Friday Confessional Time

Welcome to Friday Confessional!  Mamarazzi and Glamazon will be hearing your confessions starting...NOW.






I confess...

I found THE most awesome, funny, no, hilarious blog evah on Thursday.  I seriously spent a good chunk of the afternoon at work reading THIS BLOG.


I confess...
I was just a little disappointed that I'm not able to follow said blog because it's reached it's maximum number of followers.  Do you know many is max?  Over 50,000!  50,000.

I confess...

I made the hubs sit down and look at that blog last night and I laughed just as hard the second time.

I confess...

I was just thinking about this this morning and happened to find a post on it on the most hilarious blog eveh.  It's a pet peeve of mine...alot.  It is not alot.  It is a lot.  An ALOT is a mythical creature that is better than you at everything. 

I confess...

I don't get it.  What is it with old people and moth balls?  Can you even get moth balls anymore?

I confess...

I have to refrain from saying what I *really* feel so many times throughout the day (you see, our patients aren't always the brightest Crayon in the box), I usually unleash it all on the hubs.  Not good.  But, he loves me, so it's ok, right?

I confess...

I took charge of dinner for Thursday night and may or may not have made something I was sorta sure that the hubs wouldn't like.

I confess...

I could listen to this song over and over again.  And yes, this version.  Thanks, Mom and Dad.




Yeah, these were all a bit random.  That's how my mind works.  Don't judge.

So...another week has come to a close.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the time you have with your family and friends.  Until next week...

Good Riddance, April!

We're almost finished with another week, Kitschies!  Has this one flown by for you, too?  This weekend brings April to a close and not a day too soon, either.  It has been such a hectic month...I'm so glad it's almost over.  I don't usually like to wish days away, but with April, I'll make an exception.

I am so far behind in posting manis.  I have 13 waiting on my flashdrive right now and that's not even including the however many I have sitting in my pending folder at home!  Soooo behind.  *sigh*  Maybe I'll do a pic spam post to get caught up.

So, today I have a water marble to share with you.  I wanted to do Spring colors and something that would work for Easter.  And while I didn't wear this for Easter, I got lots of comments that my nails looked like Easter eggs.

The colors I used were SH Complete Manicure Shrimply Devine, Tip Toe lime green and Zoya Mira with ChG Fairy Dust as a top coat to add some sparkle.  All pics are click-able to better appreciate the awesomeness that is a water marble!

I started with base coat and one coat of SH Complete Manicure in Shrimply Devine.  I did the pinkie first and the green didn't turn out very well, so I slapped on a coat of Tip Toe in a lime green color (I can't remember the name and I can't find a link for Tip Toe polish, though I've seen that it comes from Old Navy) to boost the green on the rest of the fingers and it worked. This is my left hand with flash.

This is my right hand with flash.  Man, I'm horrible at taking pics of my right hand!  And see my sad little index finger?  That's the reason I chopped all my nails off.  It's finally growing out but it was SUPER short for a while.

Left hand in sunlight.  See how the pinkie is a different green than the rest?  This is why it's important to check the opacity of your polish choices before you use them.

Indirect lighting, right hand.  Doesn't my index finger look sad?  LOL  And excuse my cuticles...they look awful in this pic.  And the paper cut on my ring finger?  It's for added patheticness.  *sigh*  Obviously I was at work when I took this pic.

Thumbs!  I really like how my left thumb turned out.  The right?  Notsomuch.

My favorites this time around are middle, ring and thumb of my left hand and middle and ring on my right hand.

Thankfully, the last two days haven't been so insanely busy.  I'm really looking forward to spending time with the hubs and the boys for a quick trip up to Taos on Saturday.  Cross your fingers the weather will be good for us.

We Want to Know Wednesday

Good morning, Kitschies!  It's been another whirlwind week and I can not believe it's already Wednesday.  Add on top of that the fact that it's almost May.  WTH?  While I'm ready for April to be done and over with (it's been such a busy month), I want time to slow down because in the coming months I'll have a 2 year old *sob*, a 5 year-year-old *doublesob* AND a kindergartner *triplesob*.

