Sunday, December 2, 2007

It's my birthday!


Unfortunately I had to work today, but that's OK. The chicks in the pharmacy got me a cake. It was delicious! And then I came home to great presents and a big banner on the wall. Now we get to go out to dinner or something and I'll be officially 35 years old.

Friday, November 30, 2007

It's Time!

It's a work in progress to say the least, but we're starting on it. We got all the Christmas junk from storage today. 6 big tote bins, one giant tree box, the box with Lee's village, and the wrapping paper box... wow, way too much I think, yet every year I add at least a couple of new things. What you see there is only half the tree. The whole tree doesn't fit in my tiny apartment. We just put the top pole in the tree stand and viola... apartment-sized tree. As you can see from all the junk laying around, we are nowhere near finished, but it's a start. We'll finish the tree tomorrow and dig out all of my other Christmas stuff. When Lee gets home from work he'll put up the village. I'll post completed pictures when we're done

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Tasty Oven-Fried Chicken and Potatoes


Bad picture, but delicious meal!

  • 1 cup corn flakes, crushed to about 1/3 cup
  • 1/3 cup Italian style bread crumbs
  • 4 medium russet potatoes, unpeeled, each cut into g4 lengthwise wedges
  • 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
  • 3 to 3 1/2 lb. cut -up frying chicken, skin removed if desired
  • Coarse ground black pepper, if desired

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan with foil (we used cookie sheet). Spray foil with non-stick spray. In shallow bowl or pie pan, combine crushed cereal and bread crumbs; mix well.
  2. Place potatoes in large resealable food storage plastic bag. Add salad dressing. Seal bag; turn to coat. Place potatoes in center of pan; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
  3. Add chicken to salad dressing in bag; turn to coat. Remove chicken from marinade; coat with crumb mixture. Arrange, skin side up, on short sides of pan. (Chicken can be close together.) Sprinkle chicken and potatoes with pepper.
  4. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until chicken is fork-tender and juices run clear, and potatoes are fork tender.

Courtesy of Pillsbury Easy Meals

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and Kraft Fat Free Zesty Italian dressing. The breasts were really large so I cut them into tender-like pieces before the marinade or coating. I improvised a bit on the bread crumbs and potatoes. We only had regular bread crumbs so I doctored them up a little with garlic and onion powder, Italian Seasoning and "Onion Onion " from Tastefully Simple. I used red potatoes rather than Russets. Didn't seem to make a difference. It was absolutely delicious!

Tigger Makes His Bed

This little hamster is too funny. We bought him a package of soft bedding once and he loved it. When Marli cleaned his cage yesterday we were all out, so we improvised with cotton balls (do you sense a cotton ball theme?) He really liked those cotton balls. He shoved so many in his pouches that he could barely fit up the tube to his bedroom! He's a cozy and snuggled in his cotton filled bed now.
Sorry I couldn't make them go all in a row across. What a pain!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Surprising Skeleton


I have the strangest friends. See the things they send me!

Friday, November 9, 2007

I get to go shopping!


That sounds much more fun than it really is. The reason I get to go shopping? I SPLIT MY PANTS AT WORK TODAY! I bent down to put a bottle of shampoo on a shelf and I heard that awful, gut-wrenching, 200 decibel noise..... RRRRRIIIIIIPPPPPP! Granted, the pants were old (like 5-6 years old) but dammit, I was thrilled to wear them. I've lost 20 pounds so far since I joined Weight Watchers and that pair of pants finally fit again! Oh well, I guess I should look at the bright side. At least when I go shopping I can buy a smaller size than the last time I shopped.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween Pt. 3 - The Pumpkin






Marli carved her own pumpkin this year, with no pattern or anything. It's been years since we've not used one of those books. Unfortunately, I missed this little piece of the holiday also. But it still turned out pretty well! I came home and cut the lid (can you believe Lee has never carved a jack-o-lantern before), but Marli did the rest of the work. I took a couple of pictures of it lit up tonight. I was going to take daytime pictures, but apparently Marli cannot cut inside the lines because there are marker lines all over the silly thing in the daylight.

Halloween Pt. 2

ok, so there will be a part 2. One of the girls at work asked if we were allowed to dress up. I said sure and figured she'd be dressed (she was excited about it). This morning I quick threw together a costume and headed to work. Boy, did I feel like a dork! She didn't dress up... no one did! I was all alone in my Halloween spirit. Anyway... here's a pic of me in my costume, such as it is. Keep in mind that I put it together 12 hours ago and it went through a long day at work (it was truck day... lots of hard work). Can you guess what I am? Highlight between the quotes to find out: " static cling " Happy Pumpkin Day!

