Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Best Gift I Ever Got


I know most of you are probably thinking that my engagement/wedding ring was my favorite gift, right?! Wrong. Though, that would be a close second. 

Love this ring!
The best gift I ever got, was from my husband, and it was lasik eye surgery. Those of you cursed with bad eyes can probably relate to this, while I'm sure those of you blessed with perfect vision would disagree and think I'm a dum-dum. 
I was gonna post a photo of my eye but that just seemed a little creepy...it is Halloween though....
Just think about it though, imagine waking up every morning and having to put on glasses so that you can see the alarm clock that is a foot away from your head. Or when you don't have your contacts in while showering and you're wondering if that's a fake mouse or a real mouse, but you're practically blind, so you jump out of the shower to put your glasses on to check (it was fake by the way, my family is HILL-ARIOUS). How about when you rub your sleepy eyes a little too much and that damn contact rips or falls straight out of your head. Maybe you enjoy getting up in the morning and having your eyes feel like they're on fire when you shove that little piece of contact plastic onto them. Or when you're crying like a baby and your tears form a barrier between your eyes and the contact and you are convinced that you might actually be going blind. How about all those times you want to jump into a pool or the ocean but can't because you didn't bring extra contacts if you happen to lose one? So instead you float around with your head above water, screeching at anyone that tries to splash you. 

Get the picture? 

Anyways, last year (2012), Seth surprised me by emailing me an appointment confirmation for lasik eye surgery on my birthday and I got the surgery done last October. That's right, one year ago, I went under the laser for about 10 minutes or so. Before I left the doctors my vision was already better and only a couple hours later we sat at home and watched a movie and I could actually see! Amazing! Every morning I would wake up and reach for my glasses, and get excited when I realized they were no longer setting there, because I didn't need them. 

Today I go for my one year checkup to make sure everything is going well (which I can already tell it is) and I celebrate a little more my gift of sight. 

So, thank you to my sweet husband, who gave me the gift I have wanted since 6th grade, when I donned my first pair of nerd glasses. And thank you for my gorgeous rings which I also love dearly but would have been willing to trade for new eyes as long as it meant I got to keep you too:) (P.S. Don't be jealous that my vision is better than yours now:)

Enjoy your vision people, it's amazing!


post signature

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I little late to the party

It's Wednesday already?! Can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Bad, because I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to notice, but good because it's hump day again!



Here's a few quick notes to catch you up since last friday....

Friday we bought a new washer dryer. So far I love it:)

Saturday I helped my mom unpack more while Seth hunted and then we finally got to go out for our anniversary (better late than never right?). We celebrated at The Melting Pot which I thought was pretty good, but if you follow my Instagram you might have noticed Seth wasn't a fan. AND if you follow Seth's IG you may have seen the hashtag "shitty". I believe the words "never again" may have been uttered more than once. Let's just say he's more of a steak and potatoes kinda guy. 
Guess I should have known when he said "what's fondue?!"
Sunday was your average Sunday. A little cleaning and a lot of lazy. Followed by a Senior photo shoot while Seth went hunting again. 

Monday evening after work I traveled all over the little town of Lawrence with my mom looking for lamps, mirrors, clocks and rugs for her new house. After approximately 8 stops in two hours we managed to leave Hobby Lobby with two lamps. Not sure that I would call that a "win" but I think we are going towards KC on Saturday so hopefully we will have better luck there. 

Tuesday, after spending all day at work and wanting to jump out the window, which would be hard to do since I work in a windowless room (torture), I decided to skip my workout and head home. I feel like I'm way behind on everything around the house and needed to finish editing photos anyway. It was a crappy day so I splurged and had a Pepsi. I'm obviously rationalizing my cheat with the fact that some people have a beer or a glass of wine to unwind after a #shitty day. I just have a Pepsi:)

Here's hoping things go a little better today and I can cross more off my mile long to-do list!

Happy Hump Day!
post signature

Friday, October 25, 2013

7 Quick Takes {19}

1. I can't stop reading anything and everything associated with the JonBenet Ramsey case and the documents they released today. Reading all the comments is like a game of Clue with all the cards lost so nobody knows the real truth. Everybody's got an opinion about whodunnit and for some reason I'm fascinated by it. 

2. Seth's going deer hunting Saturday morning so he was practicing with his bow last night when he "Robin Hooded" an arrow. I'd say he shouldn't have much trouble hitting the dear if he can hit an arrow. 