ANYway...enough of the mom sob...let's get back to the matter at hand.  I had so much fun participating in last week's meme, I decided to link up again this week!  




Last week's questions were all about friends, and this week is a potpourri of information.  Join me, will you? 

1.  What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Are you an eyes or a smile person? Maybe another body part?  The first thing I notice isn't really a physical characteristic - it's the way they enter the room (kinda like question 5).   Then, after that, I usually notice the eyes.  But if your initial attitude is crap, I'm probably not going to take the time to even look at your eyes.  I'll look them in the eye, but I won't look *at* their eyes.  Make sense?

2.  If a movie was being made about you who would you like to see cast to play you? And would your movie be a comedy, drama, romantic-comedy, action film or a horror movie?  I would love to have Edie Falco or Jamie Lee Curtis cast as me.  They're both a bit older than me (+13 and +18 years, respectively), but I think they'd get the job done...they're both strong women who can tell it like it is, when the time calls for it.  I think my movie would be a dramady...not quite a drama, not quite a comedy.  

3.  Does your high school yearbook include a senior comment section? If so share what you said about your future goals. Have you met those goals? If you do not have a yearbook just share what your goals where when you were 18 and if you have met them. If you’re brave enough include your Senior Picture!  My high school year book did not include a senior comment section.  At least I don't remember it having one.  You see...I don't know for sure and I can't check because of something that happened to it long, long ago (a different story for a different day).  But, I can tell you that my goal at that time was to be a teacher, though I had no specific goals/plans of going to college.  Nice, right?  If you've been following my blog any length of time, you know I didn't reach my goal.  Why?  I decided I don't like other people's kids.  No offense.  So, now...17 years after high school (how can it possibly be that long?), I'm finally going back to school.  To be a physician's assistant.  Yeah.  Just a little different.  And since I don't have my senior picture, here is a picture of me, probably as a Junior.

4.  What latest trend simply baffles you?  What current trend baffles me?  That's a hard one.  Maybe the return of spandex?  I get that leggings can be comfortable, but spandex is a privilege, not a right.  Besides, this trend wasn't good the first time around...why would it be any different now?

And those damned TOE SHOES.  They're ugly.  No.  They're not ugly...they're FUGLY!  Seriously people.  I can see them being good for running, but I don't wanna see you strolling down the street with those dang things on.   And, please jebus...do not let me see a kid wearing them.

5.  When you walk into a room how do you present yourself? Do you walk in with confidence and command the attention of others or do you slink in and do your best to go unnoticed?  I always exude confidence...at least I think I have.  LOL  I walk in to a room like I know how to do everything and can handle any situation.  And if I can't, I usually fake it.  Think I'm joking?  I'm not.  I've gotten more than one job by acting like I know the position in and out when, in all honesty, I probably only know half.  If I run in to a situation I don't know how to handle, I figure it out.  If I come across an issue I don't know how to solve, I do what I can, do some research and then go back and really solve it.  This is why, as I mentioned in my previous WWTKW, I tend to come across as a little standoff-ish and unapproachable.  And this includes giving birth to Mason: I walked up to the nursing station and told them I needed to be checked in.  No explanation.  No questions.  Just check me in.  Now.  And I wasn't bossy about it (because I wasn't in active labor at that point).

That was so much fun to put together!  Thanks to Seriously Shawn for giving us such great questions to answer.

Easy Cheesy

Good day, Kitschies!  I hope you enjoyed Easter without too much of a sugar coma.  I have some great pics from Easter but I've been super duper busy and haven't had time to do much of anything other than the necessities (at home AND at work), so I'll post Easter pics soon. 

I've been a bad blogger the last couple days...but I have a good reason for that.  My co-worker is out for the next 2 weeks (!) to spend time with her daughter, SIL and her brand new grandson!  I'm so excited for her but that means I'm by myself at work to cover both docs and to say that it gets busy is an understatement.  So, if I'm not commenting on your blog as often as usual, of if you don't see as many posts from me as usual, don't think I've ran away.  I will check blogs as time permits and I will squeeze in a post as often as I can. 

