Menu Monday 9/30

 

Monday

Working hard for the money. I am on a Panera soup kick. Broccoli and Cheddar, hands down. 

Today is actually going to be super crazy, I got rear ended about a month ago and after hassling with insurances I am finally able to get her fixed up. So after job 1 and before job 2 I have to play switch a roo with my car and the rental car I will be rocking the next two weeks!

Tuesday
Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
I just found this blog, and I am in love. I wish the calorie counts were listed, but I took the liberty of doing that myself. I really am a giver. Check me out on myfitnesspal.com to get them!

Wednesday
Slow Cooker Creamy Ranch Pork Chops
Another recipe from the same site, I really am hoping for big things!

Thursday
 Leftovers. womp-womp.

Friday
Dinner Out

Saturday 
Heading to Lincoln to see the Huskers in action. Going to be hanging out with 90,000 of Dan's closest friends.

Sunday
Dinner Out/On the Road


With it being almost October I am on a mission to get my eating and drinking under control. I haven't been feeling like myself lately and I think it has a lot to do with my poor eating habits and lack of working out. I am going to challenge myself to work out Monday-Friday this week, and remain as active as possible this weekend. I will let you know how it goes on Monday.

Tailgate Food

I love a good tailgate. Who doesn't?

I mean good food, good drinks, good friends, what could be better? Oh yeah, sometimes I attend the game. Here are some of my favorite tailgate foods!

One of my favorite things to bring with us to a tailgate are dips. They are usually pretty easy to whip up and throw into a disposable pan. Grab some chips and viola!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This dip is just a classic. You can't go wrong with a good Buffalo Dip and it is so easy as well.This is one of those that the ingredients are so bad for you, it just has to be wonderful!

 Loaded Baked Potato Dip

I always am so proud of this dip when I make it. I love to have people guess the ingredients and they always guess wrong. You would never believe that there is no potato in the dip, and it is so quick to throw together in a pinch. Dan usually gets kettle cooked potato chips to eat with this dip, while I prefer the ruffles, I am a traditionalist what can I say?

Jalapeno Poppers

Another one of my go-tos. The thing I don't like about it is that it is hard to travel, not making it ideal for tailgating, I prefer it for a gathering in a home. 

On the same page as jalapeno poppers, Skinny Taste has an awesome recipe for Jalapeno Popper Chicken, it is a bit labor intensive, but delicious!

I am also curious about this dip, has anyone tried it?

Jalapeno Popper Dip

 

I am pretty boring, but what  can I say I like the classics. What are your favorite tailgate foods?

Cause I'm Crafty

Well not really, but I have recently turned two Pinterest projects into reality.

I am working on a rather large gallery wall on the landing leading down to the basement. It is turning into quite the little undertaking. I had been seeing little projects like these all over Pinterest and knew I had to make a set for Dan and I. It is hard to find things that are cutesy and personalized without being cheesy.

(inspiration)

First thing I did was find some clip art of Nebraska and Kansas and print it off to the size I wanted. I literally just googled "state outlines" and came up with this website.

First I traced over the state outlines as hard as I could in pencil on the backside of the outline.

I laid the backside that I just traced down on top of a piece of card stock with the printed outline facing me. After I made sure everything was where I wanted it I traced directly over the printed outline, again as hard as I could with pencil.

When I was done it left me with a nice pencil outline to cut out. Then all I did was get some cute scrapbook paper and some frames from the store and put it all together.

(reality)

Dan so nicely pointed out to me that Nebraska isn't exactly to scale compared to Kansas. It was an honest mistake, I swear :)

Next project was super as simple as well. I knew I wanted to chalkboard paint some pots to eventually plant herbs in. All I did was buy the pots and the chalkboard spray paint. It took about three coats to get it nice and even. In hindsight I probably would have purchased chalkboard paint instead of spray paint, but it worked either way.

