Easy Beef Stroganoff

This is one of my favorite dishes to make and eat. Super easy and I usually always have the ingredients laying around the house, so it is perfect for one of those where you realized you really didn't plan anything. All you need is...

1 (8 ounce) package of egg noodles... I have always just use spiral noodles too
1 lb. ground beef (I use ground turkey sometimes too)
1 can fat free mushroom soup
1 Tbs garlic powder
1/2 cup sour cream
salt & pepper to taste

Cook the beef in a pan (with onions if wanted. I like it with onions). Mean while cook noodles. When beef is done thrown in mushroom soup, sour cream, and garlic. When all is mixed and warm, mixed with drained noodles.

This will serve 4 good. When I made it for 8 of us the other night I had to triple it and it did a perfect amount.

P.S. This coming week I am going to be doing my first ............................... (trying to build some suspense)............................GIVEAWAY! Yeaaaa for freebies! So if you want to sign up for a chance to win, keep a look out this next week for my wonderful prize!

iPod Problems

I need some help with a situation. My husband was a sweet heart, saved up and bought me a beautiful video iPod. I had an old hand-me down iPod soooo.... I used the old one for a while cause I just couldn't get myself to use such a nice iPod....yea yea I am a little paranoid and O.C.D. with my nice stuff.

But, finally I get my new iPod out of the box and start putting music on it while I drool over it and called it "My Precious", but then I look down (wipe away the drool) and notice something. I peel away the protective plastic screen and there are monstrous scratches from the spin wheel clear up into the screen! I was floored! I was so sad...my beautiful iPod...the nicest thing that I owed....the present my husband saved up for and bought me. I started crying and worked myself up and was worried about what I was going to tell my husband because I he would be sad too.

I got talking with my sister later that day and she informed me that she has heard Apple has an amazing warranty and is really good about fixing things. All I can tell you is that I was so relieved and was able to calm down stop worrying about it.

A while later I called Apple and told them what happened and ask if it was covered under warranty and explained everything to them; How my husband had bought it, hung on to it, gave it to me a while later, then I opened it and saved it for when I needed it, and then noticed it was cracked. I was worried that they wouldn't fix it because they thought we did it ourselves. Especially since there was such a gap from my husband buying it, giving it to me, and me noticing the cracks. But the man on the phone insisted SEVERAL times that yes, it would be covered....as long as we didn't do it ourselves, which apparently they can do tests to see if it was. Such as it had water damage or dropped. So... slam dunk...no problem... WHAMMY....my problems were over, it was going to get fixed because we sure didn't do it.

Well, we shipped off the iPod and I couldn't wait till I got my new or fixed iPod. A few days later I get the package and was soooo excited. We open it up and pull out my brand new.....wait a minute!...... it was the SAME iPod! Curtis looks at me and we are both thinking the same thing.....what the freak!

I get on the phone, call Apple and ask why they didn't fix my iPod. The teller 'informed' me that since the damage did not affect the usage of the iPod then it did not need to be fixed. I went on to explain that having a impaired screen of a video iPod DID, in fact, affect the usage. After about 30 mins of talking, arguing, and even some crying I was apparently wrong; video iPods don't need to have correct visible screens to be considered working, I guess. The things you learn...ehh?

So what do I do? How do I go about this? My husband saved and spent good money to surprise his wife with a present that they normally couldn't afford and was cheated out of his purchase. If this had happened to you what would be your next step? How would you handle this?

Toys From The 80's

There have been many times when I have been at a store buying something that Lucy needs, but then I get side tracked looking at toys that I want to get her. Unfortunately, I have heard that a 5 month old is a little young for dress up cloths and play time kitchens. So until then, I guess I will be stuck buying chew rings....I hate how those sound more appropriate for dogs than children.

Over the last few months of scanning the toy aisles wishing I could pick up some cute little Polly Pocket for her I have noticed that there just aren't as many good toys as there use to be. Toys these days seem to either be a simple, not too imaginative doll or some high tech toy/computer board that will claim to have your child making Einstein look like a gomer.

So here are some good ol' fashion toys that I think should make a comeback...well maybe not all of them, but it is sure fun to reminisce.


Glow Worms - Oh I loved these! I slept with mine every night for the longest time. They are pretty self explanatory....they are worms...that glow! Go figure! But they were perfect for little girls at night. I loved being able to just give it a squeeze and see the cheeks light up...also helped make midnight bathroom runs A LOT easier.




