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.