Nice...Real Nice

People really are inconsiderate sometimes.  And it amazes me how some consider your stuff theirs and treat it like trash.  It's no big deal to them.  When I got home from my Christmas trip to Kansas I had two sets of car tracks driving THROUGH my front yard.  These tracks lead directly to my neighbor's front yard, then back out.  Obviously, they felt the need to drive through my yard to park in front of their house (not in their driveway) during this time period.  I have no idea what snow drifts looked like at my house during the storm and, who knows...perhaps there was a huge drift in front of their driveway that impassable. 

I haven't said anything to my neighbor about this yet because I was waiting to see how bad the damage was once the snow melted.  This is what it looks like.

Nice, huh?  And by the way, those footprints are from my mailman, not my neighbor coming over to apologize. 

I guess what irritates me the most is that I know the repercussions of this act.  I'm going to have to look at those tracks for THE REST OF WINTER.  Plus, the grass will more than likely not grow in those ruts...immediately anyway.  Unless I plant some grass seed.  And even better...when I mow, the blades on the bottoms of my lawnmower will probably get caught on the edges of the ruts.  How do I know all of this?  Well, I know that grass does not grow in the winter, first of all.  Secondly, I had a roommate when I first bought my house...while I was gone one day, she decided to park her boyfriend's SUV in my front yard.  Then, it rained.  And she attempted to drive somewhere else.  I think you get the picture. 

My neighbor appeared to be a really good neighbor before this.  But, her lack of contacting me regarding this issue irritates me.  Dang inconsiderate neighbors.  Just sayin'.

A Dang Quesadilla!

When David was out in the field a couple of weeks ago I decided to make myself a "dang quesadilla."  My friends love this Napolean Dynamite term and one of my best friends ONLY orders quesadillas when we eat at Mexican restaurants.  She has a quesadilla addiction.  We're going to try and get her help...soon...or maybe not.  Is a quesadilla addiction really all that bad?  I have a cheese addiction and I don't think it's a problem...

Anyway!  I decided to randomly whip up these quesadillas and they were very good!  I started off with about 1/4 pound of hamburger meat.  This turned out to be a little more than I would have wanted...so maybe start with between 1/4 and 1/8 pound.  It just depends on how "meaty" you want your quesadilla to be.  While browning the meat, I added some chili powder and cayenne pepper to flavor the meat, then I added in a few home-grown red pepper flakes (courtesy of my farm boy fiancé).  You can decide how much of each spice you want based upon your flair for the spicy...I probably added a 1/2 teaspoon of each.  I love, love, love, love spicy food though...and this wasn't too terribly hot to me.  But, that's just me.

After the meat is fully cooked, drain grease and remove from pan.  Using the same skillet, place one whole wheat tortilla to start warming on a medium-low temperature. 

*Side Note: Has anyone tried whole wheat tortillas?  They're wonderful!  Now, regular flour tortillas have their place and are a requirement when visiting Mexican food establishments, such as Ted's Escondido.  But, if you're trying to stay healthy while preparing a dish at home, I highly recommend them!  They've got a little bit of a sweet taste to them, which I really like.

After you throw the tortilla into the skillet, add the meat on top then some onion (about 1/4 cup or less).  I would have used a regular white or yellow onion, but I had some green onion in the fridge that I wanted to use up, so instead I chopped that up and added it.  After that, sprinkle a good amount of cheese over it all.  I used cheddar, but if you have a mexican blend that would be even better!

Immediately place the second tortilla on top so that as the cheese starts to melt, it'll melt into the tortilla and make it all a yummy, gooey combination.

After a few minutes, flip the quesadilla so that the top has a chance to warm and brown for a moment.  Then, place the quesadilla on a plate and cut so that you get a total of four quarters.  I poured some salsa on to my plate, but feel free to add sour cream or guacamole if you have some.  These were quite tasty and it was a quick and easy meal for one person!

I'll definitely be making these again soon...probably when David's out in the field again.  Next time I might add some bell pepper or jalapeno!  Scrumptious AND relatively healthy!

Busy, Busy, Busy Bee!

I've been so busy lately that I really haven't had time to prepare any blogs.  But, I've had plenty of things to blog about and starting today I'm going to try and catch up. 

First of all, I now have a photographer for the wedding.  Woo hoo!  The three big things that can be a pickle to arrange (or so I've read) are the venue, officiant and the photographer.  As you already know, the venue has been chosen and booked.  There are one of two people that David realllllly wants to perform the service...and both are actually already planning on coming to the wedding, so that's no biggie.  I've given David a deadline of the end of the month to ask and receive confirmation from the person he wants.  Both of these people mean the world to David, plus I love them both and think either would do a great job.  Soooo, just waiting on David to follow through.  Lastly, I booked the photographer this past Saturday.  My mother and I asked the normal questions, chitty chatted about a mutual friend (the friend who referred me to him, actually) and discussed some of the ideas for the engagement and wedding pictures.  I walked away with a good vibe from the photographer and his wife (both will be shooting the wedding) and booked them!  One more thing ticked off my list of "to-dos!" 

