TCB, baby. TCB!

That's what I'm doin' today: TCB!  In case you're not an Elvis fan, circa 1969-77, you probably have no idea what I'm talkin' 'bout.  I am Taking Care of Business.  And I'm not talking about the lame BTO TCB, either.  LOL  Enough abbreviations for you?  Anyway, the hubs is away tonight and tomorrow night, so it's just me and the kidlets.  Luckily, Mason is feeling much better, though now he's all boogery.  And Nate was a good boy today, so I let him choose Sonic or McD's for dinner - thankfully he chose Sonic.  Now Mason's in bed and Nate's plugged in to the Wii.  I decided to squeeze in this post while I wait for the hubs to call.

OK.  So.  I have a variation of TCB for you tonight.  But, instead of TCB, it's CBT.  I got this recipe from my very favoritest ever cookbook: The Aunties' Catering Company Annotated Cookbook, First Edition, Christmas 2005.  Long name...amazing results.  LOL  This cookbook was put together by my aunts on my Dad side and it's full of traditional family recipes and some of their own favorite recipes.  I love this book!  It's in a 3" ring binder and it's FULL!  Not only are there tons of family recipes, there are notes and stories and memories that accompany a lot of the recipes.  See how it's from 2005?  Yeah, well, I only get home every other Christmas and SOMEHOW, I didn't know they handed these out until 2006!  Somebody just happened to mention the book and my ears perked up...WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A FAMILY COOKBOOK AND WHERE'S MINE?!  I think I found out about it a little before Christmas 2006, so when I made it home that year, I got mine.  Finally.  How could they forget me?!  LOL  So, without further adieu, here's the recipe.

Chicken Breasts Tarragon

2 whole chicken breasts, partially boned and halved

Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp dried tarragon
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Place chicken in zipper bag and add marinade.  Marinate for 3 to 4 hours.

Melt 2 Tbs butter in an ovenproof fry pan.  Turn chicken pieces in melted butter.  Place pieces skin side down in fry pan.  Bake at 325* for 1 hour, turning pieces after half hour.  Remove chicken to serving platter and keep warm.

To pan juices, add:
2 green onions, sliced fine, and saute for 2 minutes

Add:
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup dry Vermouth
juice of 1 lemon

Simmer to reduce sauce.  Stir to loosen any browned bits from pan.  Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

NOTES:  I don't used boned chicken, so instead used 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves.

I don't know why I didn't get more pictures of this during cooking.  Either way, it was so good!  And it reminded me of my Grammie while it was cooking.  Maybe it was the smell of the tarragon or the Vermouth, but it reminded me of her kitchen.  Do you have a favorite family recipe that reminds you of good times with your family?

Somebody else liked it, too!  I had the leftovers for lunch the next day.  I don't usually reheat chicken, but it was awesome cold. 

I mentioned in a post a while back that the bestie and I (and our hubs who also happen to be besties) are going for an adults-only weekend in mid October.  We're headed to Ruidoso, NM for two WHOLE nights!!  And we're staying in this cabin:

Image source

It has been a LONG time since we escaped without any kids and it's never been for just a go and come back camping trip.  And the last time we went on said camping trip was August 2008!  I'd say we're overdue.  This impending trip is just over two weeks away, and to tide me over til then, I'll share a couple pictures of our camping trip way back in '08.

This is the beautiful Makeup Zombie (aka: Wendi, and she's probably gonna kill me for posting these) and me.  This is the next morning, so there's no makeup and a hat was a must (for me, anyway).

Also the next morning.  Wendi and her hubs on the left.  Me and my hubs on the right.

Wendi on the bottom, me on the top middle and my goofy hubs on the top right.  Wendi's hubs is conveniently ducking out of the picture.

Bumps on a log.  Me, my hubs, Wendi and her hubs.  Thanks to Wendi's hubs for bringing the tripod.  That guy is *always* prepared.  And usually more prepared than he needs to be.  Granted, we're talking about camping trips, but he's a pretty good guy to have around, nonetheless.  Ugh!  I am practically counting down the hours til we leave for Ruidoso!!!  Wendi...can't we just go now and have the guys meet us up there?!

So...there's your daily dose of random from me.  Enjoy your evening (or day, depending where in the world you are at the moment) and we'll talk again tomorrow. 

 

Matte About You?

Yeah, if Matte means MAD.  LOL

Hello, my dear Kitschies!  I hope this evening finds you well.  It's Tuesday, and that means Parenthood is on tonight!  WOOT!  But...the hubs is getting ready to leave out of town for two nights tomorrow, so I'm sure we won't be sitting down to watch TV tonight.  *sigh*  Mason had a better day today.  He only had a very low-grade fever and was in much better spirits.  I think last night was the worst of it.  He's still not 100%, but he's getting there.  As for me, I didn't have much of a headache this afternoon and I think it's because I got an adjustment by one of the chiropractors I work with.  We'll see how I feel in the morning.  For now, though, I'll take a chance and say that I'm also on the mend.

A couple weeks ago, after I received some awesome polish from a giveaway through Glamorous Geek Chic, I could not wait to do something with at least ONE of the polishes.  While the hubs and I watched The Hurt Locker (good movie, BTW), I decided to play around with a matte polish and one of the pretty ChG Vintage Vixen colors.

