Soothing the Strep.

I've been sick on and off for the past 3 months. It's been real fun. /sarcasm

But a few days ago, I noticed a familiar tickle in my throat. One I hadn't felt in a good...6-7 years, but one I could recognize very well. So, I grabbed a flashlight, went into the bathroom, and took a look at my throat.

Yup. That's strep.

But it's worse this time than when I was younger. This time, it was just one tonsil, and something happened. I don't want to say it ruptured, but there was a whole mess of not good stuff coming from it, running down my throat. I couldn't eat, I could barely swallow my own saliva. It was getting harder to open my mouth, and God forbid I move my tongue. So, since Kyle was at work, a great friend drove me and Gabey to the hospital so I could get looked at before it got any worse, and I got my antibiotics.

But I was still having an issue with eating.

Back in the day when I used to get strep throat atleast once a month, no exaggeration, I used to eat mashed potatoes all the time. And for someone who's trying to lose weight, this wasn't an option.

Enter some broccoli cheese soup.

It has all the comfort and warmth that you want.

But it's only 80-100 cal. per serving. I'm okay with that.

DIY: Mock Corset Cut Tee

Cut up shirts have been around for...a long time. 

Today, I'm going to show you one way to cut your shirt up.

I'm using one of the tye dye shirts Jesse and I did.

I call it a "mock corset" because the way it's cut reminds me of a laced up corset. Simple enough, huh?

Keep reading to see how I did it.

Pinteresting - 5 Minute Nail Polish Removal

Though Pinterest, I see quite a few things that just catch my eye.

DIY crafts I want to do, photos that I think would work well with my kids, food. You know how it goes.

But then I saw this pin from Gingerbreadmanne and knew I had to try it.

As a mom, we typically try to do things the easiest/simplest/fastest way possible, and that's more true when you have multiple kids, especially the younger ones.

This was the perfect time to try. My nail polish started chipping.

It looks messy, but the mess is fairly minimal. You can actually see your nail polish being "soaked" into the cotton.

Oh. And this isn't mentioned anywhere, so many it's just me, but my fingers got SUPER cold. Like chillin' chillin' cold.

The results were worth it.

These were done in about 5ish minutes, and SO much easier than the typical "soak a few cotton balls and make a huge mess" thing I did before.

Moral: I'll never go back to my old ways. This way FTW.

Hotdogtopuses.

This is something that has been floating around the internet for quite some time now. I just got around to trying it.



My kids? They were excited to see them.
They weren't as excited to eat 'em.

Burnt Apples?! What?!

There's little things that I like more to eat in the spring than fruit cobbler. I'm a sucker for peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. *sigh*

Kyle's not a peach person, really. Or a strawberry person. Or..okay, he's not very diverse in what he eats. So when I'm making something fruit related, I try to keep it apple. He's happy with apple.

So, apple cobbler it is.

I PROMISE IT TASTES BETTER THAN IT LOOKS.

Kid Favorite.

We eat pasta entirely too much in this house.

Also, Kyle doesn't eat vegetables. Much.

It's frustrating. I'm trying to find ways to stick veggies into whatever I can. The kids eat them pretty well. 

And then, this happened.

A lot of cheese. A bit of ham. It worked.

I'm not built for the outside stuffs.

I'm really, really, REALLY not an outdoors person.

I don't do the whole camping thing. 

And here's why.

1. It gets freaking HOT in the summer. Pennsylvania wasn't so bad, but now that I'm in Missouri, it's like I'm walking outside to Hell. I prefer air conditioning.

2. There's no bathrooms when you go "real" camping. I'm saying "real" camping because Kyle, bless his heart, just gets into a tizzy when you bring up campgrounds. You should hear his rant. It's quite amusing.

3. There's bugs and things. Bugs are too icky for my taste. And skunks. And mountain lions. And armadillos. And possums. *shivers*

4. I'm a mosquito magnet, literally. If you want to walk outside with no bug spray on into a swarm of those things, take me will you. I promise that you won't get bit. They'll be too busy attacking me.

Now, camping food? I'm down with that.

Fire roasted hot dogs, I love. Jiffy Pop over the fire? Bring it.

And s'mores. S'mores are #1 on my fire food priority list.

In the summer, Kyle makes a fire in our yard to burn branches and random scraps of wood that I collect (because you never know what you can make from them!) and I can only stand about 2 minutes in the heat. And everytime I request a s'more, I hear the dreaded words...

"Make it yourself!"

*sigh*

But WAIT! I found the solution! Head over to Just Baked and find...

...THIS SUPER AWESOME RECIPE FOR S'MORES CUPPYCAKES!

^ Click above for recipe. ^

I'm serious. I don't kid about cuppycakes. Or s'mores. And these are as close as you're going to get to a s'more without having to fight the evils of being outside.

I'm not posting the recipe on here, but below are my photos of the process and end result. You'll drool, I promise.

Kyle and I are already fighting over them. :)

Comfort Food = Important.

Comfort food and I go hand in hand. Especially during the cold seasons. There's nothing like curling up on the couch with a good book and a bowl of hot soup.

Except that I never tried to make soup before. 

Until now, that is.

Chicken noodle is my personal favorite.