3. My mom informed me this morning that Dillons (Kroger), one of my favorite grocery stores, is no longer doubling coupons. To say I'm devastated is an understatement. To all the important Dillons people that are reading my blog right now I say THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. I mostly only shop two places, Dillons and Wal-Mart. I buy all my Dillons sale items at Dillons so that my coupons are doubled and everything else I buy at Wal-Mart and price match. Now I might as well just go to Wal-Mart and price match my Dillons sale items as well. Not Cool!

4. Does anyone out there watch the show Nashville? I'm sorta obsessed with it at the moment and hoping that their's someone out there that loves it too. 

5. Our washer decided to die Wednesday night and I've been scouring the interwebs looking for a new one. So far I'm not impressed. Any recommendations for something that is simple and reliable would be much appreciated. I think I would prefer a top loader and something not terribly expensive. I could care less about all the fancy steamers and automatic ironing settings. 

6. I'm ready to decorate for Christmas and I'm considering ordering some Christmas presents this week. I just love the holidays! Bring on the Christmas music:)

7. Here's hoping that Seth has something in mind for dinner because I'm hungry. Shocker. 



Happy Weekend!

Linking up with Conversion Diary


post signature

Thursday, October 24, 2013

When your husband decides he's a blogger

As I mentioned briefly on Monday, Seth suggested he should write a blog while we were out to dinner on Saturday night. 

Before telling you his blogging angle, I will give you a bit of background. We were eating at Fuzzy's Tacos (for anyone in the Lawrence, KS area, go here!) and sharing an order of nachos. I also ordered one taco and Seth ordered two tacos. Not unreasonable, I don't think. 

And action!

Seth: (in a serious tone) I think I should write a blog.
Julie: (completely surprised tone) Really?! What would your blog be about?
S: (while J is diving for another nacho) I'm gonna write a blog about how eating with you is a competition.
J: (looks up from nacho) What?
S: I am a man.
J: Just cause you're the man doesn't mean I can't eat as much as you? I like to eat. 
S: I feel like eating with you is a competition, whenever we share. If I don't hurry I won't get enough food. 
J: (blank stare)
S: I bet you're gonna blog about this now? 
J: Yep.
S: I'm the reason you have a blog.


Three minutes later

J: You can have the last chip.
S: No, it's ALLLL yours.
J: Seriously, I can't eat anymore.
S: Just cause you didn't eat the last bite doesn't mean you didn't eat a shit ton.
J: (blank stare)


One minute later

S: You don't even act like you're full.
J: (blank stare)
S: I suppose you want ice cream now?
J: (blank stare)
J: I'm writing this stuff down before I forget. I need to blog about it later. 
J: Oh, and I guess I'll take a photo of the "after" nachos. 


Done

and Dunner
Guess I'll just finish my drink since my wife ate all the food. 
And, like I said before, I have a disease

post signature

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

How to make Cinnamon Apple Chips

I've been promising a lot of things around this space lately so I'm trying to deliver. Last week I promised a post on how to make cinnamon apple chips and so guess what I'm delivering today?!!

If you guessed "How to make cinnamon apples" you are a smartypants, so give yourself a gold star!

This is actual super duper simple to do, so no worries if you're no Rachel Ray or Betty Crocker. 

Gather your ingredients:

3 apples (I used gala)
Ball Fruit Fresh (can also use lemon juice)
Cinnamon

And supplies:

Apple corer
Mandolin Slicer (or a good knife)
Dehydrator (or oven)


Put some fruit fresh in a bowl of water. 


Slice your apples as thin or as thick as you like. 
Keeping in mind they will shrink when we dehydrate them. 
Then toss them in the bowl of fruit fresh (or lemon juice) to prevent browning.


Lay your apples out on parchment paper.
Sprinkle with cinnamon. A lot or a little depending on your preference.


Lay apples into single layers on your dehydrator trays. 
(See oven instructions below.)
Turn the dehydrator on.


After about 4 hours (give or take) your apples will look all crinkly and be ready to eat.


If you like the apples crunchy (like chips) leave them in the dehydrator longer. If you like them softer (so you can roll them up like me) take them out earlier.


And that my friends is all there is to it. 
Store in a container or a pretty little mason jar that we all love so dearly. 



**Oven instructions - Turn on your oven to 200º and put sliced apples on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in oven for 2-4 hours depending on the crispiness you like. Flip apples periodically (every hour or so) so they dry evenly.  


Let me know if you try them:)

P.S. They're pretty good for breakfast!


post signature

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Lost Puppy

I promised a post about my puppy yesterday so that's what you're gonna get. (and it's long)

Friday started off like every other day. I had to work. Seth was off work and at home most of the day. After surviving the work week I hurried home to see what was for dinner. Obviously I would have a delicious meal waiting for me since I worked all day while Seth was at home. Not. 

Anyway, I digress. 