This is Maybeline Express Finish in Matte Sapphire and ChG Jitterbug.  I picked up Matte Sapphire months ago at the Dollar Tree, and it's a good thing I only paid a buck for it because it is the suck.  It doesn't dry matte, it dries semi-matte and the application is gloppy and just yuck.  Luckily, I had ChG Matte Magic top coat, so I slapped a coat of that on top of "Matte" Sapphire.  I also added it on top of Jitterbug because it's a pretty glossy gunmetal silver foil.  When I was finished, I showed the hubs and he basically said "that's it?" and I decided to experiment with some fauxnad.

Thing is, you can't really see the image.  I used Jitterbug (silver) on top of the "Matte" Sapphire and visa versa.  I used the vine-y image from BM21.  It was kinda pretty IRL, but in pictures, it was really hard to pick up.  I was so disappointed with this mani, I took it off by the following afternoon. 

I don't really get the whole matte thing.  Unless it's for something specific (case in point), I really don't see why somebody would rather have a matte finish over a pretty, catch-your-eye glossy finish.  The same can be said of Orly's Plastix collection (as shown by The Manicured Manitee here).  Is there something about matte polishes that I'm just not seeing?  Wait.  I can think of one exception: Hot Mess by Man Glaze.  That is a gorgeous matte, but definitely the exception.

I promise to have a better, far superior mani to share with you next time.  Promise!

So...the hubs is out tomorrow night and Thursday night, so cross your fingers that 1) Mason feels better because I don't want to deal with a sick kid and a 4-year-old who has WAY too much energy and 2) that they cooperate enough to go to bed at their regular time.  Sweet dreams, Kitschies!

Not So Manic Monday

Not at work today...the Bug has a bug. :(  His chest is congested, he has a fever and is just all-around not feeling well.  As for me, I still have a pounding headache (today is day 3) and I think I've had a fever on and off.  Whatever this is, it's not fun.  I'm just glad it's not a stomach bug!!  *whew*

I made this recipe waaaay back in early August for an office pot-luck for the August birthdays.  I asked the other August girl what kind of dessert she wanted and she said: chocolate.  So...I went to my go-to online recipe site Allrecipes and printed out a couple for her to chose from.  This was the winner (and it really was).


Chocolate Chews
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Melt the chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. Stir to evenly melt. 

Cream together the butter and sugars until light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture slowly. Blend thoroughly. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 12 to 14 minutes. Let sit on cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing to a rack to cool. 

NOTES:  Even with rolling the dough in to balls, this was super easy.  The dough wasn't too sticky so you didn't have to scrape off your hands between batches.  I really liked these cookies because they baked up picture-perfect and they weren't too sweet.  

Pretty little balls make pretty little cookies!  I forgot to mention that I used parchment paper instead of greasing the cookie sheets.  Parchment paper makes a lot less mess and you can reuse the paper and don't have to wash the cookie sheets between batches.

For once, the cookies came out looking just as good as the pictures.  These were good cooled, but they were super good still warm!

There was SOOO much food!!  When an office potluck comes around, I'm designated dessert maker, which I don't mind because I like to bake.  That day we had pizza and salad from Dion's (a local pizza and sub place), green chile chicken enchiladas (yum!), red chile posole, stuffed sopapillas, an awesome fresh fruit tart and a super cute ladybug cake.  I'm sure there was more than I remember, but even *that's* enough!

So, I'm home with the sick kiddo today, but that doesn't mean I'm lazing around the house (even though I probably should).  I picked up the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook at the library on Saturday and I noted all the recipes I want to try before I give it back (can you say: copy machine?).  One of those recipes is in the oven now!  If you're lucky, I'll post that recipe (and it's a good one!) later on this week. 

Well, I'm off to go do my nails and get my fill of America's Next Top Model (there's a mini-marathon on Oxygen).  Thanks for all the well-wishes to my little one.  I'm sure he'll be better soon, but he'll soak up all the extra cuddles he can in the meantime. 

Whoa, Tainted Love

Whoa!  THAT'S a bad video.  LOL  Happy Saturday, Kitschies!  In case you didn't notice, I haven't been around for a couple of days.  Why?  Work has been busy, as usual, and then I just haven't felt much like getting on the computer when I get home.  I was planning on doing a post last night, but dinner took much longer to cook than expected and by the time we ate, the hubs and I decided to just veg instead of working out and working on the computer.   Either way, the work week is over and it's been a typically busy weekend.  I took Nate to the library this morning, where he picked out 5 books to check out.  I grabbed two cookbooks for myself.  I know the hubs is happy that I've rediscovered the library and am no longer buying cookbooks - at least for now.  After that I headed over to a friend's house to paint her and her daughters' nails.  We planned on doing a lime green and purple water marble but that was a big fat fail (I think the green was too thin), so I ended up doing something a little more simple.  I'll tell you about that in another post soon.  I came home, ate lunch and realized that Mason had a fever when I got him up from his nap.  Wonderful.  I'm not 100% convinced that he's sick yet, but considering Nate had something that started like that last weekend, I won't be surprised when he spikes another fever later on this evening.  Then the hubs went to the studio, so I've been home with the kidlets all afternoon.  They're eating right now, so I have a few minutes to work on this post.

