Mail call!!!

I was fortunate enough to participate in Mamarazzi's Red, White & Blue swap. I was paired up with Amanda from Family of Shorts - what a great swap partner!!

I got my package today and it sat at work - at my desk - all. day. long. Why? Because I work with a bunch of nosy vultures and I didn't want to share my goodies with anybody. LOL So, instead I bring it home to my 4-year-old, who also happens to be a nosy vulture. Ya win some, ya lose some.

Once at home, my package was calling my name!

Open it up and what do I see? A cute card from Amanda and a thank you card from her daughter, Rhiannon (I sent her a couple NM/Abq postcards for a summer project)!!

I got all SORTS of cool stuffs! (click image to make big)

1. RW&B apron - LOVE it!
2. RW&B wash cloths - with a toddler, those always come in handy!
3. Cherry Pepsi flavored lip balm - yum!
4. Arissa nail polish in My Favorite Red (red is my FAVE) and an Art Deco nail art in white (I needed one in white)
5. Aluminum bottle in blue - gorgeous color
6. Trident strawberry & kiwi gum - Mommy! I want some! LOL
7. Koozie that says "The words you are looking for are YES DEAR" - can I tattoo that on my arm?
8. Blue pens (her favorite) - I'm always searching for pens
9. Little American flags - a definite necessity for 4th of July!

That Amanda is so sweet!! She even sent a little something for each of the boys!

Little toy cars, a bigger Tonka truck (Nate LOVES this) and a cool 6-edged crayon (I love this!)

Happy boy!!

A little something for Mr Mason

A CUTE red & white baseball outfit and Nuby cup (Perfect! He's using these just now)

My kids *always* do this with clothes :)


Mason promptly threw his binkie out and picked up the Nuby - he was kinda disappointed it was empty


Oh, and that's me modeling my awesome apron! Complete with my scrubs *rollseyes*.

Yeah, I'm a dork. But you didn't need that picture as proof, now did ya? LOL This was so much fun! I loved shopping, packing and shipping my box 'o goodies to Amanda - I hope she enjoyed her stuffs. Thank you SO much to Ms Amanda - I LOVE my swap goodies! Go check out her blog, A Family of Shorts, now! She's on vacation right now, but even her guest bloggers are great! And if you're interested in participating in Dandelion Wishes' next Mamarazzi's swap, check out her blog, too. There's plenty of good stuff to go 'round!

Challenge Accepted - Part 3

Evening, Kitschies! It was my Monday today, so it was...a Monday. LOL Work, home, dinner, workout, work on my nails...the usual. Today was day 2 of the 30-Day Shred and I'm hurtin! Other than that, it wasn't too bad.

On Monday, Polish Hoarder Disorder announced the latest challenge: Book Cover. Find a book cover that inspires you and there ya go! Wow. That's a hard one! Or so I thought. I texted the BFF and she immediately said "Twilight". Genius!! Red, black and white...with maybe a little sparkle (even though I'm really a Team Jacob kind of girl). That started the wheels turning. I had a great idea in my head...now let's see if it translated to my fingers.

Not too bad, but not as good as I wanted it to be

This pic turned out kinda cool - I like the shadow effect the mirror gave me

This is my submission picture

The goods

What I used (L to R): Orly Goth, LA Colors in white, Zoya Delilah and Stripe Rite in silver glitter. I started with 2 coats of Orly Goth. Then, with the white, I pulled it from the inner bottom third and took it up at an angle, just to the right of center. With Zoya Delilah I did the opposite side in diagonal. I used the silver glitter striper to separate the colors. DOOOOOOD!! I forgot!! I used a coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over the white - for Edward. LOL I can't believe I forgot that one. *sigh*

I do like how this turned out, though, like I said before, it's not as good as I was hoping it would be. So, to fill my desire to make it better, I'm in the process of creating a new look. Don't worry, it's not another Twilight-inspired look. It's about 2/3 completed - gotta have the hubs help me with the last part. This should be interesting!! I have until Friday evening to turn in my submission, so stay tuned!

Speaking of Twilight, who is going to see Eclipse tonight at 12:01? If I had Wednesday off, I would've definitely gone. But...it's a school night and I don't know that many people at work would appreciate me on so little sleep. I know I wouldn't! And I've heard the theaters are all sold out for the WHOLE weekend, so I guess the BFF and I won't be going any time real soon. Booooo!! And I just realized that Rush is playing at the Hard Rock Albuquerque. *pout* I really wanted to see them. The hubs and I saw them back in 2002 and they were SO good! No opening act - just them, for about 3 hours!!