While pulling in the driveway I looked for Gunnar to come bounding towards me as fast as doggedly possible (like always) but he never came. I figured, oh, he must be off playing since Seth was home all day he wasn't waiting for us to pull in the drive. I started some dinner and kept waiting for him to come up to the house looking for food. He never came. Seth said he hadn't seen him since he left to get his haircut around eleven that morning which is weird. Gunnar ALWAYS comes running when we pull in the drive. While I continued cooking, trying not to freak out, Seth decided to go drive down the roads around our house calling for him. 

Since we live in the country, our dog pretty much runs around the fields all around our house. He's a free spirit. He could also be anywhere

Seth got back to the house and reported that he hadn't seen him or heard him. He also hadn't seen him laying in a ditch which was a good thing. I figured he must be out hanging with his dog buddies, One-eye and Hound I like to call them, and would come back in a little bit because he would want some food. 

We settled in to watch a movie and kept jumping up to go look outside and call for him. Nothing. Half way through the movie we went to drive around again, looking in ditches and calling for him. (Keep in mind, it was rainy and cold and in general really nasty out). Still no Gunnar. We came back home, not sure what else to do so we let the rest of the movie play while we kept waiting. And waiting. And waiting. 

Once the movie was over Seth decided he wanted to take the four wheeler out to look on the back of our property (we have 10 acres and it's in the shape of a rectangle). We wondered if maybe Gunnar got stuck in a fence or something. I went with him so I could look around the sides of us while Seth tried not to drive into any trees. At this time it's 10:45 and the rain has at least stopped but it's cold and gross. 

I hopped on the back of the four wheeler while Seth drove us around. Every few minutes we would turn the motor off so we could call Gunnar's name and then listen for him. After about 3 times of doing this we heard whimpering! Apparently Gunnar doesn't believe in barking at anything but birds and bugs because a bark would have helped us out a WHOLE lot sooner but whateves. We jumped off the four wheeler and took off through the woods behind our neighbor (4 doors downs) house. Gunnar was locked in their detached garage workshop. 

Seth scrambled up the porch to ring the doorbell of our poor sleeping neighbors (it was after 11) while I stood at the bottom of the steps. He told me I should probably come stand by him so he doesn't get shot when the people come to the door. Oh yeah, we have never met these neighbors. When they opened the door we blurted out "our dog's in your garage". The half sleeping lady looked at us like we were crazy (which I'm sure we looked in layers of clothes and woodsy tangled hair) and said "who are you?" Seth explained the situation and she said, "oh, you're Gunnar's parents?!" Yes! 

The lady and her husband came outside to unlock their garage to let Gunnar out who was SO excited to see us. She explained that her Dad had been working on something in the garage earlier and Gunnar likes to hang out with him so he must have gotten locked in by accident. Thank goodness we found him and he was safe though.

We scrambled back to the four wheeler and then drove home with Gunnar right beside us. Sweet puppy got a leftover steak for dinner.

Needless to say my photo session the next day didn't result in any tears since we found Gunnar. I'm pretty sure it would have if he'd still been missing.  

Gunnar photos below. Enjoy:)
















post signature

Monday, October 21, 2013

Monday Monday

Monday Monday. I. Am. Tired. 

I swear, we tried to fit every possible thing into this weekend and now I'm exhausted and in need of some caffeine to get me through this day. Sadly, I don't drink coffee and I'm not going to let myself drink a Pepsi, so I'm sorta screwed. 

Since so much happened this weekend I'm gonna do a little recap but you can expect several posts to come that will give many more entertaining/exciting details. I promise, you will want to read them.

Friday

We lost our dog. Not just a little lost either. More like we drove around looking in ditches because we were afraid that's where he probably was. Not fun:(

Saturday

Maple Leaf Festival. Food. Crafts. All the fun you can imagine at a festival that celebrates tree leaves. 

That cute kid is our nephew, Ryder. He just turned 4.  
It was a little chilly during the parade. Seth and his little sister, Destiny. 

Luckily it warmed up and the kids rode the rides. 

We managed a decent photo in between all the beautiful faces Seth loves to make. 

I had a photo shoot for a high school senior in the evening. The family had a German Short Hair (same as my dog) and the kid whose photo I was taking was named Gunnar. Coincidence? Ironic? Stay tuned to future posts to figure out what happened Friday and if the photo session turned me into a crying baby.

Date night. It was supposed to be an anniversary dinner but we decided since it was already kinda late that we would wait until next weekend. So we ate Fuzzy's Taco (SO GOOD) and Seth told me during dinner that he should start a blog. It was such a brilliant idea I decided he deserves his own post. Wait for it. 