Popples - These little fur balls were a fun stuffed animal that could be rolled up into a nice tight pouch. I loved them and the cartoon that they made of them, even though they do look like a cross breeding of kangaroos and turtles that has gone horribly wrong :)


Forest Family - Cute little animal families that you could play with. They had all sort of animals: bears, cats, raccoons, squirrels.... I had the raccoons. I loved to use these critters in place of the dolls in my doll house. Apparently it was more fun to have the raccoons in the house and the dolls as the family pet.



Battle Beasts - Here is one for the boys. Every figure was a different animal, reptiles, insect and they had a black square on the front. The figures would battle and you would decide who would win by pressing the square. Their chests were heat sensitive so when you pressed your finger an image would pop up... fire, water, or wood. Fire burnt wood, water put out fire, and wood could block water.



Smooshees - A plush squishy animal or doll that could fit into whatever accessory it came with. One item was a dog that came with a fire hydrant that you could squish him into. Or a turtle that had a shell, you needed to squeeze him into it to be dressed. Apparently squeezing equaled fun back then :)


Purr-tenders - The story behind these stuffed animals is that all these cats are trying to get adopted and so they pretend to be different animals because they felt like people didn't want cats. I had this one...the parrot cat and I loved to pretend that I was actually hiding this cat from my mom. So I would keep the cat in the parrot outfit till my mom was gone then I would let my cat be her self. I had an endless amount of fun with this one. Do you know how hard it is trying to teach a cat to fly to help make her look like a parrot?



Slip n' Slides - What kid didn't have one of these? Even with growing up in Alaska we had one and I loved it. Well, until I reached the end. Our yard was just barely big enough and at the end of the slide was where the grass stopped and the rock garden began....we had a lot of scrapped knees that summer.



Pound Puppies - Kids could go to the store and adopt a Pound Puppy which would come with his very own home and some information on your puppy. There were many different colors and patterns of dog so each child could have a unique dog. The creator of pound puppies actually wanted the child to have a special bond with their dog and truly love it. What is really cute is that there is a website http://www.poundpuppies.com/ where kids can still go online and pick a puppies and play with it and take care them.


Wacky Wall Walkers - A gummy sticky octopus that can be thrown onto walls, windows, or doors and would squiggle on down. As you can tell from the boy's hair and sweater this ad many be from the 80's




Wuzzles - Island of Dr. Moreau for kids apparently. These animals were cross breeds of each other. A bunny hippo, kangaroo elephant, bumble bee bear, and my favorite... seal moose. I spent several hours in class wasting my time by drawing up my very own wuzzles (But never a Li-ger)


He-Man and She-Ra - My brothers played with He-Man and I always wanted She-Ra so I could play with them cause apparently "Barbies and He-man don't mix" But I do remember the my barbies snagged that tiger A LOT cause they liked to ride with style!



Lincoln Logs - These are great great toys! Anything that has kids building things and following designs and instructions are great toys. Plus, I have many many memories of my brother and I building cabins or fortresses and fighting our battle beasts or when he wasn't looking, I'd have my Trolls go camping.


Skip-it - I think almost every kid had one of these. In my neighborhood we actually had skip-offs, yea I know...sounds like I come from the streets... "You got Skipped fool!" The Skip-It held a counter that could tell how many times you skipped over it and we would see who could go the longest. I remember getting upset when I could tell that my Skip-It was bouncing too much and wasn't counting all my skips.....oh the problems of an 8 year old.

What toys did you all grow up with and love?

Netflicks Came A-Knockin'

My husband and I have finally hopped on the Netflicks band-wagon. The house we are living in right now does not have cable and our boxes are nowhere near arriving. We saw a free trail offer for Netflicks and so we figured why not. I guess we also had the option of maybe reading more and picking up some more hobbies, but we didn't, we went the lazier route :)


Netflicks has this option where it will give you a suggestion of movies you might like based upon movies that you have rated, so to help them know your viewing pleasured. But the only problem with this, at least for us, was that we had seen most of the movies that they had suggested. So we were on a hunt for some fun new movies. And this is where we pass the help on to you all.