Listening to: Blackbird by Sarah McLachlan
Mood: geeky

An Apple A Day

Good evening, Kitschies! I hope you had a productive Monday. Mine was...notsomuch. But that's kind of a good thing. The docs I work with were off today, so that means I was off, too. I had grand plans of going to the library, Target, Sam's Club, to an appointment with the hubs, go by the office, get stuff done around the house. You know - work my butt off on my day off. Well, I didn't do even half of my wish list. I went to the appointment with the hubs, went by the office, Sam's Club...AND I spent a couple hours playing Rock Band...by myself! I bought/downloaded a couple new songs so I sat on my butt, by myself, playing Rock Band. Man, I love that game!! The people who came up with this stupid thing were evil geniuses! I'm sure my neighbors appreciated the loud music coming from my living room, but I didn't care!! It was fun! But, it's back to the grind tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, right?

My coworker and I are going to get back on the exercise wagon again. I had to pinkie-swear with her that we were going to do this. I could do it on my own, but it is so much better to have somebody to complain to who's going through the same hell. We did Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred a couple months back. Well, I finished all 30 days...she did about 20. Either way, it really did work. It consistently kicked my butt! I didn't lose any weight, but the one time I did check, I had managed to lose at least 1% body fat in the course of a week. I'm going to keep better track of it this time around. Today was workout 1. That workout is THE WORST!! Why? Because my fatt butt hasn't seen that much activity since...well...since the last time I did this dang workout. The sessions are only 20 minutes but you work every single second of that 20 minutes and by the end, I'm dripping sweat, my legs get shaky and I'm panting like I'm going to die! I just have to keep reminding myself that the end result is worth it. On top of working out, I'm going to start modifying my diet and trying to cut out some carbs. Not all because I don't want to set myself up for complete failure. I've written down my weight and my measurements and though I won't give you the specifics, I will periodically keep you posted on my progress. Wish me luck! I'll need it - because my legs are going to be on fire in the morning - I can't wait!

Now, speaking of exercise...this is part of the reason I'm having to exercise in the first place. I love to cook. More specifically, I love to bake. If I could bake something new every night, I would. That also means that I'd probably be 300 pounds. That wouldn't be a good thing for anybody. I usually don't do apple things in the summer, but I was craving an apple pie yesterday. So, I hopped on my favorite recipe site, Allrecipes, and I did a search for apple crisp. I didn't have any oatmeal on hand, so I lucked out with this recipe as it didn't call for oats. Have a looksee...

Apple Crisp

4 cups sliced apples
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.

Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.

Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.

NOTES: I used a little bit more than 4 cups of apples. Who can go wrong with *more* apples? I used Royal Gala. Instead of 1 cup white sugar, I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 packed brown sugar. I think it gave it a nice pastry taste. I don't know if I melted my butter too much, but it says to *sprinkle* the mixture evenly over the apples - yeah, mine more like plopped on to the apples. I had to pick it up and put little globs all over until the apples were covered, more or less. I don't know that it made any real difference in the long run because I thought it turned out just fine.

See? The "crust" is just kinda blobbed on?

My helper, Mr Nate :)

Fresh out of the oven!

The finished product - perfect with vanilla ice cream!

I really like how this turned out. The "crust" wasn't too sweet and it was pretty light. It had a little bit of juice - a little thicker than water, but not quite as thick as syrup. The extra juice would be good drizzled over the ice cream. We have about a third of the pan left and it's taking all of my willpower to not go into the kitchen and pull a big spoon out of the drawer and...

Enough of that nonsense! I forgot to mention before that if you try a recipe of mine, I'd love to hear how it turned out for you. Please drop me an email at megharmeyer @ gmail . com - any and all comments are welcome! Thanks for reading - good thing looking at pictures can't make you fat! :D

Listening to: Dead and Bloated by STP (how eerily appropriate - thanks Pandora!)
Mood: determined

Ki is Kool

Failure is not an option. *sigh* Yeah, tell that to my camera. No matter what I did, I could not get a good pic of Ki. According to the Zoya website, Ki is described as a complex multichromatic shade combining silver, purple, blue and green in a shimmery metallic finish. A unique shade for a truly fascinating nail look. They're right - it's unique and it's gorgeous! This was my first pick from my exchange package.

This is the best picture I could get of the multichrome effect - and of course it was in the bottle.

This is the only color I could get to show up with flash. I probably could've gotten some better ones outside without flash, but I wasn't patient enough for that.

