Operation: Hair Free Zone

Chad had a beautiful, wonderful, marvelous idea this weekend. Get these animals and all of their hair out of our bedroom!

I did not have animals growing up, so when Chad and I got married and all of a sudden there was this furry creature sleeping next to my face, it was kinda gross. Sunny is not a curl up on the end of the bed and purr kind of cat. He's a "I'm gonna sleep on your face and suffocate you in the night" kinda cat. Cute right? Took some getting used to. Also, he was very used to sleeping with Chad, so he was less than thrilled that I was now there taking "his" place. More than once he has woken me up in the middle of the night pawing at my face, licking my face, sleeping on my face or just sitting and staring at me like he's planning out my murder. More than once I have picked him up and thrown placed him gingerly across the room off the bed.

Then we got Rukia. She was a wild and crazy pup. She was always so hyper and wound up that she could only ever sleep when we put her in her kennel. We tried to snuggle with our new little puppy but she was having none of it. As she's gotten older she's mellowed out (a bit) and has become rather snuggly... ok needy. Her favorite spot to sleep is at the foot of the bed. And while that doesn't sound too bad, having a 60ish pound dog sprawled out on her back at the "foot" of the bed, really means she is taking up the whole bottom half of our bed.

Then we got Penny. Whose favorite thing in the world is also to sleep next to our faces.

Combine their sleeping patterns with all the lovely animal hair and we had had enough. Especially with all the open mouth sleeping that's been going on lately thanks to being sick. Cat hair on your clothes is annoying, cat hair in the mouth is super gross town.

So this weekend we cleaned our room, washed all the bedding, washed the rug, dusted and vacuumed. I would quickly like to point out that the vacuuming took place after 1am, take that Brittany! Then we kicked all the animals out... and the crying started.

Sunny could care less, as long as he has food and water he is fine snuggled up on a chair downstairs with a fluffy blanket. Penny and Rukia have been sleeping slammed up against our door. Penny meows and cries, while Rukia huffs and puffs right along with her. Poor baby girls.

And while Penny and Rukia cry, Chad and I are reveling in our hair free, uninterrupted sleep! We'll see how long we last against the whining and sad pouty faces though.

Meatless {& Toothless} Tuesday: Tortilla Soup

This past weekend we kicked it into overdrive and got a lot of things done.

Clean the whole house? check
Bath for the pup? check
Haircut for the pup? check
Go through paperwork accumulating on top of fridge? check
Clean appliances that are sitting and acculmulating dust? check
Laundry? check
Put Laundry away (always the part we suck at)? check
Pay Bills? check :(

As per our usual routine we watched movies, ate too many donuts, and stayed up waaaay too late. Monday mornings are not kind at our house.

This morning I got my last widom tooth pulled. True to my character I was freaking out. It's what I do and I do it well. After a little happy gas I was feeling much less nervous :) A few minutes later my tooth was gone! Check! Now I get to eat ice cream, pudding, and jello to my hearts content!

If you happen be able to eat solids let me recommend this little beauty for you...

OMG Tortilla Soup!!! Is there anyone who doesn't like love tortilla soup? I had been hesitant to make any since our venture into vegetarianism, all the chickeny broth and shredded goodness seemed to really make up the bulk of it in my mind. Then I decided to give it a whirl. What's the worse that could happen? Throw it out and order pizza instead? Not the worst outcome ever.

I hopped onto one of my favorite recipe sites OhSheGlows, and found a recipe. I tweaked it to what I had and what we liked and OMG SO GOOD! It was spicy and delicious, even without the chicken ;) So if you're in the mood and are looking for another way to use up all the veggies that are quickly going bad in your fridge, give this a try. You won't be sorry.

Oh, before I forget, don't get lazy on me and skip out on making the crispy tortilla strips. They're bangin'. Seriously, so good. Like, eat all of them off the pan before they make it to your bowl of soup good.



Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 cups chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp ground cumin
• Two 28-oz can crushed tomatoes with chili peppers
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1.5-2 cups cooked black beans (or beans of choice)
• salt & pepper & crushed red chili pepper, to taste
• Fresh lime juice, to garnish on top
• avocados
• cheese
• sour cream
• Tortilla strips (FLOUR tortillas with chili powder, garlic powder, olive oil)

Directions:

1. In a large pot over medium to low heat, add the olive oil, onion, and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes. Preheat oven on medium broil setting.

2. Meanwhile, chop the peppers, zucchini and green onion. Add the veggies into the pot and sauté for another 5-10 minutes.

3. Add in the crushed tomatoes, cumin and broth. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low-medium heat for 25-30 minutes. Stir in drained and rinsed beans just before serving.

