BIG DAY!!

Saturday has been greatly anticipate in our home for several months following the announcement that College Game Day would be coming to Manhattan and to top it off it was the weekend following Eric's Birthday. Which leads to his birthday request of staying at home all day watching College Game Day and the Basketball game while getting to eat all the junk food he wanted......

The list of food that Eric was requesting for the weekend has been in production for months...seriously! He would continually add to the list which included:

Shrimp-cold with cocktail sauce

Potato salad

Buffalo wings

Pizza-stuffed crust meat lovers with ranch to dip it in or the butter sauce from papa john’s

Cheetos puffs

Peanut m&ms

Peanut butter m&ms

Canned pepsi

lindor chocolate

reeses

starburst-sour and tropical flavors

string cheese-white

fruit snacks

queso

guacamole

cheesecake

crab rangoons

pineapple

sour cream and onion dip

regular lays potato chips

chipotle

beef jerky

coconut cream pie

We started out the day with cinnamon rolls (no they weren't homemade I was being a slacker...)

Eric's "set-up" for the game. He brought out his bedside table....

I learned something new about my husband, He likes to eat Cheetos and peanut m&m's at the same time. YUM?? I did not try the combination....

We were BOTH on edge during the game. Here is Eric when the game went into over-time

What a disappointing end to the game.



Not only was Saturday the Big K-State vs KU game.....Miss America was also on. Yes, I did DVR it and we watched it after the game....Eric was very surprised to learn how much I knew about the pageant system....I mean seriously I went to the Miss Kansas pageant every year the whole time I lived at home AND I happened to go as Miss Kansas, Miss America for several back-to back years for Halloween AND we did have pageants at all of my birthday slumber parties.

My favorites were Miss Oregon and Miss Oklahoma neither won but you have to have your favorites. I was very surprised that Miss Nebraska made it to the talent section....not so surprised she didn't make it past that portion.

Well back to the weekly grind tomorrow....I will be in Lincoln at least twice this week so lots of traveling to come.....

TGIF!!

SPOILER ALERT FOR BIGGEST LOSER BELOW:

We are MOVING IN 2 WEEKS FROM TODAY!! YAHOOO! Although I called the bank today to find out if the appraisal had occurred and what we needed to be doing. And what did I find out.....we are just waiting on the closing date.....SO we could have closed this weekend like I had wanted to write in our paperwork. OH WELL! But still it would be 2 less weeks here in the apartment and we could be in our new home!

With moving I am trying not to buy a lot of groceries and use up the food we have in our pantry and the freezer. This means I have to get creative!! I had no clue what I was going to make and I remembered running across this recipe the other night and forgot I had it! It's super easy and delicious! (Brent I think even you could make this :-)


BBQ Chicken Fingers

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (Cayenne)
1 lb chicken tenderloins or breasts cut into strips
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Preheat Oven to 400 F.

Mix Parmesan cheese and seasonings. Coat strips of chicken with mixture. Place in Shallow baking pan.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Drizzle with BBQ sauce: Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

You can't get any simpler and I'm not kidding it is YUMMY!

Tonight we had lettuce salad and french fries (yes we used them up from out of the freezer...one less thing to move....)

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! K-State vs KU and College Game Day!! This weekend has been planned for quite some time in the Ladd household...Let's just say Eric has thrilled it was the weekend after this birthday. GO STATE!!

Side Note: I haven't talked a lot about the biggest loser this season and I'm not sure why but I think it might have to do something with the green and red team. First off GREEN Team WORST ATTITUDE PROBLEM EVER!!! I can't stand them. That also brings me to the RED team, as Eric put it southern white trash...do I need to say more. Hope you don't feel offended by my opinion but its just that my opinion. (Can you tell I just watched the episode from last week tonight) Here is a picture of Eric again tonight...Do you see a theme???

Happy Birthday!

Yes....Today is Eric's 24th birthday! I'll give you one guess of where he wanted to eat tonight.

Guessed it yet??

CHIPOTLE! I'm not a huge fan so Eric jumped on the chance of being able to eat there.

The Birthday Boy and his Burrito

Eric claims that it wasn't very big which was a "little" disappointing for him. BUT I did buy him a piece of cheesecake at the cheesecake factory on my way home from work so I don't think he's lacking today.