This really is a beautiful color. Purple, blue, green, silver - this one has it all!! I am very happy with this purchase.

And while we're on the subject of polish...

A couple weeks ago, the BFF and I took a girl's afternoon and went to the mall. Where else would we go? LOL We stopped by Hot Topic to see what they had to offer. Of course I made a bee-line to the polish and look what I found!! I hate when companies don't name their polish. So, I'm gonna do it for them.

Poison Plum

This is *super* dark purple - the BFF didn't share my confidence that this was, in fact, dark, dark purple. In the pic you can see that the body of the polish does look black, but up around the rim of the bottle you can tell it's purple. I can not wait to use this one! Especially with accents using the next polish.

Super Bad

I love stars. And I love holo. As soon as I saw this I said OMGLookatthis and never put it down. LOL The little stars are SO holographic! It's a clear base with little tiny holo glitter particles. This has been pushed down to the bottom of my "un-tried" container because of my Zoya purchases, but I might just break it up a bit and do a little Poison Plum and Super Bad. But then again...4th of July is just around the corner and I might use Super Bad in a patriotic mani instead! Stay tuned. :D

OH!! My sister, Kristen, is the queen of deal finding. She can go anywhere, find something she likes and when she takes it to the register, it'll be on some sort of hidden super sale. She's good like that. She must've been with us on this shopping trip because I also found this:


It's GIR!!! My sis also loves Invader Zim, so it was rather fitting that I found this. The packaging is so cute, but that wasn't even the best part! Originally $5, this was in the clearance section for $1.98. But, wait! There's more! It was on Kristen hidden super sale for $0.98!! It's bright pink with a very slight shimmer. It says neon, but I don't know that I'd call it quite neon. Anyway...it could've been puke green and I would've gotten it because it's GIR! Apparently there is a Fluorescent green that goes with this same promotion, but all Hot Topic had was the pink. But, like I said, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. LOL

And speaking of the BFF...she happens to be the one and only Wendi from Makeup Zombie! She is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers!! Take a look at what she's giving away.


Head on over to Makeup Zombie, join in the fun and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you!!

Have a most awesome day, my dear Kitschies!! Thanks for stopping by.

Listening to: Questions 67 and 68 by Chicago Transit Authority (later just Chicago)

Slow Cooker + Beef = YUM!

Happy Sunday, Kitschies! I hope you had a better weekend than I did. My (almost) 4-year-old is being a holy terror and at this rate, he'll be lucky to see his 4th birthday. *sigh* People tell me it gets better, but the only light I see at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. This is a recurring theme in my house lately and it's getting rather old.

It's been pretty hot here the last couple weeks - Summer has arrived! On hot days like this, I like to use the slow cooker because it goes all day and dinner is ready when I get home. No, or very little, use of the stove/oven required. Plus, I'm greeted with a great smelling house when I finally make it home. This is the first time we've tried this recipe, and it'll definitely be a regular repeat in the future.

Slow Cooker Beef & Mushroom Stew

1 1/2 lb beef bottom round roast or chuck pot roast, cut into 1-inch pieces
ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 (10.5 oz) can condensed French Onion soup
1 cup dry red wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Italian seasoning, crushed
10 oz mushrooms, cut in half
3 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup frozen whole small white onions
1/4 cup water

Season the beef with the black pepper. Coat the beef with 2 tablespoons flour. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until well browned, stirring often.

Stir the beef, soup, wine, garlic, Italian seasoning, mushrooms, carrots and onions in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 10 to 11 hours* or until the beef is fork-tender.

Stir the remaining flour and water in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Stir the flour mixture in the cooker. Increase the heat to HIGH. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens.

NOTES: I used cubed stew meat instead of cutting up a roast. I didn't realize the recipe called for whole mushrooms, so I just used pre-sliced - I don't know there would've been much difference. I guess it all depends on how you like your mushrooms. I couldn't find frozen whole small white onions, but I did find cocktail onions. I measured them out and put them in the freezer overnight. The one thing I liked about the cocktail onions is they have a little tang to them because they're marinated.

Coming attractions: Banana muffins, apple crisp, a couple manis and some goodies in the mail! Stay tuned!!

Listening to: The Cleveland Show (meh)
Mood: sore

Me? Stylish?

It's Friday!! It's really slow here at the clinic today and I'm looking for stuff to do. Sounds like it's a great time to make another post. And this way the hubs won't bug me for spending "us" time with my face buried in the computer screen. Two birds. One stone.