Last week (or the week before), I ran across a post that reminded me of a great color I had, but had yet to use.  In fact, Nate saw the picture of the green and said "Oooh!  That's a pretty color, Mommy!"   I also remembered that as soon as I saw posts on this collection, I had to have it!  This is Tainted Love from Ulta Glam Goth mini collection. 

I thought it was going to be really difficult to apply this polish because the bottles are so tiny (hence the mini), but I really had no trouble at all.  Tainted love is a gorgeous green base with green & gold shimmer.  Some day I'll use it on my whole nail because it really is pretty.  This is taken indoors with flash.

Outdoors, direct sunlight.  Ugh!  My nails are so stained!  I'm sure I can tell more than your average Joe, but I see it an it drives me bonkers.  I'd love to just let them breathe for a week, but I really don't know that I could.  Anyway, I used French mani guide stickers to do the tips.  I'm sure I could do it free-hand, but I don't mind cheating. :)  As much as I liked the green tips, I wasn't quite finished with this mani.

So...I grabbed some black acrylic paint and my striping brush and did a thin line just under the green tip and then dragged out a couple "feathers" to make a simple little design.  And to accent the tiny gold sparkle in the green, I added just a touch of gold glitter with a Art Club striping polish.

And just one more picture for good measure.  Oh!  While I'm thinking about it...I have horribly ridged nails - especially on my ring and pinky finger on my left hand.  If you click the pics to make them big, you can really see the ridges.  I asked the Sallys girl what ridge filler she recommended and I picked it up, but I'm not really impressed.  Do any of you use ridge filler?  If yes, which one do you use?  How 'bout ones you don't like?  Is there such a thing as non-milky white ridge filler?

Enough with the questions!!  Tonight is a two-fer post.  I've been meaning to post this one for-EVA, so I'm finally remembering tonight.  Better late than n-EVA!

A couple months ago (yes, months), I borrowed this beauty from a co-worker.  This is SH HD Blu.  She'd always worn it with multiple layers, but I saw it layered over black it glowed.  So, I slapped on a coat of SH Xtreme Wear Black Out and the layered a couple coats of Blu over top.  It. was. gorgeous!  It almost made me want to wear sandals to work.

This was taken outside with direct sun.  It was a kinda messy application (not because of the polish but because I suck at pedis), but seeing the bits of black around the edges makes it look kinda cool.

And...this was taken indoors with flash.  This glows, even without bright light!  I wore this until big chunks were missing.  Now I have to go out and get this color for myself.   Thanks, Kim. *sigh*

I think it's about bed time for the monkeys here in the house.  After they go down (easily, I'm hoping), I'm going to do some work around the house and then do a little Konading on my poll winner: OPI Ski Teal We Drop.  I'll be posting that some time next week.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  The countdown to the Kitschy Suburbia/Makeup Zombie adult-only weekend begins on October 1st. I. can. not. wait.

Listening to: Scooby Doo
Mood: tired

A Little Dash of This

The work week...it's half OVER!!  It was a pretty good day.  The sunrise this morning was spectacular.  It was very cloudy all day which made it humid, but it started raining after lunch and it hasn't really stopped since then (over 5 hours at this point).  I love this kind of weather.  I really wanted to leave work, go home, hide out all by myself and read a book or do absolutely nothing and veg on the couch.  I didn't get to do that, but the hubs did make a great dinner of grilled steak, garlic shells and beans for me when I got home.  I guess that about makes up for not being able to hide away this afternoon.  Take a gander at what I saw on my way in to work this morning.  This was taken with my phone camera.

Now on to the good stuff.

When it comes to recipes, I usually follow them to. the. letter.  I am not one of those people who can just throw a little bit of this, a dash of that, together to make a dish.  Nope.  I have to have direction.  Complete direction.  But, I went a little out of my comfort zone with this recipe.  I combined a recipe for Crunchy Ranch Fingers out of my Biggest Book of 30-Minute Meals and Fried Chicken Strips from Mrs Bettie Rocker to get a kid-friendly, somewhat healthy chicken chunk meal.

Oven Chicken Chunks
1 lb (or a little less) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 egg
1 cup milk

Rinse and pat dry chicken.  Cut chicken in to bite-size pieces.

In a shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic salt, basil, paprika and pepper.  Set aside.  In another shallow bowl, beat egg and combine with milk.  Dip chicken in to egg mixture, then bread crumb mixture.

Place in greased 9x13 baking pan.  Place in 425* oven for 20 minutes, turning once.

NOTES:  The recipe from MBR called for crushed saltines and then frying in oil.  I didn't have enough of either of those so I improvised.  The only thing I used from the 30-minute recipe, really, was the oven temperature and cooking time.

Just outta the oven.  I don't know that you really have to grease the bottom of the baking dish, but I did just in case. 

Served with peas, I added a little BBQ sauce for dipping - Jack Daniel's Spicy Original.  I would've used Chris & Pitt's BBQ sauce, but I can't find it in New Mexico.  Maybe I'll add it to my Christmas list.  LOL

Kid friendly!  Nate ate the 3 chunks I gave him and even asked for (and ate) more! Happy Mommy!