We just rented a cute little movie called "Miss. Potter" which is the true story of Beatrix Potter the author and illustrator of the childrens book Peter Cottontail. I hadn't really heard anything about it, but it happened to be a pleasant surprise. We were in the mood for just a simple, feel good movie and it was. All we were missing was a warm cup of coco for the evening to help the warm and fuzzies.....yea yea...I know! I need to get over missing my Hot Chocolate Maker, but I only have a month or so left of hot chocolate season and it is slowly ticking away.


So if you happen to be a fan of Sense and Sensibility, Emma, or any other Jane Austinish movies filled with cute witty lines, I think you might enjoy this little flick.

Witch Doctor

I'm not into echinacea, home remedies, or herbal pills. If I am sick give me good ol' Robitussin. I am no light weight fighter when it comes to beating off colds. I will fight hard and dirty! But my husband on the other hand came from a family that constantly used zinc tablets and vitamin lozenges. About a year ago he was introduced to something called Airborne, a pill like Alca Seltzer, that is filled with vitamins and such. You are suppose to take it when you feel a cold coming on and it is suppose to help boost your bodies enough to fight it off. But every time he took it I would roll my eyes just a little.

But soon, I found him trying to get me to take them too. Finally, he broke me down and got me to try it and I have to say that.....it might...maybe...kind of......works. :) It is hard for me to admit it, especially since Curtis has been trying to get me to take it for months now, but really it just seems to work. Just yesterday I got sick and was down on the couch most of the day. It was really hard especially since I didn't want to get Lucy sick, so I was having to not cling to her too much or kiss her. But I can only stay away for so long, plus I was super lucky today and she was great being left to her own entertaining, what are the chances that the planets will aligne perfectly again for that to happen?

But who would have thought that when my husband called and asked if there was anything that he could bring home that I would ask if he could pick up some Airborne....sheepishly asked...but still asked. So Curtis, this post is for you.... I have crossed over to your side.... slightly. I have tried your vitamins and come out a believer and will pass on the love.

So for all of you out there getting a cold, maybe already have a cold, or worried you are going to catch your loved ones cold....try it. If it doesn't work at least you can enjoy watching your drink fizz :)

Sharks or Guillotines - The Widom of Children

We had some family over for dinner last night and listening to some of the conversation that we were having with the kids made me more excited to have Lucy grow up and start talking.


David - "Aunt Melissa, what would be more scarier; going to the guillotines or being eaten by sharks?"

Me - "Oh hands down...sharks!"

David - "SEE!!! I told you DAD!"

Andrew/Dad - "Well at least with the sharks you have a fighting chance"

Grace - "Well, David didn't say attacked by sharks he said eaten by sharks"

Michelle/Mom - "Yea yea he did say eaten"

Me - "Well, how scary would it be the be attacked by sharks WHILE going to the guillotine?!"

David - "That couldn't happen, sharks can't be at the guillotine"

Me - "Well, then you really wouldn't be expecting them there and THAT would make it really scary"

Be a Cooking Loaf and Make Some Easy Meatloaf

It is time for my Easy Saturday Cooking Recipe. I have here the best and easiest meatloaf ever. I have made this for our family and for families when they need a dinner, you know, they just had a baby, just moved in next door, the wife is sick...you know....that easy can-do recipe that can help a family out, but not keep you tied up in the kitchen. And they have all said the same thing...

" I am really not a fan of meatloaf, but this was really good!"

So there you have it! A meatloaf for none meatloaf lovers...and for you loaf lovers out there (like me) you will like it even more!

It is real simple, you just need...

1 1/2 of ground beef

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 dash of pepper

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup of milk

1 chopped onion

1/2 cup diced green peppers

1/3 cup of steak sauce (like Hienz 57)

Mix it all into a bowl, but only use about 3-4 tablespoons of the steak sauce. Then after molding the meat into a bread pan, spread the remaining steak sauce on top. Bake for 1 hour at 350*

If you want a healthier choice...I like to use ground turkey meat sometimes

Put the Lime in the Coconut

As you all may already know, I like to treat myself when Lucy goes down for one of her naps. Lately my treat has been putting on a nice hot pot of creamy hot cocoa and then curl up for about 30 mins and just have some me time...which includes hot cocoa, a blanket, and the E! channel. :)

But since I have not had a hot cocoa maker I have found a delicouse substitue and it is simple! All you need is some...

Giner Ale (Canadian Dry is the best)

Cran-Apple Juice

and

Ice

Just mix about 3/4 ginger ale, then the rest is the Cran-Apple juice....and ummm ummmm GOOD! Hope you all enjoy it as much as Curtis and I do!