4. Meanwhile, make your tortilla strips. Use flour tortillas kids. I tried corn ones the first time since that's what I had and they were meh. The flour ones however, rocked my world. No lie. Slice flour tortillas into long skinny strips. Place in a small bowl and drizzle with olive oil to coat. Sprinkle on garlic powder and chili powder (to taste) and mix well with hands. Place on a lined baking sheet and broil for up to 3 minutes on medium. Watch very carefully. Let me repeat: VERY CAREFULLY. It too me two tries to not burn these little guys. When golden, remove from oven. Try not to eat all of them before you get to the actual soup.

5. After the soup simmers, ladle into bowls, and top with chopped avocado, fresh lime juice, cheese, green onion, sour cream and  tortilla strips. Serve immediately.

All photos from Oh She Glow. We tore into this soup as soon as it was done and devoured it before I could even think about taking pictures.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Crazy sno cone lips.

Awkward:

• Trying to look up a website to get our logo printed on shoe horns and emery boards and going to a porn site, per the sales lady on the phone. Is there anything more awkward than porn in the work place? Unfortunately this isn't my first time...
• I went up to the church to play the piano last night and a little boy came in. This itself is nothing new. Then he sat down next to me, as I'm playing, and said "When I'm near a piano I just have to play!" He then started playing. Confused as to what the heck was happening I stopped and got up while he continued to "play" his own "music". I use these terms extremely loosely. One of his "compositions" consisted of three notes played over and over and over. I finally just gave up and left so this little boy could play out his feelings alone.
• Our pets have boundary issues. Chad and I will be snuggling on the couch and Sunny will jump up on me and try to snuggle with Chad's face. Rukia also has no problem squeezing herself between us and snuggling down. Penny's the only one who doesn't want to cuddle with our faces. She'd much rather snuggle with our butts while we sleep.
• A family member that was visiting a patient at the nursing home telling us stories of (1) how he had bugs that laid eggs under his toenails. Once they started hatching and crawling out, he just pulled off his toenails. (2) If he gets any sort of tooth pain he just pulls the tooth out himself. He's pulled out one whole side of top teeth and a few on the other. WHAT?! Crazy Alert! He told me to call him if I need a tooth pulled. Uh, yeah. no thanks. I'll gladly pay a trained professional.

Awesome:

• The Voice. Anyone else addicted to this show?
• After hiking Angel's Landing in the dead of night last week with Nikki and Matt we had a nutritious and delicious dinner consisting of the biggest and best onion rings and a "mini" shake the size of my head. Awesome.
• Fry Sauce.
• Chad rockin' out his second round of tests. He's a smarty pants ;)
• Making muffins on Sunday so we can have breakfast this week! No matter how much I hate eating breakfast, it really does help!
• Chad has a mid semester break for a few days next week!
• We are finally out of the 100 degree weather! It may be high 90's but at least we've made it down a little bit. The nights are now lovely, mid 50's, and we can sleep with our windows open.

What were the best parts of your week?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Happy 100 Posts!

The first and most awsome thing: rainbow lettering. Why don't I use rainbow lettering all the time like my inner 4th grader wants to?

This is perhaps one of my favorite days to write, it's fun to think back through the week and be greatful for all of the "awesome" things that have happened. And of course it's funny to remember the "awkward" as well. Most of the time it's the awkward that makes the week interesting and fun! Hopefully you've enjoyed it as well and have been able to think back on your own week and all of the fun wrapped up in it!

Awkward:

• Poor Sunny is getting old. He had a bunch of mats on him, and now has a bunch of bald spots and a rat tail. Along with the tumor/goiter thing on his neck he's very sad looking. 
• Forgetting to put our trash out and having 2 weeks worth pile up. The going out in the dead of night to divide it up between our trash can and all of our neighbors trash cans. 
• Spazing out about getting my hair done. Does any other girl hate getting their hair done or am I the only crazy one?
• Not being able to speak all week. All of a sudden my mouth forgets how to form words while I'm trying to talk to patients on the phone, super professional. And not just mispronouncing something and just moving on, but I can't spit out words and have to stop, apologize and try again.
• I woke Chad up Saturday morning and he told me to "keep it sexy". LOL. He then promptly closed his eyes and continued sleeping.
• Taking people's blood pressure at work. We have this tiny little baby cuff that doesn't fit on you unless you are a tiny little baby of a person. So I get to attempt to put it on everyone and then have to break the news to them if they don't have a tiny little baby arm. "Sorry mam, your giant lump of an arm won't fit into this ridiculous small cuff, sorry you're such a fatty". Obviously I try to play it off like it's the cuff's fault (which it is) but they still look at me like I am the worst. Then when they come back in 9 weeks we get to play the game all over again. Woot.  

