Twofer Tuesday::fried foods!

After spending the morning browsing Pinterest, I decided I Baby O decided that he NEEDED some fried foods in my belly. So to the kitchen I went.... I had a bag of frozen green beans, I soaked them in some hot water for a bit to thaw them.  While they were thawing, I mixed some eggs and milk (just a bit-you want more egg than milk) in a bowl and in the other bowl I mixed: Flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper and some spicy seasoning.
I then threw some pickles into the flour mixture--then into the egg/milk mix, then back into the flour mixture.
All the while doing this, I had some oil heating up in my biggest skillet.
Toss the pickles in the oil, let them cook til they float and flip them and they'll start to brown and crispy up.
Then I did the same thing for the green beans.
The recipes (here  and here) I read said to bundle them but that just seemed like a waste of time (and when you've got little baby O inside of you yelling and screaming and kicking for some fried food, you rush the process). Again, throw them in the skillet--fry em up good.
I gave them to the bittles with ranch, but I'm currently dipping mine in a ranch//buffalo sauce mixture. Holy sweet deliciousness-I have a very happy bittle bump.

Tasty Tuesday:No bake cookies

If you're anything like me you get random sweet tooths. Well, the other day one hit me and I decided that I NEEDED some no bake cookies in my life.  Yes, NEEDED. (I blame Baby O)
So I look in the cabinets, discover I have all the needed ingredients, do a little happy dance and get to cooking.  Oh sweet deliciousness.

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2310,154177-234202,00.html
Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.

Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

If you're anything like me (and some of my friends), you've not only forgotten how delicious these are but how EASY they are. 
Get to NOT baking  ;)

Let's talk about people.... specifically women.

I read some crap online the other day that did nothing but make me angry.
It just annoyed me.
It also made me realize how some “women” these days really have a lot of growing up to do.

Call me old fashioned, but I do not like when girls of any age talk about "beating some b**ch’s ass” or fighting in general. It’s tacky and completely unladylike.
Talking shit in general is just pretty immature. It’s pretty ridiculous and makes you sound extremely trashy.

I’m not the prettiest girl ever.
I’m not the thinnest girl ever.
But I have more respect for myself than to talk like that or to live with such hatred.
Yes, I swear… quite a lot. But I will never ever talk about beating some b**ch down or even threatening to beat some b**ch down.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a difference in being angry and venting and saying you’d like to beat someone’s ass (still not my cup of tea) but to straight up just b**ch and b**ch over and over again and go on and on openly and on facebook and to anyone that will listen about some fight you just had with some girl or how you’d like to beat some b**ch’s ass……

NEWSFLASH:: Life is too short to be so hateful and angry and bitter all the time.
Get over it, live your life and if you have “haters”, let them hate. Acting like you’re acting only makes you a “hater” as well.
And quite a bit trashy.
Think more of yourself than that.
Have more respect for yourself.
Focus more on making YOU happy.
And for God’s sake-shut up.
Didn’t anyone ever teach you, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?!
It’s good advice.
Take it.

a little self promoting.

Please visit my ETSY SHOP and let me know what you think.
Also, like my facebook page for updates on new items added to the etsy shop.
Thanks.

Oh and here's a few items that I finally got around to posting and uploading and all that annoying mumbo jumbo that I've been too lazy to do.
Thoughts?!

Also, enter MYTHREEBITTLES to recieve 20% off your entire order!
Happy shopping!

7 layer salad.

I went to a potluck this past Friday and for it I made a 7 layer salad. I was drooling just making it. I even made a tinier version of it just for me (or I knew I'd be sneaking bites of the one for the potluck and well, I just don't think that would have been appropriate.)
So here goes.... ignore the fact that the ingredients sounds distrubing-trust me, all mixed together they are AMAZINGLY delicious!

What you need:
a head of lettuce.
green onions.
shredded cheese.
boiled eggs.
sugar.
peas.
mayonaise.
bacon bits.

now you simply layer: lettuce, eggs, peas, layer of mayo spread over it, top with green onions, bacon bits and cheese. Repeat til you've filled the dish. Oh and gently sprinkle just a bit of sugar between the layers. (Sugar is the optional part-in case you counted and added up 8 ingredients instead of 7)

The most important part of this recipe is to let it sit and chill (preferrably overnight for the best soaking together of the deliciously weird ingredients)
Seriously--try it.
It's delicious.

Let’s play catch up, shall we?