(inspiration)

Here is what mine look like. I do not have anything planted in them yet. We are wanting to get them already grown and it is proving a little difficult to find. 

(reality)

Have you been working on any projects lately?

Menu Monday 9/23

Whew, what a fun weekend! I have a definite love/hate relationship with weekends. I love getting to relax, be with friends and family and have some time to do what I want to do, but I hate how I eat and drink all weekend. I know that I am in control of that, but it is just so hard. Oh well, here's the menu for the week!

Monday:
Work Night

Tuesday:
Crock Pot Pesto Chicken
I think we are going to rock it exactly like the picture showed and get some mashed potatoes and salad. If you can stand eating instant mashed potatoes we really enjoy the Idahoan single serve potatoes. They are relatively inexpensive and help you keep your servings in check.

Wednesday
Banging Good Shrimp Tacos
This recipe is adapted from Skinny Taste. Instead of doing the mixture she suggests, we just use a package of broccoli slaw from the store, some corn tortillas and make tacos! This is one of our favorite recipes, we haven't had it in awhile so I am pretty excited!

Thursday
Baked Chicken Taquitos
I am trying to be better about using ingredients for multiple recipes instead of letting things go to waste. This recipe uses the tortillas and chicken broth from earlier in the week, and I already have the chicken on hand.

Friday
Another Concert. I promise I am not as cool as I sound on paper.

Saturday
Waldo Pizza
Yum.


Sunday
The plan is to grab some meat from the store and grill out. We do not grill out nearly as much as we should. It is so easy to throw on some extras to eat for the rest of the week and as long as you do not get crazy with the toppings it is healthy. We love throwing veggies on the grill as well. We will check out what is on sale and go from there.

Five on Friday

I am joining bloggers from all over to link up and share Five on Friday.

(one)

Learning to make sushi was such a fun experience. It was so good and it was so fun making it, I couldn't stop eating. It didn't help that my friend is one of the best hostess' ever and had cookies and mimosas waiting for us. She also has an adorable foster puppy. I am trying to be a mature adult and remember that a puppy is just not in the cards for us right now, but look that that face.

(two)
Hobby Lobby and their 50% off sales are awesome. Bad for my checkbook, but awesome. (This guy is pretty awesome as well) I am working on a gallery wall that uses a lot of the printables from yesterdays post and I am very excited about how things are progressing!

(three)
It is Boy Scout popcorn time! I made the mistake of telling one of the kids at work I would order from him, and it may have opened the flood gates. I already ordered the white chocolate popcorn, but Dan is wanting to try one of the more manly types. I understand that its for the children, but the prices are a little ridiculous, It is popcorn for goodness sakes!

(four)

I had the best salad bar salad in a long time. A little known fact about me is I love pasta. Like a lot. So when I am at a salad bar it is really hard not to get all of those yummy pasta salads. I usually just pick one and add that to my salad instead of dressing. I get my pasta and it works as a dressing, win win.
Speaking of food, Menu Monday was a success.  Easy Enchilada Casserole was AMAZING, and so so easy. Like run and make it tonight good. It is not the prettiest of meals, check out my instagram pic, but it was delicious! The Crock Pot meal was alright, nothing I would rush to make again, but not bad. Dan had some tweaks he would make for next time, mostly making it too hot for me to eat, so we will see how that goes.

(five)

Got a haircut, tailgating in the parking lot, and seeing Mumford and Sons and since the weather is chilly I finally had the excuse I needed to purchase this jacket I have been wanting. Best Friday Ever!

At  least until next Friday when we hit up another show!

 

Pinterest Finds -- Printables

One of the first things I did when thinking of ways to decorate our new home was to look on Pinterest for free ideas.

I love free.

I kept coming across all of these awesome printables! I printed them on card stock, with a normal ink printer, but a lot of the creators recommend printing them off at an Office store.

Not Free.

Here are my five favorite printables! (Say that five times fast)
Is printable even a word? My spell check thinks not.