It's lunchtime here at the clinic and it's pretty quiet.  I can smell lunch in the break room (thank jeebus for drug reps) and instead of sitting back there and chatting it up, I decided I'd sit here with you and share a recipe with you.

I don't know if you've seen these at the grocery store, but every time I go down the spice aisle, I stop by the McCormick Recipe Inspiration section.  I have a lot of spices, but I don't have them all.  And I don't want to buy an entire new spice for one recipe.  That's where these little kits come in handy.  Each pack has pre-measured, individually packaged spices in the amounts specific to the recipe which is included on a recipe card on the back.  Simple, right?  Right.  I picked up this pack months ago, I just never have the recipe on hand to share with you.  I finally found it online, so now I can!

Quesadilla Casserole 
by McCormick Recipe Inspirations
2 tsp chili powder*
1 tsp ground cumin*
1 tsp minced garlic*
1/2 tsp dried oregano*
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes*
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
16 oz tomato sauce
15 oz can pinto beans, drained
8.75 oz can corn, drained
4.5 oz chopped green chile, drained
6 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

*included with pack

Brown beef and onion in large skillet on med-high heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

NOTES:  I didn't have pinto beans on hand so I used black beans instead.  

Pre-measured and just what I needed for this recipe.  Just be sure to look at all the needed added ingredients - I usually forget to look and end up making a run for the store when I should be making dinner!

It *looks* good, but it was a little bland for my taste.  I'll definitely be adding some more spices when I make this again.  My Mom says it's because I live in New Mexico now and have singed off all my taste buds with all the green chile we eat.  LOL  And if I remember correctly, Nate ate his helping...don't remember if Mason did, or even if he was eating table foods at this point.  Either way, I will be making this again.  It's fast and it tastes pretty good (with added spices, of course). 

OK...gotta get back to work.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.  As a parting gift...THIS is what I'm listening to at work at the moment.  Love this song...fast forward to a little after a minute to really get in to it.

I Confess...

It's that time again!  Time for another Friday Confessional with Mamarazzi & Glamazon.  I had so much fun last Friday, I thought I'd spill my heart out again today.





I confess...
I liked doing the confessions so much last week that I started today's post as soon as I was finished last Friday.  Confession really *is* good for the soul.


I confess...

I want to be Nurse Jackie (minus the drug habit, of course).  I would love to say the things she says and do the things she does and not get fired from my job.

I confess...

I have 4 tattoos, but I want another one...or two.

I confess...

I have a pair of "mom jeans" that I pull out from time to time.  The hubs hates them, but they're comfortable.  And I don't care.

I confess...

I wear said mom jeans out of the house - and I don't mind wearing them to meet the hubs for lunch or help the bestie move.  But I don't like wearing them to Ulta - people judge.  You know they do.

I confess...

I dug through my purse to find a pen the other day.  Never found the pen, but instead, found this:

1. Wet n Wild: Eggplant Frost  2. Cult Nails: Living Water  3. Wet n Wild: Party of Five Glitters  4. Wet n Wild: Teal of Fortune  5. Sally Hansen: Persistent Peony  6. Franken: Smurfs Up

I confess...

I got my glasses yesterday.  I love them.  But I don't love it when people say: They make you look smart!  Does that mean I usually look un-smart?

Round 2 is finished!  Join with me - confession is good for the soul.  After all...it *is* Good Friday.

Happy weekend and Happy Easter!

On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink

Well...at least us nail bloggers do!  A couple weeks ago, the nail blogging community started "On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink" a la Mean Girls.  So, this is my first entry (the day is full of firsts) to Pink Wednesdays.

Not that I'd consider myself a mean girl by any means, it's fun to play along every now and then, right?  Here we go...