Mason?  Eh...he'll eat pretty much anything.  LOL

There ya go!  Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday evening.  I'm off to get the kiddo to bed so the hubs and I can cuddle on the couch, watch last night's Parenthood and then tonight's Tosh.0.  Oh...I slept better last night, but I *really* wanted to be waking up to Saturday - not Wednesday.   

Cherry Shop

Totally terrific Tuesday, Kitschies.  When I got to work this morning, I could've sworn it was Monday because none of computers would come up.  Apparently the Northeast Heights had a pretty good thunderstorm and it knocked our modem offline.  Once we got that fixed, we were good to go.  But then I was cursing our regular 8:00 patient because he wasn't there and it was already 8:15.  Oh.  Wait.  It's only Tuesday.  So, yeah.  That's how the day started.  Not to mention I didn't get as much sleep as I'd hoped because or smoke alarms went off 3 different times throughout the night.  For no particular reason.  I know they don't need batteries because we just changed them out in June.  *sigh*  Is a good, solid night of sleep too much to ask for? 

Tonight I bring you a mani I wore a week or so ago.  It feels a lot longer ago that just early last week, but that's about how my days go right now.  Anyway, I was inspired by ANOTHER Bottle of Polish's Live and Black Velvet post, so I decided to give it a go for myself.  I didn't want to completely replicate her nail art, so I went digging through my drawers and found a couple good colors.

This is Confetti Cherries Jubilee (a bold red-pink creme) and a color that I mixed from some loose eyeshadow I got from Suds n Sass called Tattoo Shop.  While it's a pretty color, I knew it wasn't going to be something I ever wore because it's a deep black base with purple and blue shimmer.  Click on the above picture to fully appreciate the blurple shimmery goodness. 

So, after being inspired again by a fellow blogger, Lacquer Wear for Tips and Toes, I decide to get a little creative and do a little frankening.  I don't really consider this a true franken because all I did was add a little of the Tattoo Shop eyeshadow in with a clear nail polish I don't use anymore.  Either way, the end result was so great!  Look at all that awesome shimmer!  I'd call this a black jelly with purple and blue shimmer.  Sorry the pic is so blurry, but it makes the shimmer really stand out.  It's kinda subtle once applied, but I really dig those "hidden" nail colors.  It's a little on the sheer side (probably could've added some more shadow), so I used this over one coat of SH Black Out (my go-to black creme).  And to borrow the name of the eyeshadow I used to "create" this, I'm calling it Tattoo Shop.  And a little more inspiration.  This time from Libby's Pink Vanity and her I Couldn't Leave Well Enough Alone post.

With my dotting tool, I placed dots with the Cherries Jubilee on Tattoo Shop and black acrylic paint (Tattoo Shop was too sheer for the dots to show up) on Cherries Jubilee.  I had this conversation with a patient: Pt: So...I have a question for you. Me: OK?  Pt: Why are two of your nails a different color (said in a very skeptical voice)?  Me: Ummm...because I can?  LOL  I don't know, just because.  Pt: OK.  I was just wondering.  I thought that was a funny thing to say.  It's not like I had a different color on each nail.  I find it so funny when people look at my nails and make silly comments - they must think I've lost my marbles.

One more picture just for the heck of it.  Thank you to all my lovely fellow bloggers for all their inspiration.  It's so neat to be able to surf through a blog and find things that you want to try for yourself...and then find out that you actually can do cool stuff like that!

Alrighty then.  I'm off to watch some Grey's Anatomy.  Not the new season.  No.  I'm not cool enough for *that*.  LOL  I'm a season behind because we didn't have a DVR this time last year.  So, I'm recording the new season and I'll get all caught up after I finish all of season 6.  Season 6?!  How is that even possible?!  I remember starting to watch Grey's when Nate was born (thanks to DVD box sets/Netflix).  Can somebody slow time down...*just* a little?  Really.

Listening to: Someday by The Strokes
Mood: kickin

Is it Fall, Yet?!

Good Monday evening, Kitschies.  I hope you made it through another Monday relatively unscathed.  It was a weird day at work.  We're pretty much running back at full-staff now, which is nice, but the pace was rather slow, for a change.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be able to not be so rushed, but there's a difference between steadily busy and bored out of my mind.  Today was very much the latter.  And tomorrow doesn't look any better.  *sigh*  I just can't win for losing.

Before I get too far in to the post, I just wanted to say welcome to all my newest followers.  I am just astounded at the amount of followers I have now!!  I never thought I'd get 10, let alone 130!  I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy putting it together.  Please know I appreciate each and every one of you and if I don't respond to a comment, I'm not ignoring you, it's just that work is where I do a lot of my blogging and it's been super busy lately.  But, I promise you, I will get to responding to all your comments eventually.  And if you have any suggestions or questions, please...let me hear them!!

Anyway, last week when I made this week's dinner menu, I was hoping against all hope that it would be cooler so I could start making some more "comfort"-type food.  Well, over the weekend it was dang near 90* and today was 87*.  Not exactly my idea of Fall.  Either way, I made this great chili, that I found in my Biggest Book of 30-Minute Meals, for Saturday's dinner.

