My Best Friend

This past Tuesday, my husband & I celebrated a special day. It was our 9 yr "dating anniversary"!! It's hard for me to believe that we have been together for 9 years. In some ways, it has gone by super fast, but in other ways, I feel like I have been with him my whole life. We started dating when I was 21 yrs old, so I have actually been with him all of my adult life. We have made so many great memories over the years. We have also faced many struggles. But if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change it for anything, because our relationship is what it is today because of the good AND the bad. He is truly an incredible person and my very best friend. Every day is an adventure. He is my sounding board and my biggest fan. He pushes me when I need it, and he steps in when he knows I've had all I can take. He protects and defends me. He laughs at me when I say or do something ridiculous, and he holds my hand when I cry. I don't know how I got so lucky. I feel truly blessed to have spent the last 9 years with him, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

Chicken Enchilada Dip

Yesterday, I mentioned one of my favorite blogs, Home With Mandy. Let me just say again, that I love love love her blog. For the last couple of weeks, I had been looking for something to make for my Bunco group. I found several things that sounded good, but I kept going back to something I had seen on her page...Chicken Enchilada Dip. It was a lot different than anything I had ever made before, so I liked it even more. I had bunco on Tuesday night, so on Monday night I assembled the dip and put it in the fridge overnight, that way I could just pop it in the oven when I got home from work on Tuesday. Here is the recipe:



8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup mayo (she used spicy mayo, which I couldn't find, so I just added a few drops of Tabasco

to my mayo.)

16 oz. shredded mild cheddar cheese

1 can diced green chile peppers

2 jalapeno, finely diced (remove ribs and seeds)

Half a bundle of green onions, chopped

1 tsp. of Cajun seasoning

1 tsp. Garlic powder

1 lg. can of all white meat chicken



Mix all ingredients together and spread in a serving dish. I put mine in the oven on 375 for about 30 minutes, just long enough for the cheese to get melty and bubbly! Serve with tortilla chips.



This dip was such a hit with my bunco group! I was a little uncertain before I baked it, because it smelled like chicken salad, but after it cooks, it is Awesome!

Awesome blog & great giveaway!

I just wanted to let everyone know real quick about one of my favorite blogs...Home with Mandy. Her blog is awesome! She posts some amazing recipes, and they are all foods that real people eat. I've made a few of her recipes already, and I can't wait to make more. Today is her 100th post, and she has an awesome giveaway. You've GOT to check it out! And just a warning...her blog will make you hungry! So go over here, and tell her I sent ya!

I'm so proud of myself!

Ok, so it doesn't take much for me to pat myself on the back, you will find that out very quickly. I've been reading some of the different cleaning challenges on different blogs, and I decided to make my own challenge, just for me. Most of the time, I do enough around the house during the week just to get by, so it doesn't look like a tornado has gone through our house. Then on the weekend, I try to clean everything, and I get overwhelmed, so I just quit. Things that I want to get done never do, and I don't make it to any of my actual projects because I run out of time. So I posted a cleaning schedule on my fridge, and so far, it is really working out. Here is my schedule: Monday ~ bathrooms
Tuesday ~ Living/dining room
Wednesday ~ kitchen
Thursday ~ bedrooms
Friday, Saturday & Sunday will be laundry, and any other projects I have at the
time.

Now I realize that I will have to do little things in all of these rooms all week, but these are the days that a specific room gets REALLY cleaned. My husband has (reluctantly) agreed to help out...he is responsible for the upstairs bathroom (which is basically his anyway) and our bedroom. Last night was living room night, and I moved out our couch and loveseat and vaccuumed behind them, flipped the cushions, and vaccuumed under them as well. I dusted, and washed the windows. It was pretty impressive. I was hoping that, during this major cleaning session, that we would stumble across my husbands wedding band, but sadly enough, we didn't. We are going to keep looking til the end of the week, and if we don't find it by then, we are going to order a new one. :( We found the exact same one, but it still makes me sad, because it won't be the one that I gave him on our wedding day.

The Love Dare

I'm sure that a lot of you are familiar with the movie that is out right now called "Fireproof". It is a christian -based film, and so far, I have not heard one negative comment about this movie. I'm not going to go into the details of the movie, but if you haven't heard of it, look it up. Anyway, a big part of this movie is based on a devotional called "The Love Dare". It is a couple's devotional, and I think it is really intended for marriages that are struggling, but I don't know any of us that couldn't use all the help we can get when it comes to keeping our marriages on the right track. My husband and I have been doing the Love Dare, and we are LOVING it!! My husband isn't the type of guy you would think could be talked into doing this, but he is actually enjoying it. At the end of each day, it gives you a dare. We do ours at night, and the challenge we are given is the one for the next day. Then the next night, we discuss it, and move on to the next day. It starts out with simple "dares", such as "Go an entire day without saying anything negative to your spouse". You might think that seems silly, but when you actually make a conscious effort to do it, you realize how many times in a day you start to nag or criticize your spouse. I definitely recognize this book to ANY couple. It is an eye opener, and has really brought my husband and I even closer. If you are already doing The Love Dare, leave me a comment and give me your thoughts on it. I'd love to hear it!

