Sunshine at 5PM

Every winter as it gets darker and darker when I'm leaving work at 5PM, I listen to people talk about how much they hate going home in the dark. I listen and try to empathize, saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, it's a real bummer." Truth be told, I don't really mind it too much. It's usually cold enough by then that I'm not going outside at night anyhow.

However, this time of year, when the sunshine at 5PM is returning, it's a whole 'nother story. I love walking out of work and seeing the light again. It gives me an extra bounce in my step and puts me in a better mood. It's still cold enough that I'm not going outside after work, but it's the first sign that spring is just around the corner.

So, come on spring!! Feel free to arrive early this year :-)

Blessings in Disguise

Today would have been my 6th anniversary at Gateway Hotel if I still worked there. But I don't, and I'm okay with that now. We had a tumultuous 1+ year, but I truly think that everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Even if it was hard (if not impossible) to think that at the time. For a few months, I hated getting the mail, because there was always the possibility of another rejection letter. It was heart-wrenching and usually required a full box of cookies before I started feeling better about things. Looking back, I can say it was all worth it to end up where we are today.


-Late September of 2008 I found out I'd be losing my job.
-Early October we found out we were finally pregnant.
-January of 2009 I was officially unemployed.
-From February through the end of April I worked as a temp at a tax agency.
-The middle of May I had my beautiful baby girl.
-August 10 I started my job with the City of Ames. Chloe was exactly 12 weeks old when I went to work and I feel very lucky that I got to spend her first 12 (very colicky) weeks with her. I get to work 10-5, so Chloe and I have extra time to hang out in the morning, instead of rushing around trying to get out of the house. At 5 when I leave, I truly leave my job behind. I don't have to think about it again until I get there the next morning, which is great when my night is already filled with Miss Chloe Mae.

Hopefully next time something goes seemingly wrong in my life, I can remember that it'll eventually work out!!

I see lots of pasta in our future!!

Inspired by Melissa from "Next Food Network Star," who taught us that ratatouille has Eggplant, Zucchini, Peppers, Onion and Tomato (EZ POT) and because we had all but the eggplant ready for harvest in our garden, we (Aaron) made ratatouille last weekend. There was a bunch leftover and we didn't think it would reheat very well, so we pureed it and froze it for future use on pasta. It was quite tasty and I'm looking forward to having a nice sauce, chocked full of veggies for our pasta!!

Now this weekend, we have a bunch of Roma Tomatoes ready along with some carrots, and of course, more zucchini. Aaron's currently roasting everything and then we're going to make more veggie-licious pasta sauce. We'll be set this fall/winter for lots of yummy pasta dishes!!

We'll have even more tomatoes ready in the next few days, so if anyone has a great homemade marinara recipe, please share!!

How Naive

I thought this was a big'un... Oh how I was wrong.

Aaron discovered this guy hiding in our broccoli the other day. We're starting to run out of ideas for using fresh veggies (last night we made green bean and zucchini tempura as our side - yummy!!) and freezer space. Oh what a problem to have.

Hooray for Veggies!!*

Our menu planning has been thrown out the window the last few weeks. We usually do 1 day of grilling, making extras so that we have a few meals throughout the week. We've also depended on the stockpile of freezer meals, so we haven't gone hungry by any standard. However, our meals haven't exactly been well-balanced on a regular basis. But now we're able to harvest from our garden, so that should all change. Tonight, we're having Crock Pot Chicken from the freezer with brown rice AND we're having salads with Bibb Lettuce and Zucchini and Grean Beans straight from the garden!!

Aaron just pointed out a couple little zucchinis to me yesterday, so we didn't think we'd have any ready for another week at least. Then, when I was picking green beans today I noticed this giant and decided it was time to harvest it. I don't know how big they can get, but this one's significantly bigger than any I've ever purchased in stores. We're going to get dozens of zucchinis, so if you have any great recipes or would like any for yourself, let us know!!

*For anyone who's known me longer than a couple years, did you think this phrase would ever come from me?!?

Home Warranty

We are so thankful we got a home warranty when we purchased our house last year!! Over the winter, we had our water heater replaced for just over $100, to cover the service fee, disposal and a permit from the city. Now, we're having our air conditioner replaced for 1/3 of the normal cost. Again, most of the costs would have been covered, but we decided to upgrade the outdoor unit and replace the indoor part of the unit as well (which is technically still working.)