White & Green Chili
1 lb unseasoned meat loaf mix (1/3 lb each ground beef, pork and veal), lean ground beef, or ground pork
1 small onion, chopped
2 15-oz cans Great Northern beans or white beans, rinsed and drained
1 16-oz jar green salsa (aka: salsa verde)
1 14-oz can chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup dairy sour cream (optional)

In a 4-quart Dutch oven combine meat loaf mix or ground meat and onion.  Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until meat is brown and onion is tender, breaking up pieces of meat with a spoon.  Drain off fat.  Stir in beans, salsa, chicken broth, and cumin into meat mixture in Dutch oven.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

To serve, stir in 1 Tbsp of the cilantro.  Divide among 4 serving bowls.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp cilantro.  If desired, top individual servings with sour cream.

NOTES:  I used a big fry pan because I don't have a Dutch oven (well, I have one, but it hides out under the covers in the bed).  I don't like cilantro, so I skipped that step completely.  And I also omitted the sour cream.  Both those things should pretty much be illegal in my book.  Even without those two ingredients, I liked this one!

I didn't have *quite* enough cumin to make 1 1/2 tsp, so I threw in a pinch or two of homemade taco seasoning (that has a lot of cumin in it).

I'm used to white chili meaning chicken, so next time I think I'll try this recipe with chicken instead of beef.  Both Neil and Mason really liked this.  It took a while to convince Nate that he'd like it, but once he finally decided to try it, he ate it all without complaining.  I *think* the hubs liked it, but he didn't get home until after 10:30 that night and I didn't wait up to see if he liked it or not.  I can tell you that there was none of it left in the fridge the next day, so that's a good sign.

I think that about does it for me tonight.  Nate is a little under the weather today and I'm on a shortened sleeping schedule thanks to him waking me up at 2:30 this morning because he had a fever.  It took me an hour to go back to sleep only to wake up again at 5.  Boooo!!  I'm hoping to get to bed a little earlier tonight and I also hope he doesn't get up in the middle of the night.  Poor little guy. :(

Coming up this week: A couple manis and a recipe for chocolate chew cookies and homemade chicken fingers/nuggets.  Speaking of manis, did you see the poll on the upper right of my page?  Be sure to vote (because I can't be bothered to make a decision as simple as "which color should I wear first?" LOL)!  Oh, and speaking of manis, again...has anybody hear from Polish Hoarder Disorder?  I severely miss her weekly challenges. 

Good night, my dear readers.  See you all tomorrow!

I Got Mail!

FINALLY!!!  We made it through the work week.  I don't know about you, but this week was particularly draining.  But it's not like the weekend is going to be much easier.  We have my nephew's birthday party tomorrow morning.  The hubs is helping his dad move his office back to his house and then going to Planet Ego for the monthly "Power Summit" (read: hide out from the wives day).  Sunday is a co-worker's daughter's birthday party in the afternoon.  I don't know about the kids, but I can tell I'll be ready for a nap!

I can say, though, that there was one definite bright spot in the week.  On Thursday, the mail man delivered an awesome package to me at work!  A couple weeks ago I found out that I had won a giveaway hosted by the lovely Kayla at Glamorous Geek Chic.  I signed up for her giveaway as fast as my little fingers could take me.  She was giving away 4 OPI polishes from the Fall collection and 6 (that's *half*) of the ChG Vintage Vixen collection (and it's the 6 that didn't suck, imho).  Take a looksee...

After fending off the nosy vultures at work, I unwrapped all the bottles to drool over their gorgeousness.  Each bottle was wrapped in bubble wrap - I appreciate the time she took to wrap all those because they arrived at my desk unscathed (until the nosy vultures got hold of them, anyway).

These close pics are in no way color accurate.  The first picture is a little better.  These are my first OPI polishes and I cannot wait to use them!  From back to front: Ski Teal We Drop, Yodel Me On My Cell, Diva of Geneva, and William Tell Me About OPI.  I get that OPI has cutesy little names, but some of them are pretty ridiculous.  But, it's their *thing*.

Ah...the ChG Vintage Vixen collection.  There's 12 in the collection, but I really can do without the others (except Foxy, but I already picked that one up).  If you click on the pic, you can see the names below the colors.  I'm excited about Swing Baby because I think it'll be perfect for stamping.

While I was out at lunch, I had to swing by CVS for something (don't even remember what it was at this point) and I *had* to check out their Confetti display.  I've heard that Confetti might be going away in the not so distant future, so I had to add a couple to my little collection that was started on my birthday, thanks to my bestie!

Click on the pics to make it bigger and to see the names.  Masquerade is a gorgeous deep burgundy sparkle in a dark base; Blue Bombshell reminds me a LOT of SH Blu (hence the restraining order); Smitten is packed with purple and blue sparkle.  Oh, and these are only $2, each.  The only drawback to some of these is that the brushes aren't always in the greatest shape.  It's like the brush is too long for the bottle and gets misshapen as a result.  Either way, it's two buck - I'm not going to complain (much).

Winning the giveaway was easy.  Now comes the hard part.  Which awesome Fall color do I chose first?  If you take a look at the upper right sidebar, you'll see there's a poll.  That's right!  I want YOU to pick for me.  Whatever the winner is by the end of the polling period, that's the one I'll wear and share on my blog.  I'm horrible at making decisions...and now I don't have to.

