Mandarin Chicken

Hey all you wives out there, any of you ever have those days where you are seriously the worst. wife. ever.?


No?


Oh yeah, me either. Heh

Ok, no...it all seriousness, I've been a bad wife lately.  I know some of you who read my previous post are all "But Marti, you just wrote this awesomely hilarious post about making a date jar a loving your husband and being all happy and junk." Mmhm, it's true. I did. And we are all happy and junk, but that doesn't mean we haven't had our trials getting there.


 On a scale of "Worst Wife Ever" to "Reincarnation of June Cleaver",lately my wife stats have dropped from "Pretty Awesome Wife" to "You Suck".



Source

The Wife Scale

__10__......Reincarnation of June Cleaver
__9__
__8__.....Pretty Awesome Wife
__7__
__6__
__5__.......You Suck (aka Me)
__4__
__3__
__2__
__1__......Worst Wife Ever

 So, I mean I'm not all the way at the bottom, but eh...I need some serious improvement.

Marti, all of this for a recipe of Mandarin Chicken?!

Yes, because this blog is not only a place to enjoy some really good recipes and talk about my crafty projects, it is also a place for me to journal my life.  I want to be candid, honest and real with all of you.  I am human just like everyone else.  I don't want this blog to be something that portrays someone that I am not. Do I craft a lot?  Absolutely.  Do I like to try new recipes? Sure! Am I happy-go-lucky all the time? No. Is my marriage the perfect marriage ever?! No. Everything in my life is a work in progress. Everything. My crafting, my recipes, my cooking, my marriage and myself. This is a journey that I intend on writing about and writing about honestly.  (You've been forewarned.)

That being said, onto this recipe that I found at another one of the lovey-dovey-mushy-marriage sites.

 

Because of the lack of wifeishness (yeah, I make up words. So what.) on my part, I decided that I would surprise Raymond with a "chinese-ish" (again with the made up words.) dinner. :) I bought a cheap little centerpiece and some place mats at the dollar store, moved the coffee table to the middle of the kitchen, put some pillows on the floor as chairs, lit some candles and tried a new recipe. 

 

Mandarin Chicken

Ingredients:

 

Chicken Breast (I used 1 piece butterflied, there was enough sauce for 2-3 pieces)
1 15ozCan Mandarin Oranges
1 6oz can pinapple (to use the juice)
3TBS Cornstarch
1/4 cup soy sauce
1tsp mustard
1TBSP vinegar
1tsp garlic powder





As your sauce boils and cooks down, the oranges will cook into the sauce.

 

 Serve over rice and enjoy! :)

Here are some pictures from our dinner! :)

Look ad Hubs enjoyin' his dinner!

Look who joined us for dinner!

Cooper is SERIOUSLY eye-balling that food!




And I'll leave you with this little number. :)

 

The Date Night Jar

Today I've been in a funk...I'm sorry. Correction: I've been in a funk for the past couple of days. I'm not sure why. It comes and goes, but mostly, it comes. UGH!

When these "funky" times come I get fixated on things. I will concentrate on things I think will fix the problem INSTANTLY and make me feel better; however, in all honesty it would probably just create a whole NEW bundle of unforeseen issues that I'm not ready to handle.

Take for instance the fact that I've been OBSESSED with having a baby the past couple of months.  I've wanted to be a mom for a LONG LONG time (I'm talking at an age that is stupidly stupid to even consider having children) but the want has turned into a NEED the past couple of months.

It's ridiculous.

Anyway, this fixation is heightened by the fact that I've been feeling like utter crap and I've done convinced myself...CON-VINCED myself that a baby is the fix.

HA!

I know some of you are reading this and saying "She is on complete crack, or some other hallucinogen that would trick her brain into thinking this is a good idea."

To which I would reply, "I am not."

Simply put, I'm in a rut. An educational rut, a job rut, a crafty rut. Add to that the fact that the honeymoon phase may have ended the day hubby and I decided to poop with the door open. TMI? Too bad.  Anyway,what do you do when you're in a rut?! YOU MAKE BABIES! wrong. You do not, because that creates financial strain (more financial strain than we are already having) which then creates more issues which then turns your cozy little rut into an enormous BLACK HOLE!

black. hole.