Halloween

Well, I missed it, but she was adorable. My little Marli was cotton candy for Halloween. We glued cotton fill to a garbage bag and spray painted it hot pink. A pink sweatshirt, white sweatpants (for the paper cone), an entire can of pink hairspray, and glow-in-the-dark pink fake nails completed the outfit. Of course she wasn't out the door 10 minutes when she started losing bits of herself, but she sure started out cute. Lee took a couple of pictures of Marli and her friend Nicole before they headed out.She made quite a haul. We'll be eating candy for at least a week.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Bowling

We celebrated one year of hard work making our store one of the best and busiest in the area. We gathered at Thunderbowl in Mokena for a night of cosmic bowling, pizza and fun! Many of us stayed until the counterman was calling for us to finish up for closing time. I have fun with my co-workers every day at work, but this was beyond fun! It was also an unofficial goodbye to our Assistant Manager Josh, who will be leaving us this week to go to business school in Nebraska. I bowled unprecedentedly well the first two games, 145 & 163. The last game however, was HORRIBLE. That was probably due to the fact that my boss bet me $5 that he could beat me (he did by 6 pins) and I had 2 ½ drinks. The photos aren’t great because it was so dark in there and the flash was quite annoying. We definitely have to get together and do it again!






Sunday, October 14, 2007


This is how it should be, with Newman out front and everyone else following! :)

Another Heartbreak


Well, it happened AGAIN! It was a spectacular race. Newman's in the lead on the last few-lap shootout of the night, shotgunned right past Gordan. Then BAM.... he blew a tire, hit the wall and finished in 28th. Will the man ever have any good luck during a race, or is he wasting it all on his good qualifying? Eh, I guess we can chalk another one up to almost.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Making Strides


One of our pharmacists started a team to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Orland Square Mall on October 21st. Marli and I are going to walk the 5 kilometers around the mall. It’s a great cause and a good excuse to do some window shopping. This Saturday we are having a bake sale at the store to support our teams donation goal. Marli is coming to work with me to man the bake sale table and take donations. She’s so excited she actually painted her nails pink. I baked a Tastefully Simple Almond Pound Cake and a pan of brownies. I cut them up and packed individual servings in plastic zipper bags. I hope our customers will be generous and help this worthy cause.

Check my Making Strides web page and make a donation if you can. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Friday, October 5, 2007

Fall Colors


I just love the colors of Fall. My friend Brian just spent a week at his family home in northern Wisconsin and sent me these amazing pictures. I thought I'd share them with you. Enjoy!




Sunday, September 30, 2007

Absolutely Nothing

I had an unprecedented 3 days off in a row and thoroughly enjoyed them all! We visited Grandma Dorothy, spent time with my parents, went to birthday parties and had a game night with Kristi and family. It was nice to be home with Marli and Lee and feel like I get to play a part in my own little world again. The only downside to the weekend? Ryan Newman had another DNF at Kansas due to engine trouble. But on the upside, the race itself was pretty good. Oh yeah, and I had some nasty sinus stuff going on Friday, but it’s all better now. I’ll post pics tomorrow night. Right now I’m off to watch Desperate Housewives then Brothers & Sisters. It’s been an awesome Season Premier Week.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Toby Rocks!



I went to the Toby Keith concert with Amy on Saturday at the First Midwest Bank Ampitheater (aka Tweeter Center or The World). We had a blast!! The music was amazing, though the temperature was a little chilly. By the end of the concert we could see our breath as we were singing along. The opening acts were Flynnville Train (YAWN) and Miranda Lambert (ROCK ON GIRL!). I think Flynnville Train spent their youth fixing cars while listening to Motley Crue and now they think they can put out a country album. We saw the other Amy there, too. I couldn't stomach paying $30 for a shirt no matter how much I loved the show. The bathroom lines were long and the people watching was hysterical. We went to Texas Roadhouse for a delicious prime rib dinner before the show. The entire night was just what I needed. Can't wait to do it again. THANKS AMY!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Cicadas






We went to visit Grandma Dorothy today. The nursing home is right across the street from a forest preserve so I brought my camera just in case there was some cidada activity in the area. We don't have many around our house and I couldn't miss out on the chance to photograph a little piece of history. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!! It was insane! The seagulls flying overhead snacking on those big ole bugs was an amazing sight. It was so loud and the bugs were so plentiful that we closed our windows just in case. After we ate lunch we took Grandma outside to hear the cicadas and one landed on the ground. I picked it up on a stick and brought it to Grandma. She studied that bug with such intent. She talked to it and pet it and everything. Enjoy the pictures!