Product of the Week…or actually every few weeks

Anyone who knows me well knows that I go through food trends.  I become semi-addicted to certain foods and eat them frequently for a period of time.  This may even mean eating this item multiple times a day for a period of a month (or multiple months), before the item is replaced with something else.  These items may even be cycled back in.  Some trends of the past hummus and feta cheese, Sonic Diet Cherry Lime-Aide (so tasty!!!), Milk-Thing (I will share soon!), Fat-Free Reddi Whip, and canned green beans with mustard (do not judge).  You can always tell when a new food trend is in place when you look in my pantry or refrigerator and see multiples of a product.  Currently, if you look in my pantry you will find 4 boxes of croutons.  I know this is excessive, but I cannot get enough of them (there are also many types…. I need variety).  I used to take them off my salad…..this was so foolish.  In order to make up for this waste I now eat them on there own.  Who knew stale bread could be so tasty, so crunchy, so delicious! 

History: I actually cannot find when, where and how the crouton came into being.  If you can provide this information to me…I will give you a box of croutons of your choosing.  (I think they are Sicilian…but I could not verify this information.)

Making croutons is simple: Take any stale bread (you can use a french baguette to Texas toast…be adventurous) and lightly spread with butter, Olive Oil. (If you want them to be fat free you can use an olive oil or butter spray like Pam.) Dice into cubes.  Sprinkle with seasoned salt, garlic or onion salt, parsley, basil, oregano or any combination of herbs/spices you prefer. (You can also use Parmesan cheese, or a Romano blend.) Put in at 225°F and toast till brown or tan and crispy dry.  Stir occasionally so that all sides are browned. 

Well…I am going to grab a handful!!!  (Plus you are really tired about hearing about croutons.)

(This is a way to use up the ends of loaves of bread)   You can also fry them in a pan if you prefer…this is def. the least healthy alternative, but I am sure it is yummy!

 

 

My Husband the Gross, Semi-Liar

For those of you who read my husband’s blog…you know of his last entry about the potty chair. (Sorry for the visual images!)  My blog is a clarification blog.  Here are the clarifying points:

1. I was joking about using the potty chair.  He ran in and stated he had to go pee.  I told him he would have to wait a few minutes.  He said, he could not.  I jokingly said, “Go use the potty chair”.  My tone was not serious!
2. I immediately took the statement back.  After I saw that he lit up like a child on Christmas morning; I told him I was not serious…I would be done in just a minute.  “Please do not use the potty chair.”  This was stated numerous times.  “Really….Please do not use the potty chair.”  Followed by the statement, “I will not clean out the potty chair.”
3. Either way he said he only had to pee.  As stated in number one (pardon the pun) he said he had to pee.  When I went into the bedroom he was sitting on the chair watching SportsCenter, playing bubble breaker on his phone and making our room smell like a Johnny on the Spot or an outhouse. (Choose whichever you find more disgusting.)  He def. did not only have to pee!  (I sprayed so much Lysol that it made the floor wet and I slipped in it!)

All I can say is that Jim is GROSS! (Yet, I still love him!) The toilet chair has been banned to the basement.  I do not even want to know what is going to happen when we have children and our child gets their first potty chair.  I am sure they will have to fight Jim for it. 

(I am glad that we get to share about Jim’s toileting like Joe and Kelli get to share about Elle’s.  Jim has big boy pants as well!)

Can You Wear Duct Tape To A Wedding?

I am in my nephew in-law’s wedding in October and I do not have a bridesmaid dress for the wedding.  The bride, Laura, is having each of us pick our own brown dresses. (How great is that?)  The other two bridesmaid have their dresses.  Kelli won a bid on e-bay and got a really cute dress at a very affordable price. (You can see the dress on her blog.)  Amanda found a dress at Forever 21, which is both attractive and very financially savvy.  So the pressure is on to find a dress which meets both of these criteria.  In this endeavor I have so far failed.  Until just a moment ago. 

I had to purchase 90 rolls of duct tape for church.  As I searched the web for the most affordable duct tape.I found these two.  I was inspired.  I have heard of kids making prom dresses out of duck tape, but these two take the cake.

 

These outfits are amazing and completely made out of duck tape (a brand of duct tape).  So…I am buying many rolls of the brown tape and going to town.  Cheap and Crafty…what could be better?  I may even inspire the bride to return her dress and make one.  (They have white!  It will be perfect.  Laura…it is better than the bird/feather thing!) 

Side Note: Ron these kid’s are from Avon, Ohio.  You should look them up!  I am sure they could make you a new suit for church.

I Was Funny Once

Jim likes to be the funny one, but recently I have had a few one liners that actually had him laugh out loud.  I was trying to share this fact with our family and he had a memory lapse.  He suddenly couldn’t remember that I had ever been funny. (Have you ever heard me make animal noises?….I am a laugh a minute!) This lead to a really big problem….the more you try to convince people you were funny the less likely they are to believe it and the more likely they are to think you are pitiful.  In turn…I was pitiful.  As I write this post I become more pitiful, but I promise I was funny once.  (Actually more than once…but who is counting! )  I decided it had to be noted on my blog. 

For those of you who were there when I was trying to tell the story of my one liner of mass humor…I called her “TidBits McKinsey”….it really was very clever when it was said…..not so much now!

A Few of My favorite Things (Inspired by Kellogues)

After reading Kelli’s favorite things I was inspired.  So here I go…(They are in no particular order.)

• A warm towel right out of the dryer with that wonderful Downy fragrance
• Chick-fil-a Diet Lemonade…delicious! 
• Laughing until your belly hurts (I’m married to Jim no wonder my belly hurts so much.)
• Bread company bringing back the strawberry poppyseed salad for the summer.  Yum!                                   
• Bubblegum (I still love blowing bubbles!)
• New music form my favorite bands (Coldplay’s new album, “Viva La Vida”, is being released June 17th!

Sunburned Knees and the Brown Bikini

So, I did it…I wore the bikini.  My very white, semi-scarred, still a little swollen body rocked that brown bikini (which by the way I got on clearance for $5.28 when it was originally 28.00 per piece).  I did not keep my towel wrapped around me.  I didn’t see how long I could keep my shorts on….I wore that suit with pride. 

I wrote about this in an earlier blog, but writing and doing are different things….but I did it and it felt good!  I even have sunburned knees to prove it happened.  (Why is it that the rest of your leg will stay white as snow, but your knees tan?  I do not understand!)  It was a good day.  Instead of worrying about wearing a swimsuit, which is what I have done most of my life…I had fun with one of my best friends and enjoyed relaxing by the pool.  What a great day…amazing conversation, beautiful weather and a swimming pool!