I get the Salad when we go I like it when I eat it but there is an aftertaste that I don't enjoy so much which is why I turn my nose up at eating there. (and I know how many calories are in a burrito....) The dressing is SO good though, Chipotle-Lime Vinaigrette.


On your birthday at Eric's work you bring your own treats so Eric decided he wanted Magic Bars....He had to find a recipe on the internet and then I made them last night. Eric said they didn't last past 10 o'clock this morning.


It was super easy to make.

• A graham cracker crust (1 1/2 cups graham crackers and 1/2 cup butter)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk spread on top of graham cracker layer
• 2 cups (1 bag) chocolate chips spread over "milk"
• 1 1/2 cups coconut sprinkled over chocolate chip layer
• 1 cup chopped walnuts on top of coconut layer

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Well....tomorrow I have 2 set-ups so it will be a busy day! Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Sleepy....

Look very closely! Yes that is Eric Jay fast asleep underneath the snuggie that matches our couch. Usually on Monday nights we go to our small group for church but last night I had to much work to do and Eric was super tired as evidenced by the above picture, this was around 8:00. I feel bad for the guy as he is getting used to working "normal" hours after a week of working the night shift in Wisconsin.

This morning was a feat in itself to get him out of bed. His alarm goes off at 4:50 in the morning usually he grumbles but gets out of bed. Not so this morning. He got up to turn off this alarm but then came back to bed....I had already stolen his pillow and I refused to give it back. I believe part of my wifely duty is to make sure he gets up and out the door on time. You may ask and how do I help with this.....

Do I make him breakfast the night before? No, I do set out the cereal bowl, spoon and juice cup.

Do I kiss him goodbye? Kindasortof, it's more of a mumbled have a great day drive safe as I'm partially coherent when he kisses me good-bye.

Do I make sure he gets out of bed.....? YES!! I'm very good at this especially since it means that if he gets back in bed I'll have to wake up in another 5 minutes to his alarm. I have learned that sometimes he comes out to the couch and lays back down.....so I have to listen for the shower before I can truly fall back asleep. Oh the tricks you learn. :-)

A big day for Eric tomorrow....Tune in tomorrow to find out why!!

Change of plans

Or I guess I should say change of menus. I was all set to make "Ham and Rice Casserole" but when I went to pick up the rice I knew I was in trouble....I only had a cup left! So Eric had the choice of leftover lasanga or chili. He was smart and choose to have chili tonight, I say this because with my job there is always the chance that I won't make it home in time to make dinner. That means he's on his own and is left to scrounge around for food on his own. So with 2 different choices of leftovers in the fridge this gives him a greater chance of having something good to eat.

Is your mouth watering....

I decided to try something new tonight. In my family we always grew up eating chili and cornbread....the cornbread has yellow cake mix and cornbread mix in it. Well I made this last time we had chili and Eric was not impressed. He said it tasted like cake and I couldn't call it cornbread. HUMPH!

So I got this recipe for cornbread off a friends blog who is also newly married and thought I'd give it a try since I had all the ingredients in my pantry.....by the way my pantry is starting to get barer and barer as we get closer to moving.

Sorry Chelsie, I stole this picture off your blog!

You use a 8.5 oz cornbread mix, 1 egg, 1/3 cup milk, 1 small can of green chilies and 1/2 cup cheese. Mix together and voila you have some delicious muffins. (I really hesistated because I thought that the whole can of green chilies was going to be to much but I threw caution to the wind and I wasn't disappointed)

I topped the chili with some sour cream and cheese.....

The muffins had great flavor...and will make an appearance again in our house! Thanks Chelsie for the idea!

Anyone recognize these bad boys....Eric and I have begun to work on using these up....who knows we might be using them when our 1 year anniversary rolls around!

Packing Fun....???

Eric's Home!! Some of you may not have known he'd ever left!! I felt for my safety as a blogger I should keep it on the down low that my husband was out of town all of last week. Where did he escape to you may ask? Beloit, Wisconsin......Jealous.....I didn't think so.

One of my goals while he was gone was to begin the packing process.....HOWEVER, this didn't happen......I was so busy with work and then when I did have time I was to tired (excuses..excuses) sooooo we started to tackle the project this afternoon following church and after filling our tummies with lunch at Chili's!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Quesidilla Explosion Salad. YUMMY!