This, my dears, is OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y.  Ugh.  I don't get the whole "cute" name thing with OPI.  I mean, I get it.  I just don't like it.  Anyway...this is from their Texas collection that was released in February and it's one of the "sorbet" finishes (read: jelly).  Yes, I know, it's a little different from the usual jelly finishes, but I don't really care know/can't really tell the difference.

I miss my long nails!  This mani was super bright raspberry color that wasn't so bright as to be obnoxious.  Does that make sense?  And it was super shiny, too.  This pic was taken indoors with flash.

See how shiny that is?  Seriously.  If it hadn't been for the plaid design I did on my ring finger, I probably wouldn't have used a top coat.  This was indoors without flash.

OK.  I know this pic is basically about the same as the one just above it, but look at the insane shininess!

Direct sun.  I love this color.  I've picked this one up and put it back in to its home more than a few times.  I didn't buy in to the hype that surrounded the release of OPI's sorbets, but I did pick up this color because it was so pretty in the bottle - it did not disappoint. 

As a side note...Zoya's annual Earth Day polish exchange started today!  So, between now and April 27th, you can exchange your old, ugly polish for new, gorgeous Zoya polish.  Check out the Zoya blog for more details. 

We Want to Know Wednesday

Good day, Kitschies!  Welcome to the inaugural edition of We Want to Know Wednesday.  I'm linking up with Impulsive Addict, Mamarazzi and two other great bloggers for this fun weekly Q&A session. 

 Welcome to our very first edition of WWTK!  This weeks questions have a theme: FRIENDSHIP.  We all have friends that we can brag about, right? 
Here are the questions:{1} Do you make friends easily?{2} What 3 qualities are a MUST in a friend?{3} What makes YOU a good friend?{4} Have you ever met a bloggy friend in real life? Yes? Tell us about the meet up. No? Who would you love to meet?{5} Who is your best friend?  Tell us about them. 1.  Kinda not.  I'm usually kinda standoff-ish at first, especially at work, but once I get to know you and you get to know me, I'm usually pretty easy to get along with.   2.  Must-have friend qualities?  I don't know that I have any specific qualities, but lemme think.  Anti-drama fo sho.  Seriously.  I have enough damned drama in my life, I don't need to deal with another person's shite.  Sense of humor.  If I can't laugh at with you, what's the point?  Gotta get sarcasm.  This kinda goes along with the sense of humor thing...if you don't get sarcasm, you won't get me.  
3.  I was thinking about this question on the way to work and I'm having a hard time coming up with a good answer.  It's like those loaded questions you get asked at an interview.  I'm there if you need me.  I'm always willing to listen.
4.  The only bloggy friend I've met IRL is my bestie, but it doesn't really count because I knew her before I started blogging.  Oh, and my mom blogs, too, but that doesn't count, either.  LOL  I would LOVE to meet Mamarazzi, Myya from Myya Says, Rebecca from Mrs Bettie Rocker and Emily from Wife, Mom, Check, Check...just to name a few.  
5.  My bestie is none other than the goddess Wendi from Makeup Zombie.  I met Ms Wendi when the hubs' bestie brought her over around Christmas 2003.  Funny thing...I didn't care for Mistress W that night, but there was a pretty good reason for that, but that's a story for another day.  Anyway...we ended up becoming pretty close; we even shared our last pregnancies (her 3rd, my 2nd) - our littles were born about 6 weeks apart.  She's funny, sarcastic, beautiful, way talented, a great mom and a general pain in my butt.  I say that with love and respect, of course.  

This was taken on our adults-only weekend to Ruidoso, NM back in October.  Yeah...it was a good time.  She's the one to blame thank for getting me hooked on this blogging thing and the whole nail polish thing.  
But, let's not forget my *other* bestie: The hubs.  He really is my best friend.  But, you can't really talk about the gossipy goodness with the hubs like I can with my bestie.  He puts up with my crap.  And, boy...can I dish it (but so can he)!