Car Seat Blankets

There are a lot of baby help items out there and some I am a fan of, but mostly I find many of them useless and not worth the money spent in comparison to the “help” they give. But one of these precious items that I hold in high regards in Teddy Toes. Teddy Toes are car seat blankets that stayed buckled in and also swaddle your baby, keeping him/her warm in cold weather.

I have truly loved this item. My friend Carla gave it to me and I have used it ever since I have had my daughter. She just slides right in and I strap her in the car seat while in the blanket. Even up here in Alaska with the cold weather, it holds up. Especially, since I am not a fan of putting socks on my kid. I will put them on when we are in the house, but I am tired of loosing socks out in the public. So…I don’t have her wear them outside the house where I will loose them at the store/restrooms/babysitters/relatives/church. I just slide her in the fuzzy covered blanket.

You can get them at many placed: Nordstrom, Target, just random places online. But here is the website http://www.teddytoes.com/ for all of you interested. With everything this item has to offer I give this Teddy Toes a mommy helping rating of four out of five stars!

Spin Me Right Round

Okay! So we are here, safe and sound. We have moved into the house, without most of our stuff, but still feeling pretty settled in. It is actually kind of nice not having our things here, because now we don't have to deal with them. I am more than happy to hold off on UNpacking. But since we have been here it has been great, had dinners with family, see each other, played games. It has been just nice to be around everyone again.

The only down side to this "moving our whole life" has been car shopping. I have only done it once in my life, but I do remember the car salesmen making me cry....no joke. Okay....so I miiiight be kind of a weenie, and feel guilty easy, and feel pressure fast, but still....he made me cry. So...I haven't really been looking forward to going through the whole ordeal again.But after going through the shopping process several times in the past couple days; I think I finally have the whole sales-bit down...

1. You are king of the castle...they want you there and you are happy to be there.

2. They will show you what is best for you...even if what is best for you is outside your spending limit.

3. They are kind enough to INFORM you of what little you know about cars, even though you did your research.

4. Now you are just being ridiculous with your ideas of what a fair price is.

5. They inform you that they could get a better deal through someone else/whole sale/through another deal/or/parts.

So I think I have the hang of it now and all I can say is....Private Party Seller.

The Last Frontier

Well, the next time I make a post with will be from my Alaskan igloo! We are leaving here this weekend and flyin' up. It is sad to say goodbye, but we are very excited to see our family and be with them again.
I have gotten a bit of questions as to why we are moving to Alaska, what is taking us up there, and where in Alaska...so I will shed a little light on these questions.


We are moving up to Anchorage so my husband can get his master's degree while he is working at Wells Fargo. My parents live in India right now so they have been nice enough to offer us their wonderful house for awhile. So we are truckin' up north to make some roots, money, and get an education. We are just really looking forward to being around family and to have this great experience at Wells Fargo and for school.


And for all of you that maybe have some more questions....here are some fun facts about Alaska to tie you over till my next post!




- Alaska has over 1/2 the world's glaciers

- Alaska is 55 miles east of Russia

- We are the only state to have coastlines on three different seas. Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.

- Purchased from Russia in 1867 for under 2 cents an acre.

- There is no sales tax in Anchorage.

- There are approximately 100,000 glaciers in Alaska

- Alaska has about one registered pilot for every 58 residents

- Anchorage encompasses 1,955 sq. miles - about the size of the state of Delaware

- The Alaska flag was designed by 13-year old boy

- Alaska has more than 3,000 rivers and over 3 million lakes

- Alaska holds about 19% of the world's volcanos


- In Barrow the sun never sets from May 10 to August 2, 84 days, and it never rises from November 18 to January 24, 67 days

- Alaska is as big as England, France, Italy and Spain combined

- If New York City had the same population density as Alaska, only 16 people would be living in Manhattan

- During World War II, two Alaskan islands, Attu and Kiska, were occupied by the Japanese for 15 months

Love = Glass Bottle Sodas

Curtis and I aren't the most coventional romantic people out there. We do a lot of high fives, some times video games, I mean... come on...our wedding song was a rock song "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone" by The Ataris. Lets just say.....um...we have our own kind of romance.

