The Count Down Begins to Hallows’ Eve

I know it seems a little too early to be thinking about, but I am looking for Halloween crafts for our annual Halloween party. I only have 152 days left until the big day and I don’t want it to thrown together. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I want it to be great this year. I have already planted my pumpkin patch in hopes of having a heaping load of Jack-O-Lanterns this year. I have been searching on Pinterest crafty ideas and even been shopping on eBay for extra strop lights but the main thing I have been pondering on is my costume.

I don’t like to dress up in a pretty, slutty, costume like most girls on Halloween. I like mine to be scary looking.  Last year my friend and I dressed up as vampires from Twilight. Not the pretty ones, the ones that have fangs and red eyes (we did put glitter all over us  for kicks) however the fangs we got wouldn’t stay on and we ended up looking like zombies. I have been throwing around a few ideas but still not dead set on anything yet and it is driving me crazy.

I found some really sweet makeup ideas. I don’t know if I am that talented to be able to mimic them but I would love to give it a try.

I also found some pretty good craft ideas for the party on Pinterest. It’s not much but it is a start. Oh I cant wait it is going to be great!

Halloween fun fact:

The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl’s call meant someone was about to die.

Heidi Cat’s Favorite Toy

The Zarb Garden

I know it is hard to tell from the pictures below but I finally have a garden. The pictures make it look like a bunch of weeds. This is my first garden, well technically second, I planted one last year and the hail storm killed it. I don’t really know what I am doing but I am giving it my best. Any tips would be of much help.

What my garden grows:

Tomatoes (I love my neon green tomato cages)

Tommy Toes

Cucumbers

Zucchinis

Jalapenos

Cheyenne Peppers

Habanero Peppers

Bell Peppers (green, yellow and red)

Watermelon

and finally Pumpkins

 

 

Project 365: Week 20 and 21

Sorry For the delay in my blog lately. My charger on my laptop decided to stop working. Now with a new charger in hand I am back in the game and still took my picture everyday for the past 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Husband smoked us 2 chickens for dinner

Mr. Mal showing off his hippie shirt. My favorite, I love this picture.

Maya is taking a lazy day

Got 10 inches cut off my hair. It feels so weird!

View from the back. I really don’t like the cut. Too clean cut for my taste.

Finally replaced the bird feeder (cat feeder)  that got destroyed in the hail storm last year

Double date night

Someone go caught red handed digging in my flower bed

Feels odd to wear scrubs again.

Selling my road bike. I will miss that guy but I am upgraded to a hybrid

Grabbing a beer at the Bearden Beer Market

I didn’t go alone just lost the other ticket stub

Phil cleaning the street (only my husband would clean the street). We had a basement clean up day and we about cooked, super hot day!

Just thought my husbands truck looked cool at this angle.

Forget all about Salary, Titles, Perks and Status

I have been a Vet Tech before; I worked my way through college doing this career. I loved it! It was a very rewarding job but you smelled like a wet dog after work and you tend to get a few bite wounds and scratches daily with all that still a great job. Once I graduated college and decided to get my feet wet in the business world. My first job was with Whirlpool doing customer support for the contract side of the business, boring job, couldn’t stand it. I decided after 2 years of doing that I would venture out and see what else the business world had to offer. I landed a job working for The Insite Group as a Project Coordinator. I was working on a Burger King sign project on all the USA locations. Little did I know I would give my life away for 3 whole months. I honestly worked 60+ hours a week, 7 days a week. I may have had 3 days off the whole time I was there. I never saw my husband my house was a wreck, I couldn’t be married to a job like that. Once the project ended I decided to take a breather and here I sit writing this blog (sitting on the couch, listening to the birds chirping in the background and all in a very clean house).

I love being a housewife, but since we have no children and the dogs aren’t much entertainment I decided to go back to work after just 2 weeks off. After putting in numerous applications for business positions online I came across an add on Monster for a Vet Tech opening at  Dogwood Animal Hospital that is 2 miles down  from our house. I applied, got a call the same day, went in for an interview, loved it, and got a call Monday with the job offer. I couldn’t be happier right now. It is part time until August and then it will go full time. It is a win win situation: no pay cut, short commute, a job I love, plus health insurance. I am use to drive 30 plus minutes to work while fighting Knoxville rush hour traffic. Sitting in a cubical all day and never seeing daylight. This worse part is that you can’t move. I know that sounds dumb but sitting all day and eating fast food will drive you nuts and you will gain weight fast if you don’t watch it. I am so ready to start moving again! I can live with being thin and happy

My first day is tomorrow, wish me luck!

Flower Garden – Sneak Peek

I finally decided to plant some flowers in the flower bed on my back patio. I normally plant the flowers and the dogs dig them up, step on them, or knock the pots over. Last year I didn’t even bother. This year, I decided to put a small fence around the back side of it hoping this will discourage unwanted traffic. I guess I will have to wait and see if the fence works or they find their way around it or kick it over.

I still need to add mulch but I was happy with my little garden so far. The cat did bring me a dead mole and planted by the purple petunias. I guess he is helping with the fertilizer stage. If the dogs stay out of I am going to add more flowers soon. This is just step 1, sneak peek.

Recipe – Drunken Noodles -Yummy!