This was also taken on our adults-only weekend in October.  He's good to me, even when I don't really deserve it.  And I love him.  Mostly.  LMAO
Thanks for coming along with me.  Won't you be a bloggy friend and hook up to the first We Want to Know Wendnesday?  C'mon...you know you want to!

Goin' Bananas

Good afternoon, dear Kitschies!  It's another beautiful day here in the Land of Enchantment and I'm stuck inside at work.  Not that I'm complaining about work...but it would be wonderful to be outside enjoying the gorgeous spring weather. 

At the Harmeyer homestead, we've been known to go through a bunch or two of bananas faster than they hit the table.  However, the last couple weeks it's been so busy we haven't been eating at home like we usually do.  The hubs noticed that we had a few bananas that were on their way out so he challenged me to find something to do with them.  Challenge accepted, I say.  Challenge accepted.  I didn't want to do the usual banana bread, so I hopped on Allrecipes and quickly found a recipe to try. 

Banana Drops
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
7/8 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp banana extract
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium size mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons brown sugar with cinnamon, set aside. 

In a medium size mixing bowl, beat together 3/4 cup brown sugar with the butter or margarine, vanilla and banana extract until the mixture is light in texture. Beat in the eggs. Mix in the banana. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the egg, banana and sugar mixture. Fold in nuts. Drop the dough by teaspoonful onto the prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cookies with the mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon prepared earlier. 

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned.


NOTES:  I didn't have banana extract, but I did have banana liqueur; it worked perfectly.  And forget parchment paper!  I use my Silpat silicon baking mat that my cousins gave me for Christmas.

They don't look like much before they get all toasty warm in the oven, but trust me, they puff up perfectly.

Caught in the act!  Yeah, that's Mr Nate's hand.  "I just wanted to taste some of the sugar."  Nice.

Speaking of Mr Nate, I had a helper for this endeavor.  Nate always has so much fun helping me - pouring ingredients in the bowl, scraping the sides of the bowl.  Now if I could only get him to help me clean up the kitchen when we're finished!

I don't know what he was doing, but it looks like he was throwing gang signs.  *sigh*  That's my boy!

Here they are!  They were like little mini banana breads - not too sweet.  I forgot to mention that I didn't add any nuts.  I brought some of these to the office and they were GONE before I even got back to have one for myself.

What do *you* do with over-ripe bananas?  I'm on a constant search for the *perfect* banana bread. *hinthint* 

The Silver Lining

Good...Monday?  Really?  It's Monday?  Man!  The weekend went by so fast, it's like it didn't even happen!  And that's even with an extra day off.  Highlights of the weekend: helped the bestie move, went to my SIL's 16th birthday party, cleaned up around the house, started laundry, grocery shopping, went to my SIL's little girl's 1st birthday party up in the mountains...and that's just the highlights.  *whew*  And it doesn't stop this week - the whole month of April has been like that!  This is one case where I'll be glad if time flies.  The silver lining?  Apirl is more than half-over and May will bring us back on track (sort of).

Got some pretty nails to share with you today.  When I heard that ChG was releasing a new collection of holo polishes, I was geeked!  I missed out on OMG (just by a little bit) and the Milani holos are pretty, but they're just ok (the formula isn't the greatest).  I waited (rather impatiently) for Tronica to come out.  As soon as I got the thumb's up that they were in-store, I ran down to Sallys as fast as my little wheels would carry me.  I grabbed quite a few of them but have only used 3 so far.  This is the second mani I've done with Tronica.

This is ChG Hologram from the Tronica collection (indoors with flash).  It's a pretty silver holo that's not overly holo, but for a girl who doesn't have many holos, it'll do until another company releases something better.

Not that it really needed anything else, but I grabbed Bundle Monster plate BM12 and Konad special polish in blue and stamped these pretty flowers at the base of each nail.  This pic was taken indoors in direct sunlight.

Indirect sunlight.  Tronicas are best viewed in direct, bright sunlight.  Even without the holo bling, it's still pretty, just not quite as pretty.