I was reading through my list of blogs last night and I was shocked to see that I had been presented with my first blog award!! Yay, me!


This wonderful little award was given to me by the lovely Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes.

The rules are:

Copy the award above, place it on your blog - link your blog back to me and name five things about yourself! Then pick 5 bloggers you'd like to tag with this same award.

Five things about me? I did something very similar to this earlier in the week - coming up with five more things is gonna be hard. Let's see...

1. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Then, while in high school, I took a class as an aide to a preschool class. That cured me. Those kids were horrible!!!

2. I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue. You know what they say about flute players...

3. I tried to go in to the Air Force but they kicked me out. LOL I had an old knee injury that came back to haunt me and I couldn't run the distance they wanted me to run in the time allowed. As a result, I spent a couple of very hot, very long months in Lackland, TX, only to be sent back home.

4. This is hard! I collect red, white and blue Beanie Babies (and the like). I don't have a whole lot of them, but when I see one, I grab it! And run!! LOL

5. I love games!! Dominoes, Yahtzee, Cranium, Ziggity, Uno - you name it. The hubs doesn't play many with me so every time I get to spend time with my mom, we play a game.

Now it's my turn to name some lovely bloggers for this wonderful award! The envelope please...

Makeup Zombie

Elevation of Purpose & Desire (now this means you have to post more!!)

Polish Hoarder Disorder (PHD)

Getcha Nails Did

Rebellious Makeup


Now, so this post isn't just about me, I thought I'd share a mani I did a couple weeks ago. I won a giveaway from Libby's Pink Vanity and this little pretty was in the box!

I got Milani HiTech a while back and I loved it, so I was pretty excited to see HiRes in with the various other goodies. I gravitate toward purple polish for some reason, so it was perfect for me. The holo isn't as good as HiTech, but it's purple, so you can't go wrong. The above pics are 3 coats (a must with holos) and a top coat. Taken with flash. I think I had an outdoor/sun picture but it didn't load completely on to the flashdrive. Ah...technology. She is a finiky biatch. These pics make me a little sad because I've had to cut off my nails since then. Booo!!!

Listening to: (You Want To) Make a Memory by Bon Jovi
Mood: bored

Generation X

*sigh* I've always hated that title for my generation. Remember when Pepsi tried to coin the phrase "Generation Next"? Equally bad. You want to know what I think of when I see X anything? Generic. Nice, huh? Anyway, at lunch I was flipping through an old issue of Ladies' Home Journal and ran across Workplace Wars and it got me thinking about the differences in the generations.

For the purposes of this post, we're using the following terms:
Baby Boomer (Boomer): Those born in the post-war era; between 1946 and 1964
Generation X (Gen X): Those born between 1965 and 1980
Millennials: The new kids on the block; born between 1981 and 2000

The Clinic
I work in a multi-specialty medical office (2 primary care providers and 2 chiropractors) and though we don't have "wars" between the generations, we definitely have our share of differences in opinion. There are 4 practitioners, 7 nurses/medical assistants and 7 reception/billing staff. The breakdown of ages goes like this: Of the 18 people, we have 11 Boomers (60%), 2 Gen X-ers (12%) and 5 Millennials (28%).

For the most part, we get along. We should all be so lucky to have such a great job and great employers! However, when things go wrong and somebody is shown the door, who do you think it is? More often than not, it's a Millinneal. Why? Because they're not putting in the necessary effort to get the basics of the job done. Or they're constantly on their personal phone or on the computer doing whatever. Or because they just don't *hear* what their "elders" are telling them over and over again and refuse to see the point.

On the Boomers: "They (Boomers) believe in working hard, dressing appropriately, logging long hours, and paying their dues." Do I agree with this? Absolutely. It's what I based my working life on. It's what my parents taught me.

On the Gen X-ers: "(Gen X-ers) grew up in an era of feminism, divorce, working moms, and latchkey kids. Between Watergate, recession, and mass layoffs, cynicism became one of their defining characteristics." "They're independent, resilient, and extraordinarily creative and entrepreneurial, but they don't have much trust in institutions. They constantly look around for the next opportunity; they travel light." Do I agree with this? For me, personally? Not completely. My parents are not divorced. My mom worked IN the home. However, my parents taught me I had to work for what I wanted, therefore, I am (very) independent, resilient and creative. But to disagree with the last statement, I am not always looking around for the latest and greatest - I am very loyal. However, I guess I'm one of the lucky ones because I see a lot of "kids" my age who are not as driven, who don't have the same work ethic.