Life has become mundane and nothing super interesting has been happening in the realm of the married life lately, (thus why I think adding a baby would spice things up...or something) which just spun the wheels harder making the rut feel deeper.

Alright already, when am I ever going to get to the REAL point of this blog post? Now.
So today, as I was surfing the web looking at random things I stumbled upon this LOVELY site that was oozing with lovey-dovey-mushy-ooey-gooey-love-crap...it was awesome!! :D I thought to myself: Self, this could be JUST what you're looking for! It could drag you out of this rut and give you and the hubby something interesting, exciting, lovey-dovey, FUN to do! I. Was. Right. (I love saying that.)

The site that I found? Love the Grows, which is a blog that is written by a girl named Bethany.  Her and her husband are newlyweds and there are all kinds of really cool things over there. (Check her out!)  One of the really cool things I found particularly interesting was the Date Jar.  I decided this could be something that helps drag me out of the rut and back onto solid ground.  Again, I. Was. Right. (sometimes it gets sweeter the more you say it.) ;)

Tonight, hubby and I sat down and created our very own Date Night Jar! We changed a few things from the original idea, but it works all the same.  :)

So, I will ask you...Is your relationship in a rut? Are you and your significant other snuggled up in the muddy rut on the side of the road? Do this! It's fun and exciting!

So Gather your supplies and your significant other and lets get to work!

You Need:
Mason Jar
Popsicle Sticks
Markers

 

We color coded our sticks, because we decided it would be pretty disappointing to pull out a stick with a date idea we couldn't afford to do. Thus, the color system was born! Green = MONEY! (these are the dates that cost $26 or more dollars) Blue = A little money ($11-25) and Red = (under $10 most of our ideas were free)

Some of our favorite Date Night Ideas:
-Dress up as your significant other's parents and do impressions
-Prank Call Night- Call as many random numbers as possible and see who all answers
-Dare Night
-Teach Hubby to sew night
-Challenge Night- Winner gets to wear a gold metal that the other person MAKES for them.
-Strip Wii night- I think this one explains itself. ;)

Well, there you have it. The rut busting, fun-creating, ooey-gooey-love making Date Night Jar.

Getcha Some! :) (No pun intended...seriously.)

Be looking for some fun posts about the dates that hubby and I have pulled out of the jar! I can't wait to share them with you!

In all seriousness though, I've been seeing some super cute babies all over facebook.

Cooper's Room!

In our bedroom there is a small cubby.  I have debated over several ideas for said cubby.  I thought about turning it into a quaint reading nook, or an elegant vanity space; however, I just couldnt decide.  What the cubby usually turns into is a space to heap laundry and next thing you know the room is looking like an episode of Hoarders. (If you missed the dramatics of my Craft Space looking like a Hoarders Episode, go check it out.) 

As the debating continued, Cooper had decided to steal an old pillow, curl up on it and call it his space; thus, it was.  As I said before my goal in the next few posts is to create some happiness for Mr. Cooper. :) So with the help of hubby (ALWAYS, because my ability to run power tools is scary.) we built him an ADORABLE bed, decorated the little cubby and made him a room!

Guys, Cooper was so excited it was ridiculous! We carried that bed up, and before it even had a bed on it he was laying in it, washing himself, sleeping, drooling...he...LOVED it! I call that a pet-parent WIN!

*Cue the evil laughter!*

Now, I don't know how many of you are crazy like me, but if you love your dog more than you should and want to build him or her a bed, this post is for you, because I am providing a step by step!

                           

Welp, the new bed and room was a HIT! I have a couple other crafts up my sleeve. I'm not sure if he will enjoy those as much, but I will. :) So, if you enjoy reading about me spoiling the crap out of my dog, stay tuned. There's more to come!

 I need to come up with some ideas for making his kennel more enjoyable...or perhaps building him some sort of doggy play pen that he may enjoy being in while we're gone? I haven't quite put together enough ideas to put this one in place. Anyone have ideas?

P.S. I Should add a HUGE thank you to the neighboors for allowing us to use their power tools and materials on a regular basis! :D

Homemade Dog Treats- Operation Make Cooper Happy

Recently, Mr. Cooper, our beloved beagle has been acting out.  Over the summer we had allowed him to be out of his kennel for short periods of time while we were gone.  Our goal was to eventually leave him out of his kennel permanently. That way, Cooper could enjoy the his life from the comfort of his little blue chair and we didn't have dog-parent guilt about having him caged.