I miss my long nails. *I haz a sad*  Anyway...the wear on this was pretty good, especially considering most holos chip very easily.  If you haven't picked up any of the Tronica collection, high-tail it to Sally Beauty Supply - they had a couple when I went a few weekends ago and they're having a buy 2, get 1 free on all brands of polish through the end of April.


You know what I just realized?  Easter is this Sunday!  I have some baskets to fill - quick!  Have a great rest of your day.  I've got some great recipes to share this week - stay tuned!!

I Confess...

Hey, Kitschies!  It's Friday...and I'm not working at work!  WOOT.  Anyway...I thought I'd mix things up a bit today and join in with Mamarazzi and Glamazon for a little thing they call...

I confess...

Blogger is pissing me the hell off tonight (I'm typing this out around 11:15 on Thursday night).  It's been a very long day...why can't Blogger just get with the dang program?

I confess...

I'm about to murderize my husband.  I love him.  I love him.  I love him!  But he refuses to listen to logic me sometimes.

I confess...

I was going to go to Target today at lunch.  I made it *to* Target, but I didn't make it *in* Target.  Why?  Because the hubs wouldn't stop talking.  Seriously.

I confess...

I contemplated leaving the cell phone on the seat of the car, going in to Target to do my business and coming back out - I bet he would've still been talking.  *sigh*

I confess...
When I start a new project, I totally obsess about it and get very disappointed when it doesn't turn out the way I pictured it in my head.

I confess...

If I go to a store that has a beauty department, I go there first.  Every. store.  To look for polish, of course!

I confess...

This is what I look like this morning while I'm reading my blogs.  What you can't see is the makeup still on my face left over from yesterday, the boxers and the LL Bean slippers - the outfit of winners!

Whew!  I feel better.  A good confession is always good for the soul.  Join in, won't you?

Pork 'n Taters

G'day, Kitschies!  We've almost made it through another work week.  Can you believe how fast time just flies by?  Wasn't it just Christmas/New Years?  Now it's almost Easter.  *sigh*  I'm ready to get off this ride for a little while...how 'bout you?

Anyway...we love having friends over but it doesn't happen as often as we'd like (with 5 kids between us, the besties and us...we get tired just thinking about it!).

This is my bestie's little guy, Cooper, and my little guy, Mason.  Two of the 5.  OF THE FIVE!

But, when we DO get together, we have a lot of fun.  And of course there's great food involved.  When the besties were over a few weekends ago, I tried a new recipe that was soooooo good.  I "found" this recipe when Jessie M from Lacquered, Painted, Polished gave me the head's up.  It's from Kevin & Amanda - they have a *bunch* of great recipes.  This is the first I've tried and I promise I'll be trying more (and sharing them with you, of course).  Don't be intimidated by the amount of ingredients or the number of steps - they are ALL worth it.

Perfect Pulled Pork

1 whole Boston butt

Dry Rub
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix well and store in an air-tight container.

Brine Solution
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 quarts cold water
2 bay leaves
3 Tbsp dry rub mix


Add salt to cold water and stir until all the salt is completely dissolved.  Then add the brown sugar, dry rub and bay leaves.  Stir well to combine.

Pork shoulder prep:
Rinse the pork shoulder and place in a large container.  Pour in the brine solution until the shoulder is completely covered.  Cover the container and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.  Remove pork shoulder from brine solution; pat dry with paper towels.  Place pork shoulder in baking pan that is bigger than the shoulder by at least an inch in length and width and at least 3-inches deep.  Sprinkle dry rub on to the surface of the shoulder and massage in so that it adheres to the surface.  Coat all sides and be sure to get in to all the nooks and crannies.  Make sure the fat layer on the hsoulder is facing up before cooking!  Place baking pan, uncovered, in a 225* oven on the middle rack.  Insert a probe thermometer into the center or the thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone.  Monitor the temperature throughout cooking (a digital thermometer with an alarm function is the easiest way to do this).  Do not remove from the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches 200*; shut off the oven and let the roast cool for a couple of hours before removing from the oven.  If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices), cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period.  When the temperature drops to 170*, remove from the oven.  Place on a large clean work surface, such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat off the top.  Pull apart with two forks; it will pull apart very easily.

