Sunday, November 27, 2011

Adult money habits

After years of no car payments (meaning not too many bills to pay), I have entered a new level of adulthood by buying a car all on my own. Fine, not ALL on my own, since my parents apparently trust me enough to cosign on the loan, but they expect me to be responsible or something and pay it off.

Before we get to the wonderful new car, let's have a moment of silence for the 1999 Oldsmobile Cutlass that I left behind at Carmax. I'm sure there were at least a few good memories in that car, not including all the times I thought I was going to be pulled over because my ride matched that of a "Missing Elderly." The most prominent one is when Will and I sat in that car and decided to start dating. Okay, really it was him deciding, making a pros and cons list out loud. Did he make the right decision? Jury's still out.

On to the new guy. It's a 2008 Nissan Altima and it's awesome. And shiny.


So now that I have to make car payments, do you think these money habits of mine will still work?
- Buying generic products unless they're important things like face wash, or cereal, or you know, things you find at the grocery store.
- Filing all my receipts safely and crumpledy in my purse.
- Making up words to describe my receipt filing system.
- Believing in shopping destiny when there's only one pair of the shoes I want and they're in my size.
- Spending what I spend and leaving the rest alone until I want to spend it.

Those are solid financial tips, right? I guess I'll let you know.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Disadvantages of having a nephew

I came home for Thanksgiving today while my mom was still at work. My sister and Jonas came over (because they missed me so much, not because I begged them or anything) to hang out, and even though my mom sees Jonas all the time, she walked right past me when she came home and went to cuddle him. I guess I can't blame her; he's A LOT cuter than me.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Jalapeno popper chicken

I also made this delicious chicken last week. I didn't take any photos because it was seriously ugly, but it really tasted just like a jalapeno popper.

This is the photo from the blog the recipe was on. Mine did not look anything like this, but it tasted as good as this one looks. I followed the recipe, but I think my chicken breasts may have been a little small, so they were very messy, and I ended up doing 6 rather than 4.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sic 'em, Bears

Did you guys see the Baylor/OU game last night? I didn't, because I get majorly stressed out, BUT I could hear Will cheering/gasping/about to cry in the other room. Of course, all the crazy plays are on YouTube now, like this awesomely lucky one.


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Stuffed peppers

I cooked things for dinner a couple times in the past week that didn't come straight out of a bag or box. Be proud of me. I made these stuffed peppers last Sunday, and even had some leftovers to take to work. People were impressed because it looked healthy and home-made. I don't know how healthy it was, but appearances are what matter! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest and made a few minor changes. Here's how I made it.

Not too pretty, but tasty.




1 cup rice
4 green bell peppers
1 large onion, diced
some olive oil
2 links Italian turkey sausage
a couple shakes of oregano
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 can black beans
shredded cheese of your choice



Cook rice according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 375. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray. (I used a big baking dish, but the recipe said a dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)

Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner. (My end mixture came out a little greasy, so next time I might drain the sausage after this step)

Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors. Then add cooked rice, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put whatever amount of cheese you want (I recommend a lot because it's the best part) on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Who wants to teach me to embroider?

It can't be that hard, right? I'm moderately crafty. And seriously, I'm going crazy over how many things you can do with embroidery. Go ahead and tell me I take on too many crafty projects and leave them lying around my apartment for months before I finish them. I just can't help myself.

etsy shop tea towel.

Martha Stewart, who else? Embroider a road trip!

Pretty paper!

Pillow. I'm so into zig zags right now.

This could be my handwriting. So simple.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Blanket progress


I haven't been working on my blanket as much as I was at first, but slow progress is better than no progress. At this point, I can keep my legs warm with it. I'm predicting that it will be done by next summer when it's so disgustingly hot, I'll put it away and forget about it completely.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Two-tone fingernails


This is probably the hippest my fingernails have ever been. Of course, there's a reason this photo is only of my left hand; the right hand fell victim to my poor left-hand motor skills and my impatience. They looked ok from far away, though.

I painted the whole nail gray first. Once it dried, I covered the bottom 2/3 or so with masking tape and then painted the teal on top, then took off the tape. Add a top coat, and ta da! You'll look way cooler than you are.