Tomato with a grilled cheese is a close second.

I'm BACK! With brittle!

Oh my God, I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to post via laptop.

I'M SO FRIGGIN' EXCITED.

And I wanted to post the awesome peanut brittle I made for the dad-in-law. Because he's speshul.

Yes. I meant to spell it like that.

And I only have 5 pictures of this. So you get no starter picture...

Just the information that this stuff can cause some serious damage to your teeth. But it's totally worth it.

Cheesy Peasy

Cheese is a HUGE staple in this house.

Mainly because of Kyle. >.<

We all dig on cheese, but Kyle? He LOVES cheese. He's infatuated with cheese. Cheese and him go hand and hand. There's never such a thing as "too much". *sigh*

On the upside, it helps me throw some veggies into food without him making bad faces. So I guess it's a win.

I wanted something easy, simple, and different tonight for dinner. We all love pasta/italian. And pasta goes with cheese well. I debated macaroni and cheese, but I bet I'd never hear the end about how it's not his Aunt Terry's, but it's good.

I'm okay with that, though. Terry makes some bomb mac and cheese.

So, I threw some stuff together in a dish and BAM. Dinner.

I love easy and cheap dinners.

Cooking + Kids = Hard

Gabe's been in and out of his separation anxiety phase. But the only time it kicks in full blown is when he knows I'm making or have food.

Boys. Growing boys. Ugh.

Ontop of that, money's been pretty tight. Christmas put anyone and everyone in a bind when added in with the economy.

(Times is hard...Times is HAAAAAAAAAARD. - Channeling Sweeney Todd)

Needless to say, I've had to try and figure out how to make a good dinner for little monies.

Alas. Soup.

No, I didn't just throw soup in a pot and call it mine.

It's simple. It's pretty cheap. It's chicken.

My favorite things all in one.

Together in perfect harmony.

Me and chocolate have a love/hate relationship.

It's mainly "OMFGILOVEYOUSOEFFINGMUCH!"

And then I step on a scale.

*sigh*

I don't quite care for dark chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate. And white chocolate. And very rarely do I use semi-sweet chocolate chips in cookies.

This is no exception.

These will be gone in a matter of days.

I have a feeling I say this to myself WAY too much in life.

That can't be good.

So many things these days give us cancer, cause obesity, etc. Where's the enjoyment in food anymore?! 

THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND!

Yeah, okay, maybe not that extreme...but why not enjoy food while you can? I can promise you, you won't be able to taste it when you're dead and gone.

So, while these may not be the healthiest side dish in the world, they're amazingly delicious.

And, come on. Everyone loves apples.

Unless you're weird.

I'm poor and can't afford a Daddy.

My Daddy's Cheesecake is delicious. That's a given.

BUT managing money + My Daddy's Cheesecake? Yeah. You know what that equals to without me even saying it.

Anywho.

We're going to Kyle's aunt's house tomorrow for their Thanksgiving get together. And let me tell you, this side of the fambam is amazeballs. I get along with..most of them, if not all of them. And the first time I was at this particular aunt's house, her husband, Kyle's uncle ofcourse, had me cornered on their porch and forced me into talking. I was still on the fence about in-laws after my past experiences. But the conversation started out with...

"Okay. I gotta ask....Rocketship?" 

^.^ Oh, Moonshoes. The amount of confusion that comes from our names is totally awesome.

Again, anywho.

I was asked to bring a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but once I told Kyle, he went on about how EVERYONE brings a pumpkin pie. Yeah, that didn't flow too well with me. Not because I have to stand out (atleast, when I'm sober...), but because I didn't want there to just be pumpkin pie. Don't get me wrong, I can eat the crap outta pumpkin pie (I think it's mainly for the whipped cream, don't hate on my inner fat kid) but after a while it just gets monotonous.

So, I made cheesecake. :)

Cherry and blueberry. I can't wait.

GOO(lash)! I'm channeling Billy Madison.

This is honestly the easiest, simplest, and probably cheapest meal I ever make. Everyone digs on it, thank God. It's my fall back, to be honest. 

I'm talkin' goulash.

There's plenty of ways to make it. This is just a VERY basic recipe. You can add/remove whatever you want to make it your own. Corn is a vegetable a lot of people like to add to it. Me? I just keep it basic.

And cheap. SO beyond cheap.

But I always pair it with mashed potatoes. Sometimes cornbread, too..you know, when I'm feeling fancy.

Where's the beef?

Growing up, I ate a lot of roast beef sandwiches. They were usually what was for lunch.

Now that I'm older, I'm pretty much inlove with Arbys.

I love their beef and cheddar sandwiches, I loved the Big Montanas when they were around, I even worked there for a time. The discount was BOMB.

Luckily, I married a guy that shares the love of roast beef sandwiches. How did I get so blessed? 

I've been on the lookout for an easy way to make some french dip sandwiches, and I finally found one we all love, even Selena and Gabe. 

Leftovers = Brownies

This isn't very typical, huh? When leftovers become brownies?

Well, I had some leftover unsweetened Baker's chocolate from when making my BIL's birthday cake. They screamed at me and I caved. Eh. My inner fat kid, who is named Philipé, caved. 

And, come on. Who DOESN'T love brownies?!