Oh, but our goals were in vain. VAIN I tell you, because since the school year has started Cooper has been a HOLY TERROR! His separation anxiety has sky-rocketed and he has just been the HOLIEST OF ALL HOLY TERRORS!  If we leave him out of his kennel, he gets into the trash, eats anything that is on the coffee table, takes the cushions off the couches and spreads them across the room.  If we kennel him, he pees in his kennel.  Not only does he pee IN the kennel he pees OUT of the kennel. He lifts his leg in order to make it outside and inside the kennel; thus, creating the BIGGEST mess possible for hubby and I to clean up!  He also ate an entire box of Oreos.  I'm not sure what I was more upset about, the mess that was all over the house or the fact that he ate ALL of the cookies. EVERY. LAST. ONE!



What?! Me's not Holy Terror! Me WUVS youu!

One night, NO JOKE, Cooper squatted on the carpet and started peeing.  I could HEAR the stream hitting the carpet.  I sat up and started yelling "NO COOPER NOOOOO!!" This is normally enough to startle him and make him realize he's doing something wrong, but OH NO. Not that night. Do you know what he did?! He looked me DEAD IN THE EYE and continued to pee on my carpet!! OH. NO. HE. DIDN'T.

HE. WENT. THERE. I could have killed him. I smacked his behind (you know because dogs totally understand that? I'm a horrible dog parent.) and clipped him outside where he stayed until hubby and I resolved the carpet. -sigh-

I won't EVEN get into his most disgusting stunt that left hubby and me feeding him hydrogen peroxide to ensure he vomitted. LORD HAVE MERCY!

Needless to say, Cooper has shown us in EVERY way possible that he is NOT adjusting to the new schedule and he does not enjoy his Mom and Dad being gone for such long periods.

How dare we got to work and make money to buy him food!! (Ungrateful little brat.)

Now, after all of that complaining...I will say I kind of feel bad for the little man.  Here we were spending all of our time with him over the summer, taking him on trips to see the family, staying home and cuddling with him during the week and then *BOOM* we leave him. ALLLLL ALOONNEEE!

So...I've decided I'm launching "Operation Make Cooper Happy!".  The next few posts will be dedicated to Cooper and trying to make him feel a little better about the new schedule. Because everyone knows spoiling your children, human or canine, is the best way to make them happy and healthy children. Heh! I really hope we are better human-parents than dog-parents.

Alright, onto Operation Make Cooper Happy! The mission? Cooper Cookies.

Here's the Step-by-step

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooper loved these! They are simple to whip up.
Enjoy!

30 Minute Italian SausageTortellini Soup

The weather was kinda gloomy and yucky yesterday; however, in retrospect it is NOTHING compared to the weather today.  Nevertheless I started brainstorming for a yummy comfort-type food that I could cook up for the hubby and me.  I started looking up recipes for chili, lasanga and tortellini soups.  I wanted something that we've never had before. I just love a new recipe!  Almost as much as I love Stefan & Damon Salvatore off of the Vampire Diaries...I really can't choose between the two *DROLL*, but that's a different story entirely. 

All of the recipes that I found looked yummy, but it just wasn't what I was looking for.  I wanted something a little cheesy, something with some meat, something with a few veggies, something that was filling but not as heavy as chili, and something that was easy to put together.  Needless to say, this soup had to meet a LOT of expectations! So, I used my resources and...I MADE IT UP! (That seems to be what I'm good at.)

I call my creation 30 Minute Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup.  YUM! (What along name for a soup, right?) But I had to let you know it only takes 30 minutes. Well worth it. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.  I packed the left overs for lunch today and enjoyed it two days in a row. I love when that happens!

So, you want to make a steaming bowl for your hubby?  Or maybe you want to make a steaming bowl for yourself?...I shouldn't assume you want to share with your hubby. ;)

Below Is the step-by-step. :D

6Cups Chicken Broth
1/2 lb Italian Sausage
1 Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1tsp Dried Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
2 Carrots peeled and diced
16 oz Tortellini

 

 

 

 

Trust me on this one. Just make it.  This recipe is hubby tested and hubby approved. ;)  (And he is quite picky, so if he passes it...it's an A+!!)

Enjoy!