister sent me this picture this morning. when we were little we used to share the toilet kinda like this too. weird i know. you do weird things with your best friend though..