On the Millennials: "Millennials are technokids, glued to their cell phones, laptops, and iPods. They've grown up in a world with few boundaries and think nothing of forming virtual friendships through the Internet or disclosing intimate details about themselves on social networking sites. And, many critics charge, they've been so coddled and overpraised by hovering parents that they enter the job market convinced of their own importance." "Workers of this generation are known for their optimism and energy -- but also their demands." Do I agree with this? Mostly. I've always considered myself the "kid" in an office setting, but I've come to realize that I'm no longer the "kid" - these kids are. It is hard to believe I'm working with people who were born when I was in high school!! That was a little off the point. Anyway, definitely technokids - constantly on the phone and the computer, having to force themselves away back to the working world. However, I don't know about the "coddling" or "hovering" parents because if that were true, wouldn't these kids have better work ethic? Wouldn't they understand that in order to keep their jobs, they have to actually do some work? Or is it that their parents were SO hovering that they didn't have to lift a finger at home? They didn't have to work for their allowances and therefore don't understand that wants = work? Now, the last statement about their demands, I totally agree with. They're all about instant gratification. If they see something they don't like, they'll say something about it and expect it to be fixed to their specifications.

The article brings up the comparison of "dressing appropriately". If there's anything that separates these three generations, "dressing appropriately" is it! In the clinic, the dress code is simple: business casual (slacks, skirts, blouses, polo shirts, etc). The medical assistants have to wear scrubs, but even that can be skewed. We used to have "casual Friday", but some of the people took that too literally and would wear shirts with major cleavage and super tight pants. WTH people?! This is a BUSINESS. And to make matters worse, those people were usually at the front desk. Our front line, if you will. I used to be an instructor for a medical secretary (receptionist) class. We covered a section on interviews and resumes. At one point, I asked the students to put together an outfit they'd wear to an interview. You would not believe the outfits they brought to class!! I brought my standard interview outfit in - khaki pants, blouse and nice shoes. You should've seen all the super short skirts and flip flops. Seriously! Did their parents not teach them anything?! I don't care how great you were in the interview - if you showed up wearing flip flops, you weren't going to get the job. Period. Don't even get me started with the respect issue. There shouldn't be an issue with that...but there is. I know you've seen it. It's a big reason why customer service has gone to land far, far away.

This also brings the whole tattoo culture in to play. Tattoos are becoming more accepted in the general population, but like everything else, they have their time and place. I like tattoos. I have four tattoos, but they're all easily concealed. In fact, I got my first job in New Mexico because the woman who interviewed me remembered my tattoo. But, that's far from the norm. The majority of the Millinneals in my office have tattoos. Some cover their art better than others. But when a patient complains about one of those people, they usually don't remember their names, but they definitely remember "that girl with the (insert image here) tattoo". I'm all for self-expression, but like I said before...this is still a business.

Enough ranting. What about the good stuff? Each generation has good things to teach the next. The Boomers show us that a little hard work really can pay off in the end. I think we all take pride in our work, at least most of us, and nobody does that better than a Boomer. Millinnials get their work done, they just do it quicker because of the constant use of technology. They usually don't have to work extra hours just to get the job done because they're so good at multitasking (which they've had to do from day One). The Gen X-ers? We're kinda the best of both worlds. While we started out working face-to-face, we've been able to incorporate technology in a way that complements rather than distracts us.

As for me? Oh, I'm a Gen X-er, but I lean more toward the values and work ethics of the Boomers. My parents (smack in the middle of the Boomers) taught me right. I'm not saying that the Millinnials are bad, they just have a lot to learn. Is there hope for the Millinnials? I sure hope so. If there isn't, I'd hate to see the unemployment lines in about five years. In the start of this post I said that I didn't like the term Generation X. I like it better now. Why the change of heart? At least I'm not a "Millinnial".

After my read-through before posting, I realize that it sounds like I'm bashing the Millinials. Do I mean to? Kinda. I am not, however, pointing my finger at any one person. This has been more of a general rant at whomever wishes to listen. Agree with me or not, but how many times have you thought "What is with the youth today?" - even as I still consider myself to be the "youth of today".

Listening to: The Hollow by A Perfect Circle
Mood: Gen X-ish

Perfection In A Bottle

Happy Hump Day, Kitschies!! I was going to post last night, but I just wasn't feeling "it". Tonight, with huge thanks to my new favorite nail polish, I'm feeling "it". It's amazing how something as simple as a pretty color can snap you out of a case of the meh's.