Awesome:

• Will's been here all week! We LOVE having friends visit!
• Finding a new pair of gently worn scrubs at the Salvation Army for $8. Score! And the pants weren't just my size but also a long. Double Score!
• Meeting an 80 year old woman who used to be a Las Vegas showgirl. She had some stoooories!
• Shaved Ice. Have I mentioned how much shaved ice rocks? Because it's the best... ever. 
• We've been having some seriously awesome sunsets as of late.
• Panera Mac and Cheese. It's way too expensive for the amount you get but it's so good we don't even care. And if you're going to Panera you can't leave without a chocolate chip cookie. Mac and Cheese with chocolate chip cookies - dinner of champions!
• The Olympics. I love watching the Olympics. We've seen sooooo much volleyball and gymnastics the past week, and it's been great! We can't get enough. It makes me want to go running or start swimming. Then I realize it's midnight and I just go to bed instead. Is there a gold medal for sleeping?
• Moving the guest mattress downstairs in our living room. Best. Idea. Ever. "Picnic" dinners are so much more fun on a mattress and it makes an afternoon nap that much better.

Strike that, just three...

Sadly we came to our senses this morning. Chad starts going to school full time in two weeks. I'm at work all day. Training a new pup was not going to work out. It wouldn't have been fair to him. Some times impulsive decisions don't quite work out... funny how that works.

So for now it's just us and Rukia, Penny, and Sunny. A new puppy will have to wait for a while.

And Baby Makes Four

So I got this text at work today:

"Do you want a puppy or not? I can't remember"

 Long story short this is how it ended:

He's soooooo cute!

 

He is a Chocolate Lab. His name is *Renton* and we love, love, love him! Rukia loves him even more than we do! Yes we changed his name from Finn to Renton. We liked Finn too much and decided to save it for a possible human baby boy ;)

My Phone Has Eyes

We have Camels at our Farmer Market/Craft Fair

Nutella Oatmeal with Shredded Coconut, mmm

The animals all watching a bug drown

Along my running route

The "cool" truck we rented to move the mattress

Is there anything better than homemade popcorn.... and some redbull... whatev.

Playing old school Aladdin for Sega Saturday morning.

Our sweet juicer

Both of us laying on the floor trying to recover after running 3 miles in 105 degrees. Not the best idea ever.

New Running Shoes

Sweaty Mess. Chad played tennis for 2 hours in the same 105 degree weather I went running in.

New sandals

People REFUSE to run/walk/bike on the sidewalk here. Biking I understand. Why this lady must run on the side of the road next to a sidewalk, and going with traffic is beyond me.

Totally worth taking up a parking space for.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

It's somehow been a looooong and sleepy week. I can't seem to get myself to wake up during the day. I'm sure my employer loves this. Other than that (how is being sleepy news?) we've had a pretty "sleepy" week in general...

Awkward:

• Trying to get our dog to go out and play in the rain/hail with us. She was not into it.
• Penny deciding she's too good to use the litter box. The bed is much better for things like that. The bed or Chad's drawer full of athletic pants. Oh yes, those are much nicer.
• Trying to make homemade brownies. The batter tasted SO good. The brownies were anything but. We threw them out. Now I'm on a quest to find brownies that taste at least as good as our favorite box mix.  
• Being too tired and too lazy (neither one of us can wake up this week!) to make an actual dinner. Getting 3 Cheeser Bread from Hungry Howies and Cinnamon Bread Sticks from Pizza Hut instead of preparing real food. Also awkward? Eating shaved ice while we waited and then making brownie sundaes after "dinner".

Awesome:

• We finally checked out the Farmer's Market held downtown every Saturday. Guess what? Produce actually tastes like something, yummy somethings. Walmart had me believing that all fruits and vegetables are tasteless, watery and gross. We'll be going back this Satuday as well!
• Storms! We have had some crazy storms here. Lots of rain, wind, and even hail! It was great to have the weather cool off a little and enjoy the rainy weather, of course our house didn't flood so we could enjoy it a little more.
• Chad's summer semester is over! His classes were early and annoying for the most part. We are both happy they are done and he can take a break before he starts the full time madness in the fall.
• Artsy Fartsy Craft Projects. They are fun and they were easy, pictures coming.
• DownEast Outfitters. They have all kinds of cute clothes. But the real deal is the small Men's section they have. They must not have a lot of men shopping there because their clearance section for guys is unreal. Like, a pair of jeans for $5 unreal. Chad got 2 shirts, a pair of jeans, and a light blazer for under $15. Seriosly?! That's better than the Salvation Army!