The past couple years Curtis and I haven't spent Valentines on Valentines. We hate the long wait at resturants, flowers are more expensive, and movies are jammed. So we always celebrate this love day a little late. But still on Valentines we try to do something nice to acknowledge the day.

Like this Valentines, we decided that we wouldn't celebrate till we got up to Anchorage and then we would go out to a nice dinner and well, actually I don't know what else, because my husband said the magic words I love to hear, " Don't worry about it....I'll take care of everything" That sentence alone is enough to give me goose bumps. But even with our delay of celebration, this day that was suppose to be nothing different, actually turned out to be one of the best Valentines so far.

Our apartment has nothing but a TV, a computer, and a twin bed that we are sharing in the living room. So tonight we have been cuddled up on that crammed twin bed, rented some cute looking movies, ate great pizza. The movie we rented "I Could Never Be Your Woman" was one of the cutest romantic movies we have seen in a while. Really clean and just a bit quirky! But after our surprisingly cute movie, Curtis ran off to grab something. He then came back with a wonderful surprise.....

GOSSIP MAGAZINES

What can I say...I have a weakness for them; and my husband must really know me. He came walking into the apartment with a big goofy grin on his face and says, " I have a surpriiiiiise for you!". He walks right out in the hallway and tosses me an InTouch magazine; then says...."there's more". He then proceeds to toss in People and Star. NOT JUST ONE...BUT THREE MAGAZINES! I was drooling. He then comes walking in with glass bottles coke and Utah Apple Beer (which isn't beer, but an apple cider soda)

So, I hope you all had a great Valentines, because I sure did. Because, as we all know, nothing says romance like a twin bed, gossip magazines, and glass bottled soda!

Love and Marriage

I feel like my marriage is really good. Curtis and I are on the same page about most issues, we have a lot of the same goals , and we just understand each other. We really get along great. But that still doesn't mean that we don't learn things about each other. So in these last few days of us packing up our lives and moving them to Alaska I have learned something new that I have added to my list of...

"Your Marriage Can Last Through Anything If..."

1. You can survive planning a wedding

2. You can survive being pregnant

and the newest

3. You can survive moving

Happy Valentines!

Hot Chocolate Maker, A Little Sip Of Heaven

Since I am still trying to get a rutine down for myself things have been kind of crazy these last few months. I don't really have days set aside for crafts, reading, or working out; I just kind of take things as they come, but I have really been wanting to work on that. I have been wanting/trying/hoping to set some time aside for a little more "me" time.

I can't jump in my car like before and spend hours taking photos. Go to the open labs and use their dark rooms. Or even get on my bike and ride for hours in the mountains. So until Lucy is older and I can take her to do these things....OR...afford a babysitter. I have found new things to look forward to.

HOT CHOCOLATE

I love hot chocolate. I mean it...I really love hot chocolate! One of the things I love to do everyday is as soon as I put Lucy down for her first nap I use my hot chocolate maker. When I was single I had seen these machines before, but never bought one. But then, I got married and was able to enjoy my Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards for their fullest and got me a Hot Cocoa maker. It has been heaven since!

Seriously, this little machine is a blessings from the heavens above! It can take any crappy brand of coco and turn it into liquid bliss! I have loved this rutine so much that I have made it a daily thing...actually maybe I have made it a twice a day thing....please don't judge me :)

So for all of you hot cholocate conesieurs out there! Go out and get one of these beauties! Have the machine mix and heat you coco for you, then use the foam button the froth it up, pour your self a mug, sit on the couch, and soak up the moment!!!

A Monday Pick Up

Have you all seen those motivational posters in work places and schools? The ones that show a happy group of people skipping into a sunset and it has a caption with something like... "Team work... make the work fun!" Well, those don't really melt my heart into motivation. SO...I decided to show you all some posters that really give me a lift!

At http://www.despair.com/ there are some posters called demotivational posters that have a slight different view on things! Hope you enjoy these funny posters on your Monday morning, there are many more, but these are just some of my favorates!

Beauty
If you're attractive enough on the outside, people will forgive you for being irritating to the core.

Blame
The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.

Compromise
Let's agree to respect each others views, no matter how wrong yours may be

Defeat
For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them

Goals
It's best to avoid standing directly between a competitive jerk and his goals.

Humiliation
The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Individuality
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.

Ineptitude
If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

Loneliness
If you find yourself struggling with loneliness, you're not alone.

And yet you are alone. So very alone.

Procrastination
Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.