Learn Something New

The old saying is true. You really do learn something new every day.

I nanny two little girls, ages five and seven. The five-year-old ("Five and a half, Miss Lizzy!...I can hear The Deuce say in her ever-excited voice) does not like chocolate. Yup. That's what I wrote. She does not like chocolate:

Me: "Why don't you like chocolate, dude?"
The Deuce: "I think it tastes like mud and dirt."

Well, okay then. But, that isn't the something new that I learned today. Keep reading...

After making homemade playdough this morning, we decided to continue with a cooking theme. Well, we switched to baking and decided upon the chocolate-free Snickerdoodle cookie. A yummy cookie, for sure, but not one of my favorites (because there is no chocolate, duh).

We planned on having a lunch date with my husband at a super local, super yummy pizza place. The cookies were coming with as dessert (because store-bought cookies are not nearly as good as homemade!). The older girl packed four cookies into a baggy and away we went.

The hubs was so happy to see Snickerdoodle cookies. You know what he said?

"That's my favorite kind of cookie."

And that, my friends, was news to me.

I promise I'm not a horrible wife...we just don't have cookies that often. Because if we're going to have dessert it will for certainly be a nice big bowl of homemade ice cream.

You really do learn something new every day. Today I learned that the hubs loves Snickerdoodle cookies. I'll be posting a recipe soon...and baking more of the hubby's favorite cookies!

Only Two Hands

I am unsure as to why, but often times, when I get out of the car I want to bring everything into the house in one trip. Even if I just went to the grocery store for the week. It gets worse in this heat. Once I'm in the comfort of my air conditioned home, I don't really want to leave (especially since the A/C in my car doesn't work).

This is something I have done since I was little. I remember getting so frustrated with myself heading into the house from after-school soccer practice. I had my backpack full of homework and my soccer bag full of smelly soccer stuff. I usually had the big ol' jug of water and, for some reason, another bag (who knows why? I was a high school kid, they do weird things). I needed to get everything into the house at once.

The backpack was heavy. The soccer bag's strap dug into my neck. The handles on the random back sliced into my elbow-crease. Why did I torture myself?

What's worse? Why do I still do it to this day?

I came in from the grocery store today with 3 bags on each arm. A sack of potatoes in one hand and a gallon of milk in the other.

And then the inevitable happened:

The peppers, oh the peppers (the only items that stayed at the top of the stairs instead of tumbling all the way down).

Like the random dog toy?

{recetas} Lime Tilapia

This. recipe. was. delicious.

I found it using my wonderful AllRecipes app on my iPhone. It has what is called the "Dinner Spinner" and it is great! You can now add custom ingredients to the spinner, so I added tilapia, since that's what I had in the freezer.

Here is a link to the original recipe, but I modified it a little bit (that's becoming pretty typical for me!).

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon refrigerated minced garlic (making it easy on myself!)
• 1 tablespoon oregano (the dried kind, from those mini jars)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• minced onion
• a couple twists on the garlic pepper grinder
• 2 tilapia fillets
• 1 lime

*I did not add sugar or tequila.
*Instead of measuring, I used a small prep bowl and made sure the bottom of it was covered with the minced onion.

What to do:

• Put all of the ingredients into a small prep bowl (except the tilapia and the lime!).

• Place the tilapia fillets, one at a time, into the bowl. Be sure to cover each side with the marinade.

• Oh yeah, preheat the oven to 450 (this is always something I forget to do, and end up waiting for the oven after everything is prepared). Probably a good idea to prepare a baking dish: cover it in foil, spray the foil with a non-stick cooking spray.
• Place each fillet in the baking dish and "plop" the rest of the marinade on top of the fillets. Place a slice of lime on top of each fillet, and the extras around the baking dish.

• Cover with foil. Place in oven and bake until the fish is flaky (I think it took my oven about 15 to 20 minutes, with the foil off for the last 5).
• Serve with a salad (I had Caesar salad on hand, and it wasn't as weird as I thought it would be).

Thrifty!

I had a few errands to run today, including REI (favorite store!) and the fabric store. I also had a few things that needed to be donated to the local Goodwill. I've found that I have frequented the donation line, but haven't taken the time to peruse the shelves.

As of late, my mom has been talking up this thrift store that opened a few months ago near her work. She was at work today, so I called to see if she wanted to meet me at Bethesda to wander the aisles. Mom has a new thing for dishes and she finds beautiful ones at random thrift stores all the time. I was pumped.

I've seen super DIY projects involving trays that have been spiffed up and I wanted to try it for myself. I just needed a tray (or two). Mom said that I would "for certainly" find one at Bethesda.

We walked into the thrift store and saw the sign that saved me even more money: 60% off housewares. Woo-hoo! Mom brought me right to the aisle with all of the dishes. She pointed out the sets she had her eye on. She also pointed out the things that I had dropped off at her house to donate (super cool to see, by the way!). I saw my old frying pan, a casserole dish and a soup bowl that I had dropped at her house a week ago.

Mom and I did a quick swoop down each aisle, then started over walking more slowly, actually picking through the items.