Eric begged for a Sunday Afternoon Nap....so I did some facebooking...blog checking excetera while he laid down for a bit. BUT then it was PACKING TIME!!

The guy at work who unpacks all our shipments has been saving me boxes. We filled up all the boxes that I have brought home so far. I have also been marking what room the boxes go in for our super experienced moving crew :-) Don't worry....we thought about you all when we were packing all our books and tried not to make our boxes to heavy....wouldn't want to be responsible for someone throwing out their back. It's pretty exciting to have different rooms that our stuff will go in. Right now our options are....bedroom....living room/kitchen....bathroom....laundry room.

In the new place....master bedroom....master bath.....kitchen.....laundry room....office....guest bedroom.....guest bathroom....basement.....garage.....AHHH SO EXCITING!


Now that Eric is home I've had to start being a wife again which means no more turkey sandwiches for dinner. So last night I put back on the apron and made Lasagna.....


I know most people probably have there own lasagna recipe so if you want my quick and easy lasagna recipe just leave a comment and I'll be happy to post it!

On the menu tonight....Ham and Rice Casserole.....check out tomorrow's blog for the recipe!

5 and 4

Normally I dread Friday mornings. Why you might ask? Friday morning conference call. At the end of the call we all have to say how many set-ups and pending set-ups we have for the month. Usually I have measly numbers, for instance at the end of last month my numbers were 2 and 0. Sad I know. Well today....yes you can probably guess from the title I got to say 5 and 4!! Really exciting for me!

Other news....I'm not feeling so hot! I think I'm getting sick, Everyone was complaining about how cold they were at work and I was thinking I'm burning up. My throat hurts and I'm excited to have the night to lay on the couch and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Sorry I'm so boring this week! Just not a lot to report! 21 more days till we move into our house YAHOOO! Only 7 more days until Eric and I might really start making noise (If the apartment complex were to terminate our lease they would have to give us 14 days to get out.....I think Mr. Down Below should really find out what noise is.....Eric literally wants to drop bowling balls on the ground)

Well I "need" to watch Project Runway from last night! It was great being able to watch my shows last night and not have to share the TV with a certain someone :-)

Bananaramas

Bananaramas

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Crisco
3 T milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (my favorite flavoring!!!!)
1 egg
2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup peanuts

Not much to report tonight but I decided I wanted something sweet so I went through a cookie recipe book and Bananaramas won! Thank god tomorrow is Friday! :-)

WIPE OUT!!!

Well if you watched the Omaha weather you probably can guess by my title what happened to me today. Yes.....I wiped out in the Panera parking lot this morning as I was going to pick up bagels for a breakfast I was bringing to a cancer center. Alan and Christy I know I know I should have worn my YakTrax that you bought me for Christmas. For those of you who live in more temper ant climates this is what yaktrax look like.

They were invented to help prevent incidents like what happened today in Panera's parking lot. I don't think anyone saw me biff it; however my whole left side was wet so I didn't look the best. AND after I picked up the bagels I had to drive back home and change clothes and coats. Oh did I mention I was in my nice coat....that I will now have to get dry cleaned. My elbow is hurting tonight but besides that I'm fine. I told my story at the lunch I did later in the day and they were more concerned about the bagels......which by the way were fine because this happened BEFORE I picked up the bagels.

What a day....What a day....

SO.....today was a little crazy to say the least. Last month I had two set-ups for the month. Today I had 3 set-ups in ONE DAY! SO I was a "little" stressed and it also made for a LONG day as I got home at 8:45 tonight. (Only a 14 hour day) The good about all this is that I got a lot of commission today, my bosses are REALLY happy and I helped 3 different people. HOWEVER, blog readers you'll have to wait till tomorrow for me to post for real. Another lovely surpirse was my internet wasn't working when I arrived so I spent awhile trying to get the modem and other thing??? that has green lights to work this evening. Let's just say we will NOT be storing the "internet stuff" behind the TV in the new house.....:-) Good Night!

Noise Complaint?!?!

You guessed it.....our favorite neighbor down below called the office to complain about our noise level again. The office said that the noise (which sounded like dropping bowling balls) according to our favorite friend lasted two hours ending a little after 11......interesting that we didn't get home from dinner until 10:45. I was pissed to say the least so I called the office and spoke with the manager who was not happy that I was calling. She informed me my neighbor has every right to call and complain and maybe we should be more considerate. I informed her we have every right to live in our home and also to complain about being complained about. I'm sure they are happy that we are leaving in February and I am counting down the days.....27 to be exact. I hope that a kid lives in our apartment next and is a crier.