NOTES:  This is a VERY looooong process.  I cheated and didn't let the pork get all the way up to 200 and then cool back down because we ended up being short on time.  I put the pork in the oven at 11 and it wasn't finished even at 7.  I had no idea it would take THAT long!  Either way, we loved this!

BONUS RECIPE!

Scalloped Potatoes
6-8 large baking potatoes
shredded Cheddar cheese - 1 small bag
Heavy Cream- 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Seasoned salt - as desired
Salt- as desired
Dried thyme- as desired

Preheat oven to 400*
Use 9x10 baking dish - grease lightly

Slice all potatoes thinly, add a layer in baking pan
Add a layer of cheese and spices
2 layers of Potatoes
Layer of cheese and spiced
Do this until all the cheese and potatoes have been used. Make sure you have enough cheese for the top of the potatoes.
Once you have layers complete, pour heavy cream over entire thing and sprinkle left over cheese on the top.

Bake for 60 minutes. 

NOTES:  This is my bestie's recipe and it's from memory, so it's not the most precise, but you get the picture.

I realize, now, that I added more pepper than the recipe called for.  It says cayenne pepper, but I added crushed red pepper, too.  So, I'm from NM...we like things extra spicy here (though the end result wasn't spicy at all).

Rubbed and ready to go!  That was the hardest part - rubbing in the spices.  Good thing the hubs pushes food service gloves.  Yes, Mom.  The hubs needs to send you a box.

I take it back.  The hardest part of this whole process was smelling the thing in the oven all day long.  It smelled so good!  My dad is becoming a smoking KING...could you imagine this smoked?! *hint hint*

The ingredients for scalloped potatoes...instead of adding salt on top of seasoned salt, I added ground pepper.  I don't know that it matters *what* you put in this dish - it comes out awesome!  Thanks to my bestie (aka: Makeup Zombie) for sharing your recipe with me/us.

The finished products.  SOOOO good!  We served the pork on fresh deli rolls and offered up a couple different BBQ sauces.  Not that the pork was dry, but because they were nice complements to the dish.

Have a good rest of your day.  I've got *lots* of pics to prep for the blog tonight.  Lots of good food to share with you!

*My* Kind of Cool Aid

Well, hello, fellow bloggers!  Yep.  It's me, again.  Here with another post for your viewing pleasure.  And, yes...this is my second post for the day.  I'm on a roll!!  Anyway...I've already shared two food-related posts with you this week, so it's time for a mani post, wouldn't you say?

If you've been in the nail blogging community for any length of time, you know that Maria from R3Daily started her own line of polish: Cult Nails.  The first color she released was My Kind of Cool Aid, a great gravender with subtle shimmer.  That sort of color usually isn't my thing, but I really liked MKoCA. 

The application was great - it was really smooth and it only took two coats for this opacity.  The shimmer is very subtle, but it's there and it's really pretty.

To take it to the next level, I added a couple stripes of turquoise and black Art Club striping polish.

The wear on this was great!  I wore this for about 3 or 4 days without any evidence of wear (other than some slight tip wear on my index finger but that's nothing out of the usual).

If you click on this one, you can see just a little bit of the shimmer.  The pictures don't show it, but I think this looks a little more purple IRL.  No matter what I did to the pictures, they always showed heavier on the gray than the lavender. 

At $10 a bottle, the price is a little higher than I usually spend, but for Maria and Cult Nails, I'm willing to spend a little more.  And just in case you didn't know, she's pre-selling her next collection, either individually or in a set.

I still have two other Cult Nails colors I haven't shared with you yet...I'm saving the best for last. *teehee*

Collaborations

Good morning, Kitschies!  I have a great little blog to share with you today.