Source: http://smittenonpaper.com/blog/
This is a super neat site, with a TON of freebies of all kinds.

Source: http://annapolisandcompany.com/2013/04/the-roost-tribe/



Source: http://www.kristen-victoria.com/2013/02/freebie-valentines-printable.html

Try not to sing the song in your head. I dare you.

Source: http://thegraphicsfairy.com/vintage-clip-art-cute-glass-mason-jar-label/

The Graphics Fairy is a HUGE database of free printables, a lot of them vintage looking. Once you start you can't stop.

Source: http://burlapandblue.com/2013/02/05/50-fabulous-printables-for-home/
Had to add a bicycle one!

Click on this link for sure -- it links you to 50 other great free prints!

What are some of your favorite free Pinterest finds?

Bathroom Update #1

Like I said before the master bath is project #1 in our home. The previous owners did nothing, NOTHING, in the way of updating this room since roughly 1914. I kid, kinda.

When we went on a home tour the lovely real estate agent informed us that there was a brand spankin' new vanity located in our garage. The owners did not have the funds or the time to have it installed, but it would be staying with the house. Bad Juju lights should have been blinking all over this hot mess.

We removed the old vanity easy enough, and finally opened the new vanity to see what we were working with.

• Double Sink
• Nice silver pulls and handles
• Solid Cherry wood
• NO INSTRUCTIONS
• DARK GREEN MARBLE COUNTER TOP
• WEIRD LAMP
• MEASURES TOO BIG FOR THE SPACE (math, ahh)

Alright, we can work with this. Dan figured out the legs and we got it all set up and lovingly resting at the foot of our bed, because that is a logical place for a vanity.

(pre tile)

 

Before we could put in our new vanity, we needed to remove the lovely old wallpaper. That should be easy, right? Well we started stripping (ow, ow) and start seeing around four different types of wallpaper, paint, and wall mess appear behind the wall paper.

 

 

We decided to stop our work at that point and call in someone who knows what they are doing. After letting us know that they have no idea what the heck is happening on our walls, they went to work. The plan is to smooth it out the best of possible and sand. We will find out tonight if we can even get the walls smooth enough to paint, otherwise we get to pick out a wallpaper to put up over it instead. 

Progress, sweet progress.

 

 

 

 



Menu Monday 9/16

Welcome back for another installment of Menu Monday! The recipes we tried last week were overall good! The BBQ meatloaf was pretty good. I think next time we will just make the loaf and leave off the bacon. I know this is going to be shocking, but turkey bacon is not at all like bacon. The buffalo chicken was SUPER easy and SUPER good. I would make it on a tortilla or lettuce wrap instead of a bun next time, but overall a winner!

This week is going to be a busy one. I work late two nights and we have jam packed weekend, so we are making some big batches of things and hoping for the best!

Monday
Usual work night. Leaning towards a Panera Salad. My favorite is the chicken cob with avocado or Greek Salad. Dan is going to have some large piece of meat, because he is a man.

Tuesday
After our success last week with Emily's recipes we will be trying the Slow Cooker Sweet and Tangy Chicken with some rice and a veggie. One positive of having a split shift is I can come home and set these meals in the crock pot and Dan can stir, shred, mix, etc. when he gets home.

Wednesday
Another fun new one! Easy Enchilada Casserole. I made this recipe a little "skinnier" using lean beef and reduced fat soups. Most of the time I don't bother getting the reduced fat stuff because the ingredients they subtract usually just add bad junk in some other way. #yolo

 I entered the calories based on the ingredients I used into Myfitnesspal.com and it came out to 316 calories a serving. Follow me on myfitnesspal to see the breakdown!

Thursday
Late night at work = leftovers

Friday
After it was postponed over the summer I will finally be heading to see Mumford and Sons in concert. Words can not explain my excitement for seeing them again. This also means I will not be home for dinner

Saturday
We have a busy day heading to my sister's university for her family day events. That will be followed by a good friend's birthday extravaganza! I am sure we will stay on track with eating and drinking today!

Sunday
Grocery Shopping Day, so its always up in the air!

Getting down on Friday

Pretty uneventful weekend planned here in JuJuville which is probably for the best since the next two weekends will be insane. I have to work on Saturday so I will be missing my first Husker game of the season, so if they lose it will basically be my fault. Sunday I am taking a sushi making class with a friend. I am in charge of bringing the cream cheese so I already like how things are progressing. 

Here is what went down in the past week:

The makings of the BBQ Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf. I would give it a 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. This is going to be shocking, but turkey bacon does not taste like bacon. Next time I would save the calories and just make the meatloaf. Tonight's Buffalo Chicken is in the crock pot now, and smells AMAZING so I have high hopes.

This is the sunflower I replanted at our house. I think its dying. oops.

Last weekend Dan and I pretended we were adults and went to the City Market and then the vintage shops in the West Bottoms. The City Market never dissapoints, the booths are gearing up for fall so there were tons of squash and pumpkins. I have been wanting to try out spaghetti squash for awhile now, so maybe now is the time. Anybody have a recipe they love?

We also had the pleasure of seeing this vehicle above. It has the front and back of a mini van and the side of a normal car. We were not the only one taking pictures of this car/van so hopefully we will see more like them soon!

 

We also went to First Fridays in downtown KC primarily to hit up Wilma's food truck. We first had Wilma's after the Tour De Brew and their meatloaf sliders were out of this world, and were impressed by them once again. Look them up on Facebook to check out where they will be this weekend!

Master bedroom wall color samples. We were leaning towards the grey on the right, but once we found out the bathroom vanity top was green, we settled on the left. The previous owners purchased a new vanity for the master bedroom, but for some reason they did not install it. They most likely didn't because of the work that it takes to install something like this, don't worry that's something for another post!

 Facebook gets me.

Oh did I mention our driveway is getting done as well? This was yesterday, and today it is just all dirt. We should hopefully have a driveway soon. Parking in the street is lame.

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend!

We Got a first timer here!

So after extensive blog stalking, I have figured out that people participate in these linkups. From what I understand it is a great way to read some new blogs, and get some new ideas! I am all for it, so without further adieu, my first link up!

My happy place... is Target. If I am stressed out, bored, ate too much, need something, happy, sad..ok you get the picture. I love it, the smell of the popcorn that wafts over you as you enter the bright red doors, the florescent lights, the whole thing. Pure Magic.

Whatever happened to... Surge. That pop was super awesome in 4th grade and then it just went away.

So what if I.... had to google NFL quarterbacks to answer a later question. I found this article instead and got distracted.

E! needs a reality show about... Irish Dancers. I watched a documentary on Netflix about them and they are pretty insane with their curly hair full of secrets.

My go-to fast food meal is... Burger King 8 piece chicken tenders with ranch and an orange soda, onion rings instead of fries. Ugh, I remember when I used to eat that, those were happy times.

You might not know that I... used to dance and perform gymnastic routines in my basement, costumes in all. I have no rhythm and still to this day can't do a cartwheel. I will let you visualize how well that went.

The hottest quarterback in the NFL is... After extensive google research I have decided Drew Brees. Plus he had that great NyQuil commercial.

If I could... quit my job and become a stay at home kitten mom I would. I mean look at that face.

My personality is awesome because...I am hilarious. That is all.

Twerking is.... awesome and I am jealous my boyfriend is really good at it. YouTube sensation waiting to happen.

I think it's super gross when... people burp when I am eating. I know burping is "natural" but close your dang mouth.

Someone needs to tell Miley Cyrus.... they love her so she stops acting out for attention.

The Ground Up

We knew going into the home purchase that there was some work that needed to be done on the house, both professionally and by us. One of the things that we were unable to do ourselves was the foundation. I was especially nervous about this, but after talking to a lot of people in our neighborhood (and homeowners in general) this is something that happens more often than we think.

To prep we had to remove the carpet and a lot of the walls in the basement. The basement was finished with a really neat panel system that slid in and out pretty easily, and the carpet removal was a breeze compared to the good ole master bedroom (or so I hear).  But, we were afraid after the foundation work was completed that we would have to deal with losing some inches and having to redo the walls.

This is the wall on the back side of our house. If it wasn't my basement I would say it was a really cool process.



Here is what it looks like all cleaned up and ready to go. The karma gods were looking out for us and it looks like we will not lose any inches in our basement and the walls and carpet can go back into the same places they were before!

That's the same wall that had the huge holes in it before! All cleaned up and ready to go (in four weeks once we have established there are no holes or leaks, crossing fingers!)

Menu Monday 9/9

After using moving as an excuse to eat and drink to excess the past month it is time to get back on the bandwagon. Both Dan and I use Myfitnesspal.com to log and enter what we eat. We also use Fitbits to track our steps and for general competition purposes.

I love scouring websites and Pinterest for healthy, easy recipes to try out. I have found plenty of great recipes that hopefully you will like as well! I am going to try to enter our menu each week not only to share some great recipies with you, but to also hold myself a little more accountable.

Monday
Jimmy Johns
(I usually work a part time job on Monday nights. Dan usually fends for himself and I hit up something on my way to work. 95% of the time it is Panera because they list calories and are delicious)

Tuesday
Crock Pot Pulled Pork and Corn
I use the SkinnyTaste.com recipe for pulled pork simply because the calories are listed. The only change I make is I use some Oklahoma Joe's BBQ sauce instead of her KC Sauce. The calories are almost identical though. I use Skinny taste recipes all of the time. She lists her calories and nutrition information online, but be sure to double check them if you are strict with your counting, her sizes and information are sometimes off.

Wednesday
Bacon Wrapped BBQ Meatloaf
http://www.emilybites.com/search?q=meatloaf
I found this great website Emily Bites online. She lists Weight Watchers points as well as enters all of her recipes into myfitnesspal. I have another one of her recipes coming up later this week as well.

Thursday
Hamburgers and Salad
Using leftover ground beef and turkey from our meatloaf the night before and a Dole Salad Kit

Friday
Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Saturday
Leftovers or Dinner Out

Sunday
TBD

Mastering the Bedroom

As soon as we moved into our new house we knew that the master bedroom needed a complete overhaul. The carpet was old, loose, and stinky (insert dirty joke here). There was carpet in the shower area (who keeps allowing people to do this?) and the walls were shabby as well.  

 

First thing was the removal of the old carpet. Unfortunately for me I had to work while the majority of this was happening.

Once that was done we then had to decide what we wanted to go on the floor. Keep in mind, all of this needed to happen in one week since we would be moving in the following Sunday. We settled on hardwood laminate for the closet and bedroom area and tile in the sink and toilet areas.

Once we purchased all of the materials, we began laying the laminate. I would like to say I helped a lot, I mostly just supervised the process. I think I am beginning to see a trend here.

 Once Dan got the hang of laying the flooring, it went extremely quickly. We were only working on it for short amounts of time (I would get cranky) and it probably took us three nights.

In the bathroom and toilet area we had a professional lay tile. I think I have created a home improvement monster, after seeing the tile man in action Dan is convinced we should be able to do that on our own from now on.

We have accomplished a lot, but the room is still a mess. I am so excited to start crossing things off our list and maybe someday soon have at least one room in the house 100% finished!

 Here is a handy list of the things we have left to do in the MB:

1. Wallpaper removal
2. Paint walls and ceiling
3. Sand and paint baseboards
4. Install baseboards 
5. Install vanity
6. Finish floor in closet
7. Hang art and decorate