I use my fresh basil

• 2 14-ounce packages 1/4-inch-wide flat rice noodles
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 12 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Thai chiles (I used Thai Chili Paste)
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup black soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 large plum tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges
• 2 green bell peppers (about 12 ounces total), cut into strips
• 1/2 cup fresh Thai basil leaves or regular basil leaves
• 1 cup of bean sprouts

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring frequently. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and Thai chiles; sauté 30 seconds.

Add chicken and the next 4 ingredients and sauté until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add noodles, tomatoes, and Anaheim chiles; toss to coat. Transfer to large platter, sprinkle with basil leaves, and serve.

If you really like hot stuff I put in 4 tablespoons

This is the fish sauce. I used Oyster sauce 1/4 cup

This is the finish product. It was very good, still missing something and couldn’t put my finger on it. I am trying to get it as good as Taste of Thai’s maybe I should just ask what they use.

Project 365: Week 19

Fishing

My husband is a builder: His new project

I love this little old man

Me and Mr Mal getting ready to run errands.

Welcome to the family sea urchin

Very sunburned from fishing. I was only out there for 2 hours

Someone was sleeping

SHAME ON North Carolina

I must say I can’t get this issue off my mind lately, that North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that defines marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman. Really, is this not 2012?

I just keep thinking as a nation if we do not learn from our history it is doomed to repeat it’s self. This got me thinking about a photo I recently saw and how we have changed as a country. Looking back at ourselves, we are ashamed of how we treated our own people. People that today we work side by side in everyday living we once thought of as second class.

This is a picture of NC in 1960. I’m sure they thought they were right then too.

Why? I don’t understand, what does a LGBT couple getting married harm you? I can’t think of one reason (that is not religious) why they shouldn’t have this right. No one’s right should be determined by a majority vote, never. I am no stranger to religious-based bigotry, and fear and ignorance are powerful motivators that they use to influence people. As a free thinker, I am for human rights! I could not care less if you were a member of LGBT people. In my eyes, you are a person and you deserve the same basic rights I have as an American.

I know some (more than likely, many) people will read this and disagree with my point of view. Some may unfriend or block me on their social networks or send my private messages on Facebook, like in the past. Great, honestly I don’t want to be friends with people that think this way. People that aren’t open minded or diverse enough to see other points of views of others. I use to sit back and not voice my opinion on types that I didn’t agree with but then I realized I was part of the problem. If more people weren’t afraid to step on a few toes every now and again we may live in a better more peaceful place. Please people don’t be an idiot!

The way I think about politics is: Republican are idiots, Democrats are idiots, Conversations are idiots and liberals are idiots. Anyone who makes up their mind before hearing an issue is a fool. Be a person. Listen to the facts of an issue. Let is swirl in your head and the form your opinion. No normal, decent person is one thing. I got some issues I am conservative about and some I am Liberal about but I always listen and see both sides of an issue before forming an opinion.

I love the South and it’s people and I am not giving up yet.

A “Simple” Trip to the Pet Store

I am not one to complain about much in life and I’m not writing this to complain either, I just find my “simple” trip to the pet store very ironic. I went to Pet Supplies Plus one day a while back. Just to note: this is the only pet store I shop at because they are the only ones close by that carry my type of dog food, I’m very picky when it come to what I feed my pets. As many of you know, I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 snake. Well, even the snake has to eat once in a while so I also pick his food up when I am there. He eats frozen small rats. So after I leave the, I am in the car looking in my bag of misc pet treats and toys and find the bag is a bit heavy. Didn’t really think too much of this and drove home. Once, at home I unloaded the dog food and opened up my bag to find they did not give me a small rat, but instead they gave me a large frozen rabbit! I had no clue what to do with a frozen rabbit. I called the store an advised them what had happen. They said “no problem” just bring the rabbit in and they will exchange it out for a rat. The problem here is that I always go to the pet store after work and I can’t simply place a frozen rabbit in the freezer so it would have to wait until I was off and in that part of town again.

Here lately I have had some free time on my hands, so while I was running errands today I thought I would return the rabbit that has been in my freezer for a while now. I walk in the store and the young brown haired lady at the register asked me if I have a return. “Well, sort of” – I said.  I explain the whole story and she doesn’t know what to do. She calls another assist over and he asks if I have my receipt. Of course not, I hate junk and never keep anything like that. They call for the store manager to come up front. A nice middle-aged lady comes to the front to assist us. After letting out a giggle when she heard the story she said she is happy to return the rabbit and give me my small rat. Great, that is all I wanted. I told the young lady at the register that I had to get dog food and I would be right back.

I walk to the back of the store to where my dog food is and the shelves are all bare. Sigh, I walk back to the lady up front and ask if there has been a recall on my food. Yes she says along with every other brand I like. Now I don’t know what to do. I go to see if I can find something that will hold them over. While I’m in the Holistic dog food aisle the man from up front comes to tell me the customer in line behind me has purchased all the small frozen rats in the store and would a medium rat work? I am all about upgrades but in this case, it will not work. My snake can’t physically eat medium rats we just got him on small rats 6 months ago. They stated it would be later on in the week before they would get a shipment in and that I could come by and pick it up later. I really didn’t want to go through this whole ordeal again so I asked if they could give me 3 mice instead, and they agreed.

Finally, I was able to find a better dog food than the one I had been feeding (more expensive too) and had my snake some food. A 5 min trip turned into an hour long ordeal.

It is hard work being a fur mommy!