I have been cooking and baking a lot lately, but I just haven't had a chance to upload all the pictures to my computer...my goal is to do that tonight...  On Sunday night I baked some of these muffins.  I highly recommend them and they're a Dave's Faves!

Also, I finally made it by Half Price Books and was able to pick up a couple of audiobooks, Running With Scissors and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.  Both fit into my rotation (non-fiction and a classic).  Hopefully, I'll be writing a review on one of these soon as it's taking me forever to read My Sister's Keeper...not because it's slow or boring, but because I just haven't had time!  And have I mentioned that I've missed my reading time?  Maybe I'll be able to squeeze some time in over the holiday weekend.  That is one of the nice things about working in a government entity...all the paid holidays off!

I'm A Little Obsessive Compulsive...But, At Least I Admit It

I'm one of those people that color-codes, tabs and micro-organizes everything.  So, yea, you could call me a little obsessive compulsive.  Not to a point that I can't function in normal life, but enough that it makes people laugh sometimes.

Luckily, my matron of honor knows about my "issues" and accepts me despite this.  She's has some obsessive compulsive issues too...about cleaning...but, that's another discussion entirely.  We like to joke in our little group of friends about how she likes the lines in her carpet from her vacuum cleaner.  Haha, I love her.  I wish I was that clean...really, I do!

Regardless, this past Saturday when we went wedding chapel shopping she showed up on my doorstep bright and early...bearing a gift.  An awesome gift.  An obsessive compulsive person's dream.  This is what it was:

A wedding organizer.  Susan scoured the web to find the wedding organizer that had the best reviews and was the most tabbed and preparation-friendly.  Have I mentioned that I love her?

This thing has not left my side; I'm fiddling with it constantly.  Between finding a photographer, looking up bouquets (and printing pics), scouring for DJs, looking up cakes (and printing pics)...this thing has come in SOOOO stinkin' handy! 

Alrighty...that is all for now...just wanted to let you know that this thing is permanently attached to my person right now!

Veggies Are My Friend

David and I currently have an agreement.  Well, I'm not sure you could call it an agreement, more of an edict from me.  This edict states that I will not cook in his house until it is "our" house.  I just got too tired of keeping two kitchens stocked and not having enough utensils for use at his house.  No garlic press, no spatulas...you get the idea.  Typical bachelor pad.  Currently, we eat at each other's house in an even-Steven schedule.  He really does not like this existing situation and it might be part of the reason why I got my ring.  I don't think two months passed between my edict and receipt of the ring.  Haha, apparently he really likes my cooking! 

Earlier this week David purchased some steaks to grill out.  On Tuesday, I talked to David after work (like always) and he asked that I stop on my way to his house and pick up a vegetable...green beans specifically.  When I stopped there were some red bell peppers on sale...mmmm...red bell pepper...tasty.  So, I purchased a particularly bright red, ripe and shiny one.  When I showed up at David's he just looked at me with a blank expression.  He had nooooo clue how to roast a bell pepper.  I believe my exact words were, "You don't know how to sliced a bell pepper and throw it into a skillet?"  He shook his head. ::sigh::  Men.  So, he was in charge of the grilling the steaks and steaming the green beans.  In the meantime, I sliced the pepper and grilled it.

All I did was slice the pepper lengthwise, heat up a little bit of olive oil in the skillet, then sprinkle my favorite seasoning on top (just a tad).  Do you remember my favorite seasoning?

This is what the peppers looked like grilling.

Mmmmmm...don't they look delish? 

After the steaks were ready and the beans were steamed, I slid half the peppers on my plate and half on David's.  I mixed them with the beans on the plates.  David was not super excited with this endeavor...I believe his exact words were, "Whoa...I don't need that much."  I told him that if he didn't eat all of his peppers that I would.  He gets very skittish around anything that's not a) broccoli b) green beans or c) corn.  But, do you know how much of his peppers I ate?  None.  He loved them!

Just a quick, easy and yummy addition to our meal.  Try it if you're pressed for time or simply want more than just some plain ol' green beans.  Which, by the way, beans and pepper went perfectly together!

Yikes!