I know I am the millionth person to do a review of this color, but I don't care. I have seen all of the reviews. I have seen all the pictures. Even after all the ooohs and aaaahs from everybody, I was skeptical about this color. But...I put up a poll on my blog to see what color I should go for and this color got the most votes - by far! So, I decided to trust everyone and went with it. I asked the BFF which color (of the 8 from the exchange) I should go for first and initially she said this one, but I decided to go with Ki first. I do love Ki, but this is a different girl altogether. I give you Zoya's Charla. From the Sparkle Collection, Charla is truly a mermaid in a bottle!

Full sun

Indoors, indirect sun (most true to color)

Indoors with flash

Closeup of glittery goodness (in bottle)

I don't like to admit when I'm wrong - my husband can attest to that - but I was definitely wrong about Charla. This is an amazing color with so much depth. Oh, she is so sparkly! I can not wait to see this in the bright morning sun tomorrow. How pathetic do I sound? LOL To see this color in the bottle is one thing, but after two coats, I was in awe of her beauty. I was afraid the finish would be bumpy because I was sure it couldn't be smooth with all that sparkle, but it's not bumpy at all. I am so impressed with the Zoya colors and I am stunned by this beauty. So much so that I am considering ordering another (or two) from the Sparkle collection. I'm thinking I'm gong to be adding Mimi and Ivanka to my collection. Soon. I must have them! LOL

Enough sappiness about a polish (of all things!). Yesterday morning, when we were getting ready for the day, I saw something jump around in the corner of my eye. I looked out the back door and I saw a little baby cottontail. I went and grabbed my sons and the hubs grabbed the camera. He was pretty fast and escaped out through the fence, but the hubs was able to grab a good pic of the little guy.


That's it for this evening, my dear readers. I'm going to go relax under the vent of the cooler and watch some Tosh.0 - I'm so glad Daniel didn't have to wear Cosby sweaters this season.

Listening to: Who's Cryin' Now by Journey
Mood: awed

Kabob-a-bob-bob

Evening, Kitschies. It's Monday. Meh. The weekend was better than Monday. Pretty much every day is better than Monday. Though, if you take out Monday, that means Tuesday is the new Monday and nobody wants that!!

Yesterday was Father's Day. Was it a restful day for the hubs? Nope. We had his Dad over for dinner and some swing set building. Fun! Nate was happy to have something in the backyard to play on/with other than dirt and some trucks. I told him that way we don't have to go to the park ever again. He wasn't very happy about that. LOL Since it was Father's Day, I told the hubs what we ate was up to him. I would get it ready, but he had to chose it. He decided on a dish we like to do once or twice a Summer. I guess it's officially Summer for us!

Neil & his Dad on Father's Day - swing set time!

Southern Style Mustard BBQ Chicken Kabobs

1 1/2 cups catsup
1 cup prepared mustard
1/2 to 2/3 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Equal Spoonful*
2 Tbsp stick butter or margarine
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp maple flavoring
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 small yellow summer squash, cut crosswise into 1-inch slices
12 medium mushroom caps
1 large red or green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
*May substitute 12 packets Equal sweetener

Mix all ingredients, except chicken and vegetables, in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce is hot and butter is melted.

Assemble chicken cubes and vegetables on skewers; grill over medium heat 10 to 15 minutes until chicken is no longer pink, turning occasionally and basting generously with sauce. Bring remaining sauce to a boil in small saucepan. Boil 5 minutes. Serve with kabobs.

NOTES: Soak wooden skewers in water for 1 hour prior to grilling - it helps to keep them from burning to ash. We have a hard time getting the chicken cooked through without destroying the veggies. This time we marinated the chicken pieces in the sauce then partially cooked the chicken. Once partially cooked, we put them on the skewers with the veggies and then threw them on the grill until completely cooked.




Now come with me for a bit. This is kind of a little walk along a path that my mind took while writing this post. I've been all over Silversun Pickups the last couple of weeks. I heard about them months ago, but I finally downloaded their latest disc: Swoon. I. LOVE. IT. They're reminiscent of early 90s grunge. But. That is NOT a chick singing. I couldn't believe it, so I looked it up. Nope. That's a guy. He's got a cool voice, but I just cannot see his face with his voice. It just doesn't fit. And it bugs me. LOL I find myself daydreaming about it while listening to the songs. *sigh* Why does this bug me so much? Yeah. I'm strange. Welcome to my world. Another thing. That mustache. It's gotta go. Seriously. Check out the link at the bottom of the post for the video. Oh, and I think that Panic Switch would make an awesome song for Rockband!! Wait. It's already available. WOOT!! LMAO I crack myself up.