Sunday

Moving day for my parents. We spent the whole day helping them pack up, load up, and move their treasures (and junk) from their rental duplex to their new home a few blocks away. Let's just say they had a little more stuff than what I thought. It's all moved over though and is now mostly cluttering up their garage. 
Seth and I  made it home around 7 and we spent the next hour painting the floor of the shop. It's done (finally) so he can finish building shelves and we can put stuff away. 

And That is why I'm a little sleepy. Maybe I can squeeze in a nap after work tonight....


Linking up with Sami

post signature

Friday, October 18, 2013

7 Quick Takes {18}


1. Chilly morning in the land of oz. Winter better slow it's roll because I need some more fall before the Wicked Witch of the North decides it's time to freeze. Cold+Julie=unhappy eskimo. Ironic since my blog name includes the word freezing? Maybe.

Since it was cold last night as well, I decided to make some soup. I must say it turned out pretty fan-freaking-tastic. Not sure what kind of soup I would call it except maybe a cheesy potato (plus some extra veggies so I wouldn't feel so guilty about eating such an unhealthy soup). Maybe soup making is my real calling in life. Thoughts to ponder. 
That's a big bowl of healthy right there!

2. You know how sometimes when you're texting two people at the same time and you accidentally call your blog friend "lovey" and let her know that you're going to shower... instead of your husband. Yeah, I don't know what that's like either. 

Better than when I called another RA sexy...

3. It's Maple Leaf Festival weekend! Yippee skippy. I'm pretty pumped to get some good food and peruse the hand-crocheted kitchen towels that this fine festival has to offer. Since when did everyone with a Pinterest account think their crafts are sellable? No, I wouldn't like to buy your mason jar modge podged like a pumpkin. I can modge podge one myself, thank you very much (after making homemade modge podge). 

via

4. My parents are FINALLY moving into their house on Sunday. Praise you Jesus! It's taken a long time to build and many a problems along the way, but it's just about there. One more coat of sealer on the floors and they can start moving stuff in. Their marriage survived so I'll chalk that up to a win. 

Loving their tile backsplash!

5. Apparently Gunnar fell of the wagon and felt the need to eat some mail again. Obviously, the neighbors books delivered to their porch seemed like a good idea. Just when we thought he had outgrown it. 

6. Seth got home yesterday so we will get to celebrate our anniversary this weekend. Yay! Probably means dinner at one of our usual places. We are SO exciting! Two years down and zero anniversary days actually spent together. Maybe next year. I wonder if it's still safe to eat our cake topper that's buried in the freezer....

7. I'm on week 3 of only drinking two pops a week. Yes sir-ee. I'm doing pretty freakin darn amazing if I do say so myself. Now if only I can cut back on all the other unhealthy stuff I eat. Refer to numero uno. 



Happy weekend friends. 

Linking up with Jen.

post signature

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Super Simple (Healthy) Salsa

Since summer is winding down (I realize it's fall but I don't want to let go of summer quite yet) I decided to share one of my super simple recipes for salsa (or pico de gallo, whatever you want to call it). Bonus, it's healthy!

We've still got a few tomatoes so I made up a batch last weekend and I'm hoping to make more this weekend. Crossing my fingers for more tomatoes.

Anyhow....gather your ingredients. 

Ingredients

Tomatoes (duh)
Cilantro
Lemon (lemon juice works fine too)
Onion
Garlic Powder
Sea salt (prefer the sea but regular works)
Pepper

(If you want to get crazy you can add a jalapeno, but I'm not a fan so I leave it out.)


Hello gorgeous.

Dice your onion. I use about a quarter of a medium sized onion.

Dice your tomato. Two big or 3-4 small-ish ones.

Throw your tomato and onion into a bowl. 
Dice up your cilantro. About a tablespoon.

Add to tomatos and onions.

Squeeze lemon juice onto the mixture.
(Add jalapeno hear if you want.)

Add about a tsp of garlic powder.
I use powder instead of salt so we don't get too much sodium.

Generously add pepper if your husband is a pepper lover like mine.
Plus a pinch of salt or so (you can always add more later). 

Mix it up.

Admire how beautiful and summery it looks.

Next, put it in the fridge for about an hour so the flavors can mingle. 

Most important step right here....taste it! Does it need anything else?
Add it in and stir it up. 

Eat with chips or on a taco salad or off the spoon.
There's really no wrong way to eat this stuff.
(We like to call nachos a taco salad in our house. Sounds healthier!)

That's all there is to it! See, told ya it was easy. 
Now hurry and make some before all the tomatoes are gone. 

Linking up at Tell it Tuesday with One Fine Wire


post signature

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...