Have I mentioned that I am deathly afraid of road debris?  I have had multiple instances of flying debris on roads and highways.  In my second year of college I had a horrific accident where a brush hog ran over a pipe in the median.  The blade that struck the pipe catapulted the pipe through the air...aaaand my windshield, breaking my collarbone smooth in half.  If the pipe had struck one inch below it would have gone through my heart.  Or if it had struck one inch above, it would have missed me completely.  My whole family was completely and totally wigged out by this freak accident.  Oh yea, and those eight weeks of healing...they were awesome.  Anyone ever broken their collarbone?  I'd never broken a bone before and haven't since. ::knocking on wood::  At the time I was told that is the most painful bone you can break because it is your center of gravity.  Think about it.  You can't do anything without moving your collarbone.  Sit down, lean over, reach for something...you name it.  At the time, the only thing I found that didn't hurt was simply standing up straight.  And then your feet hurt after a while.  I cringe in memory.  However, after witnessing my mother break her hip a couple years ago...I don't know which is worse.  It's a toss up.

The year prior to this incident I had a double blowout on the highway.  There was a washer-sized box and the car in front of me zigged at the last minute.  I guess you could say that since I didn't have the reaction time to zag at the last minute either, that I had been following too closely.  Regardless...you get the idea.  Two tires.  Flat.  You could see the inside of the tire, it was that bad.  That was fun.

I've had other incidents where I've gotten a box caught in the wheel well of my car and a couple flats too.  Last year I had an incident with a huge sheet of ice.  I was driving to meet my mom for lunch and was following a semi on the highway.  FYI, this time I was following with enough distance.  But, when a huge sheet of ice flies off a truck...it doesn't really matter how far back you are.  WHAM!  A nice, big, two foot long, horizontal crack in my windshield.  Luckily, I wasn't hurt and the windshield wasn't too expensive to replace.

::sigh::

So, you're probably wondering where this is going.  Well, yesterday I had lunch with my mom.  And on the way back to the office I saw this.  And it made my heart beat faster (not in a good way) and I couldn't take my eyes off it.  Can you see it?

Look closely.

Yes, that is a HUGE chunk of frozen snow on top of that semi.  I'd say a good foot or two of snow still hanging around after our 14.1 inch snow storm on Christmas Eve.  This has apparently stuck around and gotten scarily frozen and hard on top of this truck.  I just pray and hope someone doesn't have the same luck or fate that I have had in the past.  Please, please, please watch out for things like this!!  I always do simply because I'm prone to them!!  And the sad thing is, if ice or snow falls off trucks or other cars, they are not liable for it...at least that's what I heard on the news last year right after my windshield was busted.  Not that I could have sped up and gotten the truck's license plate anyway.  I was too busy shaking and trying to get to the restaurant to meet my mom and cry to her about it. 

**Please completely clean off your car in this weather if possible (obviously if it's frozen solid then you can't) and watch out for things like this!!

Gooooooooin' To The Chapel and We're Gonna...

I totally do not want this blog to turn in to a wedding blog, but at the same time this wedding is consuming alllll of my time.  And because of that I haven't had much time to do anything else...like read, cook, sew...anything! 

I know it's seven months out and all, but you wouldn't believe how quickly stuff gets booked up.  I was lucky to get the date I wanted at the venue I picked.  Now, while I am looking for a photographer I can tell you that I have run across a couple that already have my wedding date booked.  This is insane!  And also, the more I learn about weddings, the more I see that other couples have loooooong engagement periods.  Like over a year long.  Maybe that's because it can be difficult to book things within short periods of time.  Or the cost.  I feel that when you put the word "wedding" or "bridal" in front of anything, the price automatically rises by 50% or more.  Wedding photographer, wedding dress, wedding shoes, wedding cake...wedding anything.

But!  To give everyone an update, here's what I have to share.  The venue will be The Dominion House in Guthrie.

Initially, this was not my favorite venue on my list to check out...but, once I saw the grounds.  Wow...even covered in snow.  Wow.  That's all I have to say.  My mom and I fell in love.

As for my colors...

Quick little sidenote: If you are in Guthrie any time soon I have to recommend the little restaurant Granny Had One.  I went with my mom and two of my bridesmaids after my mom and I signed our lives away at The Dominion House.  It was very tasty and had a cute, little quaint atmosphere and the food was delish!  Plus, you get a souvenir cup to take home with you (kind of like the Eskimo Joe's cups-to give a reference for all you Okies).  The logo on the cup is...

If you make it to Guthrie any time soon try it!  I had their tilapia and green beans and I made a happy plate! (P.S. the green beans were da bomb!!)  One of my girls got their club sandwich and if you intend to only bite into half the height of the sandwich, go for it!  Just forewarning you!!

More updates to come, I'm sure!