Have a wonderful weekend, my dear Kitschies!  If you dream tonight, I hope you have color dreams of Fall. 

Space Oddity

Ahhh...Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust days.  Gotta love the late 60's.  Awesome!!  ANYhoo...another wonderful day in the neighborhood today.  Work was busy (what else is new) and the boys were back with their grandma, so it really was business as usual.  I'm pretty tired tonight, so this post will be pretty short.

I know you've seen this beautiful color swatched.  And swatched.  And swatched, again.  But not by me!  LOL  So, you get to see it again...for the first time.  As soon as I started seeing bloggers swatching the Orly Cosmic FX collection, they all ended up at the top of my lemming list.  I got my Sally Beauty Supply flier and they were advertised in there...but I got the flier in August, so that meant I had to WAIT til September to get them.  Oh, the horror!  Last week I decided I just could not wait any longer.  I buzzed over to SBS on my lunch break and grabbed what I could.  I even had to ask if they had an extra Galaxy Girl in the back because they only had one and my bestie put in her request for one.  Luckily (for the bestie), they had one!  I also picked up Lunar Eclipse for her (and now I'm gonna have to go back and get one for myself because I underestimated her beauty).  The other color I grabbed two of (I'm surprised they had any at all, actually) was Space Cadet.

Orly Space Cadet is multichrome purple/green/gold shimmer in a transparent green base.  Yep.  Green base.  To say this is pretty is an understatement!  I couldn't stop staring at my fingers when I had this on.

*sigh*  Look how pretty this is!  Both the previous two pictures were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.  I got so many compliments with this mani - and it didn't even have any art on it! *gasp*  The removal of this wasn't too bad, either.  I was expecting it to be PITA because of all the glitter/shimmer, but it really wasn't.

Last, but definitely not least - this picture was taken outdoors in the shade.  See all the great colors there?  Green, gold, purple, dark purple.  No matter how many pictures I took to try to capture the awesomeness of this polish, I just couldn't quite get it.  This picture came the closest.

Short and sweet!  One more thing: I received my giveaway package from "geeky" Kayla at Glamorous Geek Chic today.  OMG!  There are sooo many gorgeous polishes in that box (10, to be exact) and I want to wear them all. right. now.  How am I ever going to decide?  Maybe I'll put together a poll...

Until tomorrow, Kitschies!   

Holy Yummy Breakfast, Batman!

It's a wild and crazy Wednesday, my dear readers!  We got a call early this morning from my MIL telling us that she won't be able to watch the boys today.  You all know how busy it's been at work lately, so I've been needing/wanting a day away from the place, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.  The hubs has a food show today, so there was no way he'd be able to stay home with the little ones.  Either way, I'm home; the house is somewhat quiet because Mason is napping (for now, anyway) and Nate is playing Lego Star Wars.  So, before Mason wakes up and Nate gets tired of playing Wii (not bloody likely), I figured I'd get in a post.

On the weekends we like to make breakfast.  Usually it's the usual pancakes or waffles or some sort of eggs.  Tired of the "usual", I went looking for something different on Allrecipes.  I found two awesome recipes that I'll share with you today.

Wonderful Waffles
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
3 egg whites

Preheat waffle iron. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Blend in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. 

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.

Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray, or lightly brush with oil. Ladle the batter onto preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately. 

NOTES:  I don't normally have buttermilk on hand, so I did a quick search for buttermilk substitute and came up with a comparable replacement: 1 Tbsp lemon juice and enough milk to make 1 cup.  Seemed good to me!  You can really taste the brown sugar in this so you didn't need a whole lot of syrup.  I made these today for the boys and they both gobbled them up!

My Dad and I must be from the same school of thought when it comes to making waffles: If you don't make a mess, you're not doing it right.  LOL

Fluffy Canadian Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites

In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Stir in milk and egg yolk until smooth. 

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

NOTES:  I don't have a clue what makes the "Canadian" pancakes.  Can any of my Canadian readers clue me on this?  These pancakes are SOOOO good!  Sweet, light, fluffy.  MUCH better than the run of the mill Bisquick pancakes we usually make.  Both of these recipes are a little time consuming, but totally worth the extra effort!

Both actual food pictures came from Allrecipes.com

Listening to: Can't Buy Me Love by Paul McCartney (no, not The Beatles)
Mood: A little stressed

Think Horses

...and not zebras.  That's a rip-off of something they teach you in med school.  When you hear hoof beats, think horse, not zebra.  In other words, don't look too far in to something because, chances are, the solution (or, in this case, diagnosis) is simple.

Good evening, Kitschies!  We made it through Tuesday, and I. am. tired.  Being so bogged down at work is really kicking me in the booty.  I am beyond grateful to have a job, much less one that I love.  But, I'm ready for things to go back to normal.  I just have to be patient - and anybody who knows me will tell you (readily) that I wasn't patient enough to stand in line when god handed out patience. 

I must've been tired the night I tried this mani.  The afternoon before I did this, I emailed my bestie and asked her what I should do.  First thing out of her "mouth" was ZEBRA!  OK, then.  Let's do this thing!

I started off with Sally Hansen Black Out on all but my ring fingers and then Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go! on the ring fingers.  EC,EG is a bright silver foil - great consistency, 2 coats for complete coverage and perfect for stamping.  This was my first attempt at a whole-nail stamp.  I had some difficulty.