On a lighter and more happy note mom and I went shopping today!

We started out by fueling up with lunch at Paradise Bakery and Cafe. You get a "free" cookie with your order....mid-way through I realized I should document our trip!

First stop after lunch? The GAP and let me tell you there are some GREAT deals there right now! I got all this for $50 (and one of the sweaters was half of that amount)

Yes....3 of the shirts are the same style just different colors....but they were only $5 each and they have a cute design on the front!

Eric says just because they are on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it. You could have spend $0 rather than $5. What fun is there in that I ask?

Scheel's was the next stop. It's kind of like a Dick's sporting goods on steroids. On the list tennis shoes AND SUCCESS!!

These are the same brand I've been buying for awhile but when the shoe fits why change it! The pair these are replacing were much loved and were pretty ratty.

Mom wanted to swing buy Christopher Banks where she scored a couple of great deals. She got a cardigan that I picked out for her!! Sorry no pics from this part of shopping (she didn't bring them in the apartment)

Finally.....FRANCESCA's,,,, how can any shopping trip be complete without a stop here. Granted I didn't get any deals here I did spend my Christmas giftcards (and maybe a little more of my own money) Here's what I scored here:

As you can probably guess Eric is thrilled to help me show you all my purchases.

And what did the boys do during this great shopping expedition??

Then...(I know, I know more purchases) We met the boys at Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at Washers and Dryers and a Refrigerator. Since we are buying a new home and we were buying 3 or more appliances we got builder pricing. I don't think Eric was quite prepared to separate with the money today....he has a hard time letting go :-) As you can tell from my earlier purchases in the day I don't have the same problem.

They will be delivered February 12th!!

WHEW! Sorry long post but I had lots to catch you all up on! Hope you're all having a great weekend! I better stop typing as to not disturb our neighbor below..........

I got another set-up.....

Granted they didn't get home from the hospital till 6:15 and they lived in Lincoln. SO....we didn't eat dinner till 9:00 because my parents were in town and everyone was nice enough to wait for me!!! We ate at Cheesecake Factory! YUMMY! I got the white chicken chili and a side salad.

AND of course we had to get cheesecake. My mom and I shared the Snickers one!

On the way home from the patients home I called Anessa the MOH in my wedding and chatted with her a bit and I talked to Jillian my favorite sister-in-law :-) It was great to catch up with these wonderful ladies! Anessa and Jamie I hope you loved Julie and Julia as much as I did!!

The FOG was AWFUL last night! Really hard to see. I guess Lincoln referral sources really like me to drive in crudy weather....HAHA!! It ended up being a good sales call too though because the home health agency nurse came in at the end of my education and she was really impressed that I had done the education on the pump as well as site care.....and she was really thankful that if the patient has problems with the pump they call us. SO...hopefully we can start to work together more and she will let her boss know how helpful I was :-0

On the schedule today. SHOPPING!!!! One of my favorite things. I'll keep you posted on any good finds!! I believe the boys are going to the River City Hunting and Fishing Expo. I'm sure they will find ways to entertain themselves....I believe there is a casino near the expo center.........

Catching Up

Today I had a nice surprise! Derek, one of the interns in my class at Vanderbilt was in town! So we got together after work and had a nice chat. It's always so nice to spend time with friends. It's hard to make friends after leaving school so I always enjoy hanging out with friends when I get the chance!

This was a picture from a night out in Nashville the other girl in the picture is Stephanie my former roommate!

Poor Derek, the only guy in a class full of 15 girls....I think he liked it when out fiances and boyfriends came to visit so he could talk guy talk rather than listen to our girl talk! :-)

Big plans this weekend! My parents are coming Thursday night and will be here till Monday morning. Eric's parents are also coming on Sunday so we are going to go look at the house! Thursday I have a lunch and am bringing in snacks for another office! Wish me luck!!

Game Time with Grandma

Off to grandmother's house we go! Eric and I jumped in the car on Sunday and headed to Creston, Iowa to visit Eric's grandma, Carol. Alan, Christy and Drew went to visit to! Carol took us out to eat for a yummy lunch at a Mexican restaurant in town where Alan I disputed whether the