We laugh in the face of Danger!

Ok, maybe not laugh. There was still some mild anxiety attacks had by every adult I think, but we conquered Angel's Landing! I know I mentioned it before but we made it across the crazy land bridge and onto Angel's Landing, with the two boys to boot! Remember how I said the people hiking last time were crazy bring their small children with them? Well, we were those people this time. And guess what? They did better than any one of the adults. No fear! Chad told them that he had done it before, and if he could do it they could do it. They really listened and believed their Uncle Chad, they could do it because Uncle Chad said they could.

While the nursery makes me never, I repeat never, want to have children, spending the week with Kristy and Dylan's kids reminded us that we really do love kids and they will most definitley be in the (far) future ;) I'm really not a baby hater, most of the time. They are lucky they escaped with their little girl, I had every intention of stealing her and keeping her for my own but I was at work when they left. Boo. I've also decided we need to have boys! It was too much fun to watch Chad with them all week. Not to mention the fun that Rukia had with them. Yup, I just said we need to have baby boys to play with my dog. I'm officially that person. And on that note I will end and share some of the awesome views from our journey to Angel's Landing.





On the way back from our hike we crossed over/through a river

Vacation

 

 We took the kids to Pioneer Park. It's basically the very northern side of St. George, so it's really close and a really fun place.

 The kids had NO fear. None of them! They were little rock climbers and managed to make it up, over and through everything Uncle Chad was!
 

Rukia was very confused as to where she should sit on the ride home. Frustrated she just leaped up onto the boys laps. You can see how happy they were about this. We were all HOT and just a little tired, so sharing seats with a big, hot, panting dog wasn't super exciting for them. 

  
 BFF's. They stopped moving for a hot second so I could snap a picture. They have been running and playing like crazy all week. They are having just as much fun (if not more, really) as all of us!

Penny on the other hand is freaking out. She does not like all the commotion from the animals and kids so she hides all day in our room. Since she's hidden all day in constant fear she's become insanely needy whenever Chad and I are near her. She is usually not very snuggly but as soon as I got on the bed she jumped onto my chest and started purring. Not normal for Pens, but very nice and very cute.

Well done chips and puppy dog eyes

I just have to start this post with a quick story on how I started my morning. I woke up at my normal time because I was excited to cook today. I got up and walked to our window and opened the blinds to just look outside and see what kind of a day it was going to be, sunny duh. But as I look out the window I can see our neighbor 2 apartments over standing in the corner of his patio.... peeing. Dude, what is wrong with you. This is also the same crazy, giant, drunkard who banged on our door yesterday needing to use our phone because a woman was following him with a gun. Really? What's up crazy neighbors.

It was a busy day today, even though no "real" work was involved :) I went on a grocery shopping mission last night and today went to work putting together a ton of travel food for us. We are hoping not to blow our budget in Hawaii by packing a lot of our own food. This will hopefully keep us away from junk food and keep our wallets happy!

There was only one mishap, the poor apple chips. I'll try again tomorrow, hopefully with better results! Note to self, do NOT preheat the oven for cookies while trying to "dehydrate" apple chips that are currently in the oven.

As soon as I got in the kitchen this morning Penny was nonstop meowing at me. What was my poor little kitties problem? She wanted tuna fish. Spoiled much? And yes, her whining paid off because we're softies and like to spoil our baby kitty!

While Penny cried (and cried, and cried) Rukia napped at my feet and Sunny napped in the sun. Sadly there was no napping for Chad and I.

Her puppy dog eyes just kill me!

 

Tomorrow's plan of attack? Finish making all our goodies and PACK!

Poor Rukia

Our poor little baby Rukia. The three of us went hiking in Nevada on Friday and our little puppy couldn't quite handle it. She did great but tired out quickly and by the time we made it home she stumbled in the front door and plopped over as soon as she hit the carpet. Between her poor paws that got some scrapes on them and her sore muscles she has been quite the site, refusing to walk more than absolutely necessary and sleeping all day. The best part was when she was eating Saturday morning. She usually grabs some food from her bowl in the kitchen and then takes it into the living room to eat it, then goes back for more and so on. The tile was too hard to walk on for her so she just sat at the edge of the kitchen and stared at her bowl. I moved it into the living room for her and she mustered up enough strength to lay down and eat. It's got to be one of the funniest (ok, maybe pathetic) things she's done.

Feel better soon pup!