It didn't look bad, but it didn't look good.  I got really frustrated because I couldn't line up the image exactly right.  I had to overlap some of the design (you can really tell on my ring finger).  I got lots of compliments with this mani, but I was not impressed with myself.  I know, I know.  Practice makes perfect.  But, we are our own worst critics!

I was so not impressed that I ended up taking this off the very next night - I usually wear a mani for at least 2 days, and 3 lately.  Even somebody at work (a new medical assistant) asked "Do you change your nail polish EVERY night?"  I wanted to say Yeah, what's it to ya?  But I told her no, but I couldn't deal with the design I had on for one more moment.

So, there ya have it.  First full-nail image was a pretty good fail.  You win some, you lose some.  Now it's your turn to share.  Have you had a mani "malfunction" that you couldn't stand to look at more than 24 hours?  If you have a blog, did you share it with the world or did you quietly hide your hands in your pockets and walk away?

I'm off to watch the season premier of Parenthood.  There are many reasons I like this show, but the #1 reason?  Two words: Peter Krause.  I love that man!  How much do I love that man?  I watched Dirty, Sexy Money *just* for him (because the show was HORRIBLE).  Oh, and Lauren Graham ain't half bad, either.  See you tomorrow!

Rambling (wo)Man

Good evening, Kitschies!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was kinda busy, kinda not.  Saturday we went to my bestie's first born son's 6th birthday party.  I made the mistake of jumping on the tramampoline and now my knee is not happy.  It already wasn't very happy, so now it's really not happy.  And neither am I.  The doc asked me why I did that and I responded: Cuz I'm stoopid.  He laughed and said he was glad I said that because that's exactly what he was thinking.  What?  It was a trampoline.  How could I *not*?  Then the bestie and I escaped and saw Eclipse at the dollar theater (gotta come up with a better name because it was two bucks, not one).  SHE already saw it at home (thanksalot), so she "humored" me and went with me to see it.  despite the usual dollar theater drawbacks, I really liked it and can't wait to see Breaking Dawn.  Part of me even hopes they split the last book in to two movies.  There's a lot going on in that last book.  Anyway, Sunday was spent just getting caught up on chores and such.  Oh, and I ran in to work for about an hour on Saturday before the party.  My docs are learning a new procedure and I wanted to see what was up with that. 

Enough rambling.  It's been super busy at work (still) and I won't really be able to do much blogging or stalking while I'm there for the next month or so.  I'm sad about that, but I'm training a student medical assistant and I don't think my docs would approve of me showing her the ins and outs of the internets.  LOL  So, if I don't visit your blog like I usually do, please know it's not because I don't like your post - it's because I don't have time.  I'll get caught up eventually.  Promise!!  Seriously - enough rambling.  On to the recipe.

I got this recipe from Biggest Book of 30-Minute Meals.  I love this book!  There are SO many recipes to chose from and in the sidebar of each recipe is a menu idea: usually a side dish (with the page of that recipe) and a dessert. 


Balsamic & Garlic Pork
4 bonless prok loin chops, cut 1/2 inch thick
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp bottled minced roasted garlic
1/2 cup bottled balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
1 Tbsp honey mustard

Trim fat from chops.  Sprinkle both sides of each chop with rosemary and salt pressing into surface of meat.

In a large nonstick skillet heat oil over medium heat.  Add chops; cook for 8 - 12 minutes or until done and juices run clear; turning once.  Transfer chops to a serving platter.  Cover and keep warm.

For sauce, in same skillet cook garlic in hot drippings for 30 seconds.  Stir in balsamic salad dressing and honey mustard.  Bring to boiling.  Serve sauce over chops.

NOTES:  I don't know what I did, but I think I used waaaay too much olive oil.  It just seems like it was swimming in the oil.  I couldn't get the rosemary to "crush", so I cleaned out my coffee grinder (by grinding up a piece of plain sandwich bread) and gave it a couple pulses.  Worked perfectly!  I also couldn't find my pre-made balsamic dressing, so I found a recipe online (maybe this is where all the extra olive oil came from).  I think it was an Emril recipe.  In the end, this wasn't bad, but I think I'll be sure to find my balsamic dressing instead of trying to make my own.

Seasoned and ready to jump in the pool.  I'm sure I didn't stick to the measurements when it came to the rosemary and salt.

Is it just me, or do you always have to cook meat longer than a recipes says?  I don't remember how long I actually ended up cooking these, but I can tell you it was definitely longer than 8-12 minutes!

The finished product.  The hubs really liked this and I didn't mind it, but I think I'd like it more with the prepared balsamic dressing.  But, both boys ate it, so it couldn't be that bad, right?  LOL

Well, I'm off to ice my knee and watch some Six Feet Under.  Hope you enjoy your evening!  I'm back to the grind again tomorrow and will be posting a mani tomorrow (probably evening).  At least, come morning, it won't be Monday anymore. *sigh*

Listening to: Somebody to Love by Queen
Mood: oooowwwww!

My Favorite Things

TGIF!!  I hope you all are enjoying your Friday.  It's rather slow at the office today (thank you jebus!).  Both of my docs are out, but I'm helping our nurse practitioner and her medical assistant so I have stuff to do, but I also have time to actually sit.  It's a nice little break from the chaos that has been surrounding me here the last couple weeks.