So i thought I'd photo dump on y'all and show you what we've been up to lately.

Lots of sleeping.



Lots of baby growing

Lots of coloring
Thing 1 had preschool open house the other day where they asked him to do a self portrait and trace his hands.



Lots of eating

Some random funny face making….

Some park going

Some grumpy face copying

Some tent building



Some giggling

Some wrapping up in “coats”

And in other nonpicture news,
Thing 1 (handsome man) starts preschool Tuesday. YAY! He’s super excited! I took him to pick out his own little backpack and everything-he picked tranformers.
He’ll only go on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours, but it’ll be nice because it’ll give me and thing 2 (baby lady) some quality time that we’ve never ever had.
I asked her what she wanted to do when we take him to preschool….Her reply—cuddle in mommy’s bed and watch movies.  Smart kid.

In other news, Baby O is growing right along track.  We’re 25 weeks now. (26 on Thursday).
He’s crazy and active and I have days that I feel like a blimp and days that I hardly feel pregnant aside from him randomly doing his flips and shit.
My friend, Kristina is throwing a baby shower for us towards the end of September and I could not be more excited about this! Since we moved to Alaska, we pretty much gave away every baby item we owned…now we have nothing. We need everything & I’ve completely forgotten how much stuff babies require.
Thankfully I have a crib, stroller, carseat, humidifier, bouncy and clothes thanks to friends and hand me downs. 

In other other news, some husbands are coming home for R&R and I may just DIE before it comes time for Hubster to be here. I am so beyond happy for the ones that have their husbands but I am so beyond jealous at the same time. Even though I know once I have mine and they don’t have theirs, the tables will be turned. It’s just part of deployment.
Speaking of, I am fine. Despite last post of my overwhelming grrness/stress, I’m doing pretty good.
We’ve been busier than ever with soccer practices, play dates, art classes, registering for preschool, Dr appts, dentist appts, etc etc etc…. but every now and again we’re all entitled to have those moments of overwhelmingness.  Right?! Right!

And in other other other other news, I’ve been crafting again. YAYS!
It excites me!! And all the ideas I’ve come across excite me even more! I just need to do some shopping and organizing and ordering and uploading. Ha.
One thing at a time.
BUT I will show you some of the things I’ve whipped up so far.
Go HERE or HERE to see a few of the things I have up so far.
Be sure to check back frequently—I have TONS more coming! Just a matter of uploading and waiting on my dear Mr. Mailman to bring me some of my crafty orderings. 

I think that about wraps it up for today.
Oh, also… expect some Tasty Tuesdays to pop back up in the near future.
And I apologize for my little bloggy leave of absence.
I think between deployment and summer (or the lack of summer we experienced this year) it just kept me from my laptop.
But I am coming back… slowly but surely. 
Hope you guys are as excited as I am.

Sometimes you have to fake a happy face.

Like the title says, sometimes we all have to plaster on a very fake happy face.
This post isn't a "hey feel sorry for me" post or a "hey. tell me it's OK" post.
I just need to ramble.
Yesterday was just one of those awful days where I spent most of it crying.
I felt awful, I felt like this baby was trying to come out three months early, I felt like I should go to the ER, I felt like I needed to just sit on my ass and not move for days on end. I think I was just really a bit exhausted, needed to rest and needed to hydrate a bit.
I'm much better today.
But on top of the mini freak out about baby trying to come early, the bittles had their first dentist appointments.
I despise dentists. They terrify me. I've had awful teeth my entire life and I was just terrified that they would too.
Handsome man-his teeth are great. Wonderful. Perfect bite, no cavities, etc etc.
Baby lady on the other hand.... come October 20th she'll be put under anesthesia to get her front FOUR teeth capped.
When I called back in May to set up their appointments, I'd told them about this little chip she had. I wasn't sure if it was a cavity or if she'd chipped it on something. Well, since MAY it's gotten worse.
Not only are they going to put my little baby lady under to fix her teeth, but she'll have caps! Thankfully the not all silver ones, they'll have a white front but silver backings or linings or something.  But she's two. She still has a few years before her permanent teeth come in.
But my BABY under anesthesia.  Ugh.
Just the idea makes me want to cry. 
We already went through that when handsome man was 2. He flew up to Anchorage with daddy to get put under to get circumcised, a testicle pulled down and two hernias fixed.  Yea... mommy and baby lady were at home FREAKING out.  Everything was fine. Daddy did great.
But now, mommy has to do it. Without daddy. And not for my big strong handsome man, but for my little bittle baby lady.
October 20th is going to be a long day.
And the few days prior are just going to be hell--she has to get a physical, I have to find handsome a ride to and from preschool depending on the time of her appointment. I have to make a million and a half phone calls but can't do any of it until closer til time. OCTOBER!! That's a long ways away.
AND our insurance doesn't cover all of it. Thankfully they cover the majority of it, but we still have to cough up a couple hundred bucks. I'm not sure the exact amount because they aren't yet.
So to sum it up, yesterday was terrible. Awful. Exhausting. Emotional.