Listening to: The Royal We by Silversun Pickups
Mood: perplexed

5 Random Things

I stole this from the lovely, very interesting, Nailstah. Sit back, relax and enjoy the info!

1. When I was a kid, we raised rabbits. We traveled all over California, with the rabbits in the back of the mini van, to various shows. Between my mom, sister and I, we had American Fuzzy Lops, Himalayans, and Mini Lops; my dad had Mini Rex. We were away at shows pretty much every weekend and once the fair rolled around, we were there EVERY day. Oh, did I mention we showed sheep for a while, too?

2. I was a band nerd. At one point, I was the head band nerd (read: drum major), but I found boys (one in particular, actually) and that put an end to that. I played piccolo and flute and was pretty darn good at it. I was in county honor band and/or orchestra more times that I care to count/admit. I haven't played much since moving to New Mexico, but I do love it. There's just not enough hours in the day to fit everything in.

3. I'm married to a comic nerd. Yep. And if you don't think he's certifiable - just ask me about it. He has a 6' x 8' "comic coffin" where he stores all of his books. Well, not all the books, but a lot of them. I never thought I was "in" to that kind of thing, but now I really dig it. The art, the story, the whole thing. I like watching movies based on comic books. The garage is plastered with comic art and posters - one of the walls is covered with a plastic holder that holds individual books by whatever artist or author he likes at the time. It scarred me for life once when we were moving it, so it will always be a part of me. He is working on a dream of his with his BFF: Ego Comics. OK - so that last one wasn't really about me, but he's part of me, so it counts!

4. I have 4 tattoos. A band of music notes around my right ankle I got when I was 18 (I think - that was a long time ago). A tribal red, white & blue scarab on my lower back (I don't remember when I got that one). A fairy encircled by a vine. I was scheduled to get that one on September 11th. THE September 11th. Needless to say, I got it a week later on 9/18. An N on my left wrist in a script that I made. The N is for my son, Nate. I plan on getting at least 2 more: an M for my son, Mason and a hummingbird. Don't know where and don't know when. But sometime. LOL

5. I'm an information whore! If I find something new, I have to learn everything I can about it. If that means I have to buy multiple books on the subject, I do. If that means I have to buy various/multiple supplies to do it, I do. Case in point: When I was pregnant the first time, I signed up for every website, read every book, got every pamphlet I could. When I was pregnant the second time, I did the same exact thing. I'm the same with cookbooks. Maybe it's a little bit of hoarder in me...?

I tag whoever hasn't been tagged yet and wants to do this! I love reading and learning about all my readers! =D If you don't have a blog please comment below =D

This IS love!

Happy weekend, Kitschies! I hope you're enjoying your weekend and you're getting some much deserved R&R. I, however, am not. Yet. The hubs and his BFF went camping last night. I was at a backyard gathering with the boys until around 11:00. My older son did not get to sleep until after 11:30. He staggered in to my room and wiggled his way in to my bed around 4. We were abruptly awaken by the smoke alarms going off - for no reason - at 4:30. Grrrrrr!! I was hoping against all hope that the boys would sleep in this morning. No such luck. They were both bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:30. I definitely was not. The younger one is sleeping now, but I know as soon as I get the older one down, the younger one will wake up. No rest for the wicked!

OK. I'm done complaining about that.




I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Zoya polish exchange order ALL week! I would lurk around the front office of my clinic waiting for the mail to come in. Nothing but disappointment day after day. Then, when I get home late last night, I see a Zoya box on the table!! WOOT!! The hubs didn't even mention I had gotten it. Even though I was exhausted, I tore open the box as soon as I got the boys to bed. Let me tell you - it was love at first sight! The colors are gorgeous, even in the bottles! With my fitful night of sleep, I dreamed about these dang bottles on and off all night. Pathetic? Here's what I got.

First up are two colors my BFF wanted: Roxy and Eve.

Roxy: Sheer red-toned purple base loaded with bright purple glitter. A must-have shade for any rock star or glamour girl.

Eve: Saturated berry-red with strong violet and fuchsia duochrome shimmer. Great for a bold manicure or pedicure.

Next are the 8 colors I *finally* chose.

Yasmeen: Dark blue-toned purple base with very strong red-toned medium purple shimmer and hints of gold duochrome. The ultimate complex purple for maximum drama.

Ki: A complex multichromatic shade combining silver, purple, blue and green in a shimmery metallic finish. A unique shade for a truly fascinating nail look.