 *source*

I was searching for a recipe this weekend, trying to be an awesome housewife/mom/wife, and I stumbled across an awesome cooking blog: The Bad Girl's Kitchen. 

The Bad Girl's Kitchen (I keep wanting to type Chicken instead of Kitchen) is a collaboration blog with some really good-looking recipes.  I asked if I could be a part of the awesomeness and they said yes!  So, from time to time, I'll be posting recipes to my new-to-me cooking blog.  I'll give you a head's up when I do so you can give their blog some lovin'.

So...head on over there and check 'em out.  I know there's at least one recipe you'll love!

Mondays Calls for Cookies

Good morning, Kitchies!!  I had a very productive weekend.  I made a reuseable shopping bag for myself and got started on a bag for Mason's impending daycare days (posts to follow eventually).  I put the decals on the sideboard (post to follow once it's completely finished).  And the hubs and I completely cleared out the garage, laid carpet and moved everything *back* in the garage.  *whew*  We were pretty tired by the end of the evening yesterday because we both stayed up til after 1 on Saturday night.  And then (NO and then)...I woke up the morning, rolled over to see the clock and it said 6:10!  OMG!  The hubs gets up at 5 and I get up at 5:30 - we had to RUSH to get everybody up and out the door by 7...but we did it!  Now I'm at work, all revved up, and it's kinda slow.  So...my lack of patients this morning is your gain.

And what better way to start a crazy Monday morning than with a yummy cookie recipe?  I can't think of anything.  Let's jump right in...

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
 
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

NOTES:  My cookies were NOT chewy but I think I know why.  I don't remember adding in the corn syrup.  D'oh!  They were good...just not chewy.  The recipe says ungreased cookie sheet, but I never bake without either parchment paper or my Silpat silicone baking sheet.

Sorry I don't have more pictures than this.  Nate helped me make these cookies and he had a good time helping.  He got to pour all the ingredients in to the bowl and he felt especially important when I had him scrape down the sides of the bowls.  And even though the cookies weren't chewy, they all managed to be eaten!


Any big plans for the week?  We're supposed to get the hardware for the sideboard tomorrow, so the goal is to have it completely finished by the end of the week.  I can't wait because it's already looking awesome and it'll be nice to be able to finally use it!  Other than that, I think the hubs has to go out of town for work.  Oh...and I have to register the boys for daycare.  And I'm going to shop for fabric today at lunch - JoAnn's has a pretty good sale going on!


Until tomorrow...

Two for the Road

Good day, Kitschies!  Yep.  You're reading this right.  Two posts in one day!  It's much less chaotic here at the clinic and I missed a post on Tuesday, so I'm making up for it today. 

I know nail bloggers don't post many pedicures.  Why is that?  I know...toes are (generally) gross, but if you take the time to give yourself a pedi, why not share the pics?  Saying that, I hope I don't repulse you with my post today.  If I do...get over it.  LOL  Everybody's got toes.  Let's move on, shall we?

This is Zoya Jacy.  Isn't she beautiful?  This is a medium magenta with a purple shimmer.  The shimmer is rather subtle, but it's gorgeous.  Very opaque, I could've gotten away with only one coat but I used two.  I got Jacy from the Facebook offer Zoya had a couple months ago (in January?).

Toes!  I couldn't just leave this a plain pedi, so I grabbed my silver striping polish and a purple-ish rhinestone.  I don't know what's with the design, but this is how it turned out.  The hubs asked if it was "wings".  I don't see wings.  Do you?

Now, the second pedi is a little more up my alley. 

I started with a base of Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go (silver metallic).  Then using the black and magenta striping polishes I picked up at Ross (I think they're Art Club...I can't remember).  I was really surprised at how opaque the magenta was.  I was going for a plaid design which I got to turn out ok on one of the toes.  The other one?  Yeah.  It's plaid...though not like the other one.  Oh, well.  Nobody sees my toes this time of year anyway.  Good thing, huh?

Here's my question to my fellow nail bloggers.  Why don't you post pics of your pedis?  Or do you just not do your toes?