52 Pieces of Me

Week 4

My favorite Shoes

I wear these every single day!

Men

There is always talk about how a man will never understand a woman. My opinion: I will never understand a man.

I will never understand a man's wants, needs, emotions, desires, thoughts or actions.

I believe men are as confusing as women.

That being said there are some thing I do understand....

There is no substitute for a man's love, the way he protects, provides, cares, loves.

A man is strong when he has to be because you aren't and you can't fake that you are.

A man is a best friend you can run to when it seems nobody else is there, he doesn't judge you like a girlfriend would.

Although I don't understand the actions a man takes at times, I married and love the best man I could have asked for

Recipe Book

Week 4

Austin

I always blog about myself; my hobbies, my interest, me. Today I decided to blog about Austin. Austin LOVES to fish, especially fly fish. He is out there 4 or more days a week. Rain, snow or ice he is fishing. He bundles up and heads to the stream.

Austin even ties his own flies. He spends a lot of time at the kitchen table with all kinds of "stuff" (for lack of correct terms)spread out.

I like watching Austin hard at work with passion. Its nice to know he can relax and enjoy fishing everyday while I am at school or work. He fishes with his dad or alone at times. In the summer I join him when he cat fishes. Austin is very knowledgeable when it comes to catching fish. The other day he even took little Syd with him. She had a blast and so did he :)

We definitely have all the gear for any kind of fishing, cat, trout, bass, blue gill... you name it!

Keeping it Real

Hi, my name is Sarah and I am addicted to shoes, not just buying them but collecting them. I never throw out shoes, I have shoes from middle school and I still wear them!

So maybe I don't make the bed that often. My side is the one with the extra blanket cause I am always cold, and as you can see I steal Austin's pillow to snuggle when he leaves in the morning.

52 Pieces of Me

Week 3

I am a bit of a ....

Scrap-a-holic

Scrapbook Junkie

Obsessed with scrapbooking

An over the top picture taker

I like to scrapbook

Friday Favorites

Ok, so I might have gone overboard with Hobby Lobby's 50% off flower and glassware, but it looks really nice and I love it!

Newest Addition

My newest friends!

Gus & Henry

Finally my tank was old enough to get more fish
They are Kissing gouramies

Gus is the fatter one and Henry is the little one. They are my favorite and that's why they got names :)

Recipe Book

Week 3

Formally known as What's For Dinner, I have changed the name considering I will be posting more than just dinner recipes. This week for example I made a tasty treat!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Bars

I never claimed these would be new and exciting, just quick and delicious

What you need:

1 Quick Cookie Bar Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) soft unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Prepare crust as directed, let cool

Soften butter with mixer and slowly add both sugars

Add one egg at a time completely beating each before adding the next

Add vanilla, salt, and flour

Fold in chocolate chips with spoon

Place on top of crust and bake @ 350 for 30-35 minutes

Remove from pan and place on cooling rack in fridge for 1-2 hours

Cut and serve

**The middle was sooo soft and delicious!!**

I did have a slight falling out when transferring from pan to cookie sheet and my end result was not that pretty but the bars were still good. I took some to work and they were literally gone in 10 minutes.

Keeping it Real

**post just to prove I keep it real on here**

Remember how I cleaned last week? Well the stuff never really made it out of the house, just from the closet to the throw-away pile :)

Spare bedroom junk as we speak

And remember how I dust weekly? Well maybe I have forgotten our bedroom the last week. This is the dusting cloth from just our room. I promise it is 100 times worse than the cloth I used for the rest of the house. C'mon someone vouch for me, my house is always clean!

52 Pieces of Me

Week 2

Date Nights

Austin and I have as many date nights as we can get!! Our date nights are simple and the same each time. We love to curl up on the couch and watch movies. We are a bit of Netflix junkies. There is nothing I rather do than stay in and watch a good movie with my hubby. These are the best nights I could ask for.

Winter Cleaning

* If the bottom of this post is messed up I have tried and tried and have no idea what it is doing**

We keep our house well gathered, but on Saturday mornings while Austin is at work I always spend a good hour or so doing a deep clean; mopping, vacuuming, dusting (more than just picking up).

Last weekend I had the flu...BAD.

I was on the couch sleeping all Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I didn't move or eat.

I didn't really think about how I missed cleaning till yesterday evening when I noticed how dirty our kitchen floors were. The floor looked like it was sponge painted with a dog print. Then I started thinking how I hadn't vacuumed or dusted in over a week. Gross right?! So I decided to spend the evening cleaning and ended up going a bit over board. I cleaned the extra closet out which was filled with all the junk we had moved and didn't need but had not bothered to go through (instead we had thrown it in the closet of a spare bedroom). I ended up throwing away a few trash bags and about 3 boxes worth of "worthless" items.

Before After

I feel much better now.

Funny how a little thing like cleaning always makes you feel better!

What's For Dinner

Week Two

Picante Chicken and Rice Bake

Another quick and easy to put together dish

Ingredients:

1 c corn

1/2 c water

2-4 chicken breast

3/4 c rice

1 jar Pace picante sauce (16 oz)

Paprika

What to do:

Mix corn, water, rice and picante sauce in shallow baking dish

Place chicken on top

Sprinkle with paprika

Cover and bake for 45 min @ 375

**I added some cheese on top for the last 3 mins of baking**

I wasn't sure how the rice was going to taste being cooked it salsa but it was surprisingly delicious, we both loved it

**Sorry if my picture doesn't look appetizing, still figuring out with photo editing software I want, and I haven't gotten a new computer yet**

I wish I may, I wish I might

I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight

What are some things you wish you knew how to do?

I wish I had more talents in a few areas and here are some:

Photos

I want to learn to use software and different techniques in my photos, nothing professional just a few tricks

Swimming

Swimming is not only one of the best workouts out there but it's FUN! I wish I was a better swimmer

Hair

As I am growing my hair out again I want to be able to to different things with it instead of just leaving it straight all the time. Maybe I will ask my little sister for some tricks.

52 Pieces of Me

Week One

I am a strong believer that this was invented for me

Yes, I do believe that I was the one person they made the straightener for

What's For Dinner

As promised, to myself and Austin, I have been trying new recipes.

I actually tried 3 new ones this week but decided to only blog about one (that leaves me backups in case I get behind a week)

This one might be a bit of a cheat since my mom made it all the time while I was growing up. On my defense, I never actually made it so I looked up a recipe and tried it. It was delicious!!

Ready for the recipe?

Chicken spaghetti!!

What you Need:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup cheese

2 chicken breast

spaghetti noodles

1/4 c chicken broth

1 tsp. both salt and pepper

Directions:

Cube and cook chicken

Boil noodles until soft

Add cream of chicken, chicken broth, cheese, salt and pepper to pan

Stir in with noodles

Place in a greased baking dish

Bake at 350 for 30 min

** My mom always cooked onions and celery with chicken BUT Austin doesn't like either . Try adding for extra flavor**

This dish is easy, fast and a favorite.

Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you thought.

Look for next week recipe... I have been googling and have plenty desserts and dinners lined up :)

2010

I have never really made resolutions for the new year but this year I have made "goals". Things I hope to stay up on and accomplish this year. Hopefully by sharing them with you it will make me try harder to stay on track.

1. I want to try and (hopefully) blog about one new recipe each week. (hopefully this will not only expand my dinner planning but give you guys a few new recipes)

2. I bought a devotion book and I want to spend at least 30 minutes a day reading my passage and writing a reflection.

3. I want to stay more focused on my school work and get a 4.0 all three semester this year.

I hope you all will encourage me and push me to reach my goals this year.