Today I bring you a little different post.  A while back, the hubs showed up at my office bearing gifts - what a nice surprise!!  What was it, you ask?  It was a magazine dedicated solely to blogging.  What a thoughtful gift.  I spent the next couple days pouring over that magazine and got a couple good ideas out of it.  This is one of those good ideas.  Every now and then I'll be adding to this "collection".

Once upon a time, there was this guy.  And he liked this girl.  They dated for a year, and then the guy asked the girl to marry him.  She said yes!  This is what she presented her.

OK.  Maybe I'm a little off on the story, because he didn't actually give me *both* of these gorgeous rings, he gave me just the band for our engagement.  See the design around middle of the band?  There's a little story with that.  It says "A blessing on the soul" in Ogham.  Ogham is an old Irish language, also sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet".  We had seen this ring in a magazine prior to our engagement and I loved it.  Little did I know that he had ordered it for me.  It's technically a men's ring, but I don't exactly have petite hands or fingers, so this fits perfectly.  

Do you notice that I'm wearing the solitaire on the "wrong side" of the wedding band?  Well, there's a reason for that.  Since the band was really my engagement ring, the solitaire was my wedding band, so I wear it reversed.  You should hear the comments I get telling me that I'm "wearing your rings wrong".  C'mon people!  Things don't always have to be one specific way.  Anyway, I also get surprised looks when I tell them the hubs ordered the ring out of a catalog.  How romantic, right?  LOL   
So, what makes this one of my favorite things?  Other than it's the first piece of jewelry that the hubs gave me, it's so pretty!  I've never seen another ring like it.  Not even close.  I love that the inscription around the middle actually means something.

Well, I'm off to do a little bit of work.  I hope you enjoyed my "different" post today.  I'll do a little more thinking and pic taking so I can add to my "Favorite Things" posts.  Have a great weekend.  See you back here next week!

Listening: Mourning by Tantric
Mood: mellow

Fish Heads

Fish heads.  Fish heads.  Rolly polly fish heads.  Every time I looked at this mani, I thought of this wonderful little song.  HA!



Good evening, Kitschies!!  I hope you had a wonderful Thursday.  Mine was...like every day in the last 10 days...BUSY!  I thought I'd get a bit of a reprieve because one of my docs is out on Thursday afternoons, but of course not.  And on top of it, she gave me some other stuff to do before she left, so besides all my regular duties (which I usually share with another medical assistant), I got to call some patients to let them know they're holding a special clinic on Saturday.  *sigh*  WHAT would they do without me?!  I better stop before I break my arm patting myself on the back.  LOL

On to the good stuff.  Last weekend after I got my hairs cut, I walked my happy butt down to the Dollar Tree to see what kind of cheap goods they had to offer in the "beauty" section.  I put beauty in quotations because there are some things there I don't think anybody would buy, but apparently they do because there's always replenished stock on hand.  But, I digress.  They had the usual stock of LA Colors with a couple new ones.  I spied with my little eye a pretty medium teal creme - snagged it!  I also spied a bright blue creme - snagged it, too.  And then I found a cute little set of rhinestones complete with topcoat and an orangestick for application - snagged x2!  Who can pass that all up for a buck each?  I mean, I got 3 new things for 3 bucks (I guess I really go 4 new things, but who's counting?).  Happy Megan.  And happy hubs because I didn't spend the average $6 each for polish. :)

So, this is LA Colors Color Craze in Atomic. It applied easily and I had complete coverage with 2 coats.  I tried a third coat on one finger but the hubs couldn't tell the difference, so I left it at 2.  The wear on this polish was very good, especially considering it was just a buck!  I applied this Saturday evening and didn't take it off until Tuesday.  Or was it Wednesday?  Who cares?  It was an excellent wear to cost ratio. 

My only complaint with LA Colors is that there is no name on the bottle.  The name is only on the packaging and it's your basic cardboard backing with plastic bubble to hold the polish, so there's no reason to keep the packaging.  So, unless you have a photographic memory (I definitely do not), there's no way I'm going to remember the name of this.  But I will because I did this post.  Ah...gotta love modern technology!  Now, this color is pretty and all, but it was missing something...

It was missing fish heads!!  LOL  I know you've probably seen this combo before, but I had the hubs pick out a design off the Bundle Monster plates (he gave them to me for my birthday last month) and this is what he picked.  This is from plate BM04 with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out for the cat and Konad special polish in white for the fish heads.  I know they're not *really* fish heads, but I loved people's reaction when I responded to their compliments with "Oh, you like my fish heads!".  Ugh - my hand looks so dry in that last picture.  We were hiking among some inactive volcanoes (where I took this picture) and it was really windy.  Not exactly the place to be applying hand cream.   

I am off to watch Project Runway.  Just a little note on that.  I'm glad Michael C won the last challenge - I don't care if none of the other competitors don't like him.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy (not manipulating like Gretchen or katty like Ivy).   If you watch the show, is there anybody who stands out as THE ONE to you yet?  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to see you again soon.

Listening to: The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars (I loves me some Jared Leto!)
Mood: campy