Adina: Violet metallic multichrome. A frosty hint of green and magenta creates a unique "oil-slick" look.

Reece: Rose metallic duochrome. A frosty hint of gold creates a unique "oil-slick" rose-gold.


Delilah: Bright red glitter in a cool toned cherry red base. The fiery, glimmering red that can add glamour to any look.

Lianne: A juicy medium tangerine fused with fine gold shimmer. A cheerful and stylish way to accent any outfit.

Charla: Tropical blue sparkling metallic. An expensive-looking metallic shade for summer.

Ibiza: Blackened indigo-blue brightened slightly by subtle metallic blue shimmer. This bold blue is the new black for nails.


Miscellaneous comments on the colors: Eve is the perfect color for my BFF. She is obsessed with pink with blue shimmers. This is what she wanted! Though Yasmeen, Ki and Adina are all purple duochromes, they're all so different. I've never seen colors like this. Delilah is AMAZING in the sun! Oh, Delilah...where have you been all my life? It's such a beautiful red jelly that glows in the sun. Charla is so much prettier in person than on their website. I've seen a multitude of reviews of Charla and I was kinda unsure but now that I have it in my hot little hands, I'm so glad I went with it. Ibiza is going to be the perfect winter color. My only question is: When is Zoya going to come out with holos?

I've said it before, but it warrants another mention. The Zoya polish exchange program runs through June 30th. If you haven't done this - do it quick because you're about out of time! I'm contemplating another exchange but don't know if I'll be able to decide on 6 more colors in time. LOL I probably won't post about ALL of the colors I got, but I will post some, though it won't be a mass swatch party, either. In due time, my friends. All in due time.

Disclaimer: These polishes were not provided to me for review by Zoya, they were purchased by me through the Zoya Polish Exchange Program. All color descriptions are per the Zoya website.

Babbling Brooke Blogaversary!

Wow! Say that three times fast!!

Babbling Brooke is celebrating her upcoming 2nd blogaversary in July and is holding a HUGE giveaway!! There will be a total of 10 (yes, 10!) winners. She has been teasing us with pictures of all the goodies, but now is the time to start the real fun. Brooke's blog is about the pretty, pretty world of polish - all the good stuff!

You're probably asking yourself: Self? What do I have to do to sign up? Well...all you have to do to is go visit her blog, check out her GIGANTIC giveaway and become a follower of Babbling Brooke. How easy is that? Of course there are other ways to gain extra entries.

Just look at all that great stuff!! Seriously!!!

And this is what the GRAND PRIZE WINNER will receive...

So, what are you waiting for?! Go! Run. Don't walk!! You won't be sorry. Check in with her, say hi and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you. :D

Freecycle Friday

TGIF!! I don't know about you, but I am READY for this work week to be finished! We only have one doc in this morning, so the day is really dragging. But...the one who's here bought bagels. Nice!! And, some of the staff are heading over to his place after work for a little BBQ. It'll be nice to see my co-workers out of the office for a change.

On to the goods! Earlier this week I got a reply from somebody through Freecycle telling me they have a bunch of polish for me. *squee* We decided on a time and I went to pick up the goods. Let me tell you - this time around was much better than the first! The first experience netted me 3 polishes which I promptly put aside for my Zoya polish exchange package. There are a couple keepers in this batch! I got somewhere around 30 polishes. Take a look!! Oh, and BTW, the hubs and BFF think I'm crazy. LOL

The whole group - look at all my lovelies!

The Frenches, clears and whites - might use a couple of these

The reds! I love red, but I really don't have any in my collection. Now I do. :D

PINKS! I used to have some of the Revlon colors once upon a time. Kinda glad to have them back. And that little Este Lauder looks promising! It's a rose with enough gold shimmer to almost classify it as a duo.

Purples - The Avon color is OLD but I think the formula is still good. It's a pretty lilac with a blue shimmer. The Revlon, Purple Fusion, is UGLY. LOL

Everything else. This is a weird mishmash of colors. Glittery, frosty blue; pale blue; plain black; some weird frosty pale colors and an interesting burnt orange shimmer.

I'm definitely not promising a swatch of all of these - that would take me forever! But, when I do end up using these, I'll mention that it's from my Freecycle stash and link to this post.

Have you used Freecycle before? If you have, what have you gotten/given? I haven't given anything yet, but I'm scoping out my stuff to see what I can offer up.

Listening to: Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes (I'm at work or I wouldn't be listening to this!)
Mood: Meh.