Once Upon a Time When I Had a Blog...

One of my goals for this summer, now that we are back from all of our vacations, is to write more on my blog.  Considering over the past two years this is only my 16th post, we will see how this goes.  I want to do a recap of our trips to Minnesota, Branson, and Georgia, and also start doing some posts on Pinterest finds, recently read books, recipes (going to get back on tracking Weight Watchers points), and also my Couch 2 5K Progress (day 1 starting tomorrow!)

Hope everyone is having a great summer; it's already in the triple digits here!

Chili Night!

I was thrilled to find the Carroll Shelby Chili Kit at Wal-Mart today. I used to only be able to find it at Homeland, and I don't go in there all that often. Anyways, I decided to forgo what I had planned for dinner to make chili instead!

Andrew had seminary today, so he had Frito Chili Pie waiting on him when he got home. I think it was a hit!

Side note: Andrew said he is going to love posing for the blog--especially since he can pick his "coloring" using the Instagram App! :)

The Vindow Viper and First Product Review!

When my sister and I were little, we loved listening to my dad tell us stories. One of our favorite "scary" stories was the story of the Vindow Viper. Here's how it went: (at least what I can recall)

In the early 1900s, when the telephone was fairly new, a couple lived in a little house out in the woods. One day, while the husband was at work, the wife got a phone call. "I am the Vindow Viper and I will be at your house in one hour." The wife was scared; what in the world was a Vindow Viper? Since she had no way to get to town, she was stuck all alone in her house. She quickly shut the windows and made sure everything was locked. Thirty minutes later she got another phonecall; "The Vindow Viper will be at your house in thirty minutes," the voice said. Scared, she put down the phone again and sat down to cry; by this time she was shaking. Finally, thirty minutes later, a man showed up knocking at her door. She peeked out the curtain; a man with what appeared to be cleaning tools was at her door. "Who is it?" she asked. "The Vindow Viper, ma'am. I'm here to clean your vindows." "Ahhh!!" thought the wife. It finally made sense--her husband had hired someone to clean the windows for her; it was not someone scary after all-just a Window Wiper with an accent!

Of course, when I re-tell (or re-write) this story, it doesn't sound near as good as when my dad would tell it to us. Of course, I am not able to add in his "scary tone" to it, so just imagine it told as a terrifying tell.

This weekend, I went over to my mother-in-law's house to help her wash windows in preparation for her upcoming move. As we were outside, this story came to mind. Anytime someone mentions washing windows, I can't help but recall this story!

My MIL introduced me to a new product to help make cleaning outdoor windows much easier. While it does not give your windows a streak free shine, it definitely gets the dirt off and makes cleaning outside windows fun. She actually went back over some of the windows with glass cleaner when we were finished, but for the most part, this is a great product.

Windex Outdoor All-In-One

http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_029W095107110001P?vName=Food%20&%20Grocery&cName=CleaningSupplies&sName=Glass%20&%20Window&sid=KDx01192011x000001&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=22-114633593-2

All you have to do is wet the pad (which is good for 20 windows!); wet your window; wipe; and rinse again. We used the spray nozzle on her hose, and with the two of us, only took about 30 minutes to do all of of her windows (about 22-we used plain Windex on the back two windows and used the same process).

The kit costs about $14.99 and comes with the pole and 1 refill. Refill packs are about $4.99 for 2. I think you can even adjust the height on the pole (although I am not sure on this).

Overall, this is a great product, especially if you are someone who hates cleaning the outside of your windows!

The ABCs of Me

I stole this from a few other blogs I read.

A. Age: 24

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you dislike: Putting away laundry and emptying the dishwasher

D. Dogs: None right now

E. Essential start to your day: I don't really have a morning routine, or even an afternoon routine. Some mornings I'm awake at 8am, some mornings it's 3 or 4am and I go back to sleep. And of course, sometimes, it's the afternoon if I'm going to work or I've been at work.

F. Favorite color: Blue

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H. Height: SHORT

I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano and violin

J. Job title: Wife, RN

K. Kids: Not yet!

L. Live: Midwest

M. Mom’s name: Susan

N. Nicknames: The name I go by is a nickname!

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I was born. When I stayed with Andrew last fall. And does working 3 nights a week count as overnight hospital stays? Hmm...guess not.

P. Pet peeves: Laziness. Excessive whining. Obnoxious people.

Q. Quote from a movie: "You see this hand? Steady as a rock. But I shoot with this hand!"

S. Siblings: 1 sister

T. Time you wake up: It depends. See "E."

U. Underwear: duh.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

W. What makes you run late: Thinking I have more time than I do so I start working on other projects when I should be getting ready....

X. X-rays you’ve had: Dentist, chest, hands

Y. Yummy food you make: A likes anything I make that's Italian or Mexican

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Elephants!!

Weekend in Review

We LOVED getting to spend time together this weekend; we had a lot of fun, and it was definitely needed! Our schedules haven't matched up very well lately, but we learned in the beginning of our marriage (well, really when we were dating and engaged) to make the most of our time together when we both have time off.

Friday night, for example, A had to work until 9pm. When he walked in the door (I was picking up the house) he said, "How about we just eat dinner and watch a movie tonight?" To which I replied, "Okay, fine, but after I pick stuff up, you shower, we get stuff ready for the morning..." In response he whipped a Blu-Ray out from behind his back and said, "Even if it's this movie?" I know it got really bad reviews, but I still wanted to see Life as We Know It with Kathryn Heigl and Josh Duhamel. My husband, who definitely has a more "refined" taste in movies than I do, had definitely picked out a good surprise for me!

On Saturday morning we went to the wedding of one of our good friends. Christi was definitely the most giddy and the happiest bride I think I've seen! She and Micah are perfect for each other, and I love that she felt the same way about their wedding that I felt about ours (while we were definitely excited, we realize that the wedding is one day; marriage is a lifetime!) I also got to see one of my other close friends, Briann, at the wedding-I've missed them both!!

Unfortunately we had to get back for A's work meeting, but I decided to go with him and make a quick Kohl's and Target run. No exciting buys, although I did buy a (CHEAP!) outfit for our niece and a really cute bracelet at Kohl's. Target was purely essentials (very proud of myself!).

Sunday? REST!

Wow-I went into a lot of detail about our weekend which probably wasn't too exciting for anyone reading, but in a year (or five) I know it will be fun to go back and see what we were doing on the weekend of March 4th-6th! :)

Still Trying to Figure This Blogging Thing Out!

Update: What do ya know? It wasn't as hard as I thought!

So here is a random picture of us on our honeymoon (a year and a half ago!) I'm still trying to post a picture of us on the sidebar for our "blog picture." But for now, at least there is one picture!

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Since I worked Friday night, and Andrew worked Saturday and Sunday nights, I decided to come to school with him today so we can have a little Valentine's date between classes. The good news is I'm excited about that; the bad news is, I'm a little bored and tired of college students right now! I am, however, learning about current fashion trends. While I see some of the same things, I am also seeing that apparently, when you're 18-22, anything goes! Hmm....good thing I live mostly in scrubs. I hope each of you has a great Valentine's Day; today I am thankful for my Valentine, my sweet husband!