My wasted weekend!

Well, if you read my previous post, you would know that I had big plans for my weekend. I was going to accomplish A LOT. I really, really did have good intentions, but at this point, my life is still not organized! Let me give you a rundown of my weekend...I got up early Saturday morning to take one of our cats to the vet. I figured that since I was up and going, I would be motivated. When I got home, my husband was heading out the door to run some errands, and said that he was taking me to dinner that night. So I sat down for a few minutes, and ended up taking a 2 hour nap! Then I managed to get caught up in a movie, and by the time it was over, it was time for me to start getting ready for dinner. So we went out, and ended up meeting 2 other couple friends of ours at a mexican restaurant. We talked and ate and laughed, and 4 MARGARITAS LATER, we went home. I found out this weekend that I am WAY too old for that anymore!! I woke up Sunday morning with the worst headache EVER! By about 1:00 yesterday afternoon, I felt a little better, enough to get up and clean up a little, and wash 3 loads of laundry for my husband to take up to the laundry room to dry, since our dryer went out on Saturday, and I cleaned out ONE drawer!!! However, I did manage to fill up an entire trash bag of magazines and papers and junk that I threw away. So, while I didn't get it all done, I at least got a start. And this week, we are starting my "cleaning schedule". I made out a schedule so that I don't get so overwhelmed during the week. I am tackling 1 room a night. Tonight is bathrooms. It has needed a good cleaning for a while, so this is a good thing.

Oh, and one more thing. My husband lost his wedding band yesterday. Yep, I think I'm going to strangle him. We cant find it anywhere. He sat straight up in bed at midnight last night and said "I don't have my ring on!" He never takes it off, so I'm a little worried that we might never find it. But if you know my husband, you would probably be impressed that he kept up with it for a whole year!! Just keep your fingers crossed that we find it!

I'm organizing my life!!

So I have really been getting motivated by reading other people's blogs lately. In case I haven't mentioned it, we live in a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment/townhouse that is literally busting at the seams. Why, you ask? Because I am a packrat. I save EVERYTHING, and have all my life. My mom has been cleaning her house and getting rid of things over the past 2 years, which means that all the "stuff" I had in boxes at her house has now made its way to my house. So I am determined to get myself organized. I am going to start with the closets this weekend. I am getting rid of clothes. If I haven't worn it in a year, or "it would fit if I just lost 10 lbs", it is going to Goodwill. Our closet is stuffed with clothes that we NEVER wear. My husband is just as bad as I am. I am also bad about saving papers and magazines and stuff like that. My husband says that I am a fire hazzard. The dresser drawers in the spare bedroom are FULL of cookbooks, recipes that I've printed, old bills, etc. I am going to organize it all!! That is my mission. I'm tired of looking at all of this junk!!

2 posts in one day?! Shut up!!

I have been emailing back and forth with a friend today, and our conversation has compelled me to write my second blog of the day. We were discussing the election, and how mean - spirited people have been, moreso than any other election that I can remember. Let me just say that I am a Republican, and I voted for John McCain. I know that it is taboo to discuss stuff like that, but I'm not ashamed of it. I feel like Obama does not line up with my religeous beliefs, as well as other things that I do not agree with. But these are MY beliefs. I don't try to force them on anyone else. My friend, who is one of the kindest people I know, is a Democrat, and voted for Obama. I don't judge her for that. However, some of her friends have been REALLY cruel to her about her beliefs. It makes me sad. She sent me some of the comments that people had made to her, and they are just flat out mean. She says that she has several friendships that she is fairly sure will not be mended because of this. I cannot wrap my brain around letting an election ruin a friendship. It just seems crazy to me. Why do people have to be so mean? I don't love my friends IN SPITE of our differences, I love them BECAUSE of our differences. It would be such a boring world if we only surrounded ourselves with people exactly like us. I just wish people would learn to be nice, even when they don't see eye to eye.

Ok, I'm done ranting! :)

My name is Jennifer, and I have an addiction...

To blogs!! I'm not kidding. I was on vacation last week, and one day, I sat on the couch, laptop in my lap, and got lost in blogs for HOURS!! It was crazy!! I love to read about other people lives. Cooking blogs are my favorite, but really, I just love to read anything about other people! Does that mean that my own life isn't exciting enough?!

Anyway, to update on life a little bit...my husband & I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on October 27th. We were on our trip to Pennyrile Forest on our actual anniversary, and it was fantastic! There is nothing better than being in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception, and absolute peace and quiet. We came home on the 29th, and celebrated then by staying in and cooking dinner together. It was really nice. I got our wedding cake from my mom's house, and lets just say that it wasn't great!! I didn't have real high hopes for it anyway. Overall, we had a really great anniversary, and my week of vacation was awesome!

I still haven't been cooking much lately. We've just had so much going on, so we've been making do with quick dinners. I will go grocery shopping next week, and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I found lots of recipes that I want to try, during my day of "blog stalking"!! Well, I guess thats it for me today.