Our current unit is 35 years old, so "it doesn't owe us anything" according to the repairman. The SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) on the current unit is a 6. That's assuming that it's actually working at peak performance, which it's obviously not since they're replacing it!! The lowest SEER on currently produced units is 13 and we're upgrading to a 15, so we should save a ton of money on energy costs. The rating basically means that for every watt of energy purchased for the unit you get that number of BTU's out, so we really can say that our new unit will be 2.5 times more efficient.

Our warranty expires on June 23, so if any more of our appliances decide to stop working, hopefully they do so soon!! (And hopefully I haven't just jinxed us!!)

Our Apple Tree

Aaron and I spent about 3 seconds appreciating how pretty our apple tree looks in bloom, before we realized that all those beautiful flowers were going to become apples. Apples that would most likely become bug-infested and fall off the tree. That means that all those flowers are going to become apples that we'll have to pick up from the yard again...

Yummy Peanut Butter Bars

I came across this recipe the other day and thought I should give it a try. The recipe poster claims that the bars are similar to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which I LOVE, and we had all 5 ingredients on hand, so I whipped up a half batch before we headed over to my mom's for dinner. Although I'm not sure if I'd say they're exactly like Reese's PB Cups, they were very tasty, so I thought I'd share.

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Combine 1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs, 1 lb. Powdered Sugar (about 3-3 1/2 cups), and 1 1/2 cups Peanut Butter and mix well. Blend in 1 cup melted butter until well combined. Press evenly into a 9x13 pan. Melt 12 oz. Chocolate Chips and spread over the top. Chill until the chocolate sets and cut into bars. (They'll be difficult to cut if the chocolate gets really hard.)

2+2=??

I'm beginning to seriously question whether or not many adults would be able to solve that little math problem. I know not everyone is good at math, but everyone should be able to handle simple addition and subtraction and I don't think asking that someone be able to multiply or divide simple equations is too out of line. Here are two examples from my last week where simple math was just too much for some cashiers I had to deal with (really?!? These are the people you trust with your money...)

• We were buying seeds, plants and bulbs for our garden over the weekend. They were selling bulk onion bulbs for $2.99/qt. We purchased a half quart and the cashier had to get out a calculator to figure out that she should charge us $1.50. The really sad part, is that she had to try 3 or 4 times before she came up with an answer - so she's apparently not good at math or using a calculator.
• We were at Target last night so I could pick up a maternity tank top and get Chloe a going home outfit (it's adorable, FYI.) I was paying cash with money from our envelopes - yes, Chloe has her own clothing envelope. The total w as $21.14 and I gave the cashier $21.25. I originally gave her $21 and was rooting around, looking for change. The cashier must have entered "21" while I was searching and then "21.25" when I gave her a quarter, so the register saidthat she owed me $2100.11 in change. She knew this wasn't right, asked if the total had been $21.14, which I confirmed, and then gave me $0.09 in change. It was close to dinnertime, and I wasn't feeling super polite, so I didn't say anything and just left two cents short.

Maybe we'll encourage our kids to learn simple math by banning calculators in our house until they start in on calculus.

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't posted our meal plan in a while, but with the impending arrival of BabyMort, I want to make sure we're still sticking to this as much as possible. My temp job ends this week, so I'll have a lot more free time to try out some new recipes and stock up our freezer meals as well. Plus, I think we have a pretty good menu this week, so I wanted to share :-)

Sunday - NY Strip Steak w/ grilled stir-fry veggies and mashed potatoes (the leftover steak will be used for quesadillas for lunches and the leftover potatoes will be used in another recipe later this week)
Monday - Tacos
Tuesday - Pasta w/ marinara sauce with pureed squash and italian sausage (This was a great idea for getting veggies in, posted over on Lovely Ladies Dish on the Dish)
Wednesday - Grilled Burgers w/ grilled asparagus
Thursday - Mexican Pizzas (We're using the leftovers from tacos, but getting a whole different meal out of it. This is something we want to try to do more, so we don't get tired of eating leftovers.)
Friday - Perogy Lasagna (This is my first day of unemployment again, so I thought I'd try out a new recipe. I'm going to make two 8x8's instead of a 9x13 and freeze one.)
Saturday - Frozen Pizza (My baby shower is on Saturday - hooray for great family and friends!! - so we're not really sure how our day will end up and wanted to stick with something easy.)

For more ideas, head over to The Organizing Junkie.