All I wanted to do was cry to my husband.
I sent him a quick email telling him how the dentist appointment went and then I took the kids to the park.
We spent a good chunk of time just playing at the park, enjoying the weather. Came home, ate potato soup, watched some cartoons and I put them to bed.
After they were sound asleep, this mommy coped with her long day.
I ate almost an entire bag of powdered donuts while watching Glee.
I feel better.
I'm less stressed now that I squeezed in a good stress relieving cry.

This whole post is rambley, I'd apologize but wait...no I won't. This is my blog. I can ramble if I want to. (and most of my posts are just that)

But the point of it, we all have bad days. It's all about how you handle them.
I handled mine with a bag of donuts and Glee.
How do you handle those kind of days?!

I needa go peepees!

“I needa go peepees”
It’s how baby girl tells me she has to potty.
It is seriously the cutest thing she can possibly say!
We’re on day 4 of potty training.
She even woke up this morning to a DRY pullup.
COMPLETELY DRY! Yay!
And it’s not just peepee that’s happening in the potty.
I don’t think I’ll have to buy more diapers til baby O gets here.
NO MORE DIAPERS TIL DECEMBER! Hooray!
Now I’ll leave you with cupcake booties

and a potty picture.

Holy crockpot deliciousness.

See that picture?! It is AMAZING!
So amazing that I’m posting this while I eat it!

I woke up this morning and had bacon thawed, hashrowns and a crapton of eggs.
So I ask my friend, Sarah for a delicious recipe.
She gives me this:
Western Omelet Casserole!

‎32 oz. bag frozen hash browns, thawed (you can run the bag thru water)
1 lb. cooked ham (bacon will work, crumbled)
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Layer 1/3 each potatoes, ham, onion, cheese into slow cooker. Repeat 2 times. Beat together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over mixture. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour, then on low for 6 to 7 hours

Easy peasy!
Seriously!! I topped mine with taco sauce cuz I didn’t have salsa and thought it’d be the next best thing.
Either I was correct or Baby O has some WEIRD taste buds.
Either way, I’m satisfied.
So satisfied that I felt the need to share with you all.

Go! Try it!
OMG!
You’ll come back and thank me (and Sarah) later.

Also, Sarah has a recipe blog.
Check it out HERE!
((and click her name to check out her personal blog))

23 weeks.

If you watch the video closely, you can see twitches.
Bottom of the video, the middle ish shirt wrinkle. Mostly in the VERY beginning of the video.

Here I am.
Almost 6 months pregnant.
Can you guys believe it’s been almost SIX months?!
Me either!!!

Cravings mostly consist of healthy stuff! VEGGIES VEGGIES AND MORE VEGGIES!! The farmers’ market has been my favorite place to go on Saturdays.

Least favorite foods: spaghetti.  Baby O was NOT happy. 

Weight: I originally lost 8lbs. I’ve gained back 3.

I personally feel HUGE!! But I’ve had a few people that say, “you’re pregnant?!” or “you’re SIX months pregnant?!?! NO!!”
Apparently I look small?! I think they’re nuts because I FEEL quite opposite of small. 

In case you guys missed our adorableness.

My bittles like to read.

This is what I do while they read and look for books.

she’s silly.  Just like whoa silly. She put this on her head and walked around going “zoooommmmbiiieeeee zommmmmbbbiiiieeeee” and then would come after me with her arms out. I’d walk away, she’d have to stop and lift the purse so she could find me again, then go back to zombie mode.


Then we went to National Night out.
Free food. Free stuff.
Kids had fun.
I think I spent a grand total of like $3 on cupcakes and brownies and undercooked cake pops.

Hope you guys are having a good week.
AND I should have some tutorials for you soon!
HOORAY!!
PS: chalkboard paint isn’t easy to wash off of your skin.