We soon realized  that we needed a cart. It was that good.

Here's my loot:

This cute green mail sorter was $1.49 (and then 60% off!). It had some black and gold labels that I peeled off before I took a picture. I promise I'll get better at this blog with pictures thing soon! I plan to put it on the wall at the top of our stairs because the hubs and I are terrible with mail. It'll be nice to have a place for it to rest.

This white pot with a lid... My dear friend has a red ceramic pot that sits on her counter for the food scraps to be taken out to the compost bin. I immediately wanted one for myself! Her mom picked hers up at a thrift store, and all I could think of was Nordic Ware Dutch Oven (um, expensive). But! I found this one at Bethesda for 99 cents! AND THEN! 60% off! I am already in love with this store.

And the I found what I went to the thrift store for in the first place. The trays! The price was a bit surprising to me, but, it did come with three trays. And, it was on sale for...you guessed it, 60% off. 6 dollars and some odd cents for three trays? Yes, please! (I still haven't gotten around to taking a picture of them. In fact, they're still in my car.)

I had a few tips from some blogging friends that Lowe's may have a better spray paint selection than my local Home Depot, so I plan on heading that way in the next few days to get to work. I may also stop by the brand new Fleet Farm (one of my favorite stores). My mom used to say: If you can't find it at Fleet Farm, you probably don't need it.

Summer (and my 50th post!)

Hello friends!

I finally feel as though summer has started. My husband and I returned home last night from a 5 day camping trip. Oh, it was heavenly. It was our first excursion of the year and it was beautiful. We made the five hour trip to a campground just north of Bayfield, Wisconsin, right on Lake Superior. The Apostle Islands were in sight.

This trip marks another first for our pup, Finnegan (whose "grandpa" likes to call him "Finnian"). He did remarkable well, and learned quite a few new tricks. Like opening the pocket doors of my in-laws' motorhome (we can't use their bathroom as containment anymore!) and using his nose to open the door of a pop-up camper (yup, pushes right on the black handle of the door!). He learned that his K-9 uncle, Kirby (a black lab mix) has no patience for puppies-Finn's nose may have been "nibbled" on more than one occasion.

During this trip, I earned the "Crappy Wife of the Year Award" for the second year in a row. Upon leaving home for our trip, I was certain that something had been forgotten. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Like in Home Alone, when the mom knows that something is missing. Like her, it took me awhile to figure out exactly what it was. An hour and a half into the drive, I realized it. Mr. Husband's birthday present. The sad part? The same thing happened when we were on our honeymoon the year before. Whoops! Next year can only be better, right?

I did give the gift to him upon our return home (I also made a cake for him, but messed up the homemade frosting).

Needless to say, we had a wonderful vacation. We spent long days navigating the waters of Lake Superior, stopping on the many islands for lunch on the sandy beaches. Scuba diving (Husband) or snorkeling (me) near shipwrecks, watching fireworks in Bayfield, and being able to see the show over on Madeline Island.

Yes, after a wonderful vacation, it finally feels as though summer has begun.

One tired pup on the way home

Fish Stand

Hello, friends and happy Monday!

I am in need of your help. You see, I teach kindergarten and each spring, we do a unit on animals. We study goldfish and, at the end of the unit, students that get the "okay" from their parents, are allowed to take a goldfish or two home. One year, none of my students were allowed to take the fish home. I was stuck with 9 teeny tiny goldfish. My husband (he was my fiance at this time) remembered the old aquarium in his parents garage. It was the aquarium that he took to college. The same aquarium that my father-in-law got as a middle schooler. The hubs was willing to take all 9 goldfish.

We searched and searched and searched for the perfect stand for the aquarium. And then we realized that the perfect one was waaaay to expensive. So we used an old TV stand that Husband's parents also had in their garage.

And it is feo (that's Spanish for "ugly"). See? (Sorry if you have this item in your house. A friend of mine does, and it makes me feel bad for calling it ugly. Everyone has their own opinions, right?)

I am going to redo the fish stand, but I need some help choosing colors, etc. I also am thinking about making bigger doors...what do I use to make bigger doors? Plywood? These are the things that I just don't know.

Suggestions please!

Price Comparison

Well, mis amigos, I finally made it to the two grocery stores. It took me almost an entire week, but I managed to finally get there!

Here is a picture of my list with the prices from each store. I don't normally type a grocery list, but I have a need to be organized. I sometimes rewrite my grocery list three or four times (maybe I should start typing it!).

Any section of the table that is highlighted in the table is cheaper than the other store.


I find it interesting that Rainbow wasn't always cheaper than Target. In fact, Target was typically cheaper. I totally and completely expected the opposite.

During this experiment, I made sure to write down the regular prices instead of the sale items. The stores didn't have the same items on sale last week, so I didn't think it would be fair to mark down sale prices.

My hypothesis was that Rainbow would be cheaper and that I could quit my local Target. Turns out, Target may be the best way to go. Maybe the shopping gods are telling me that I need to test my will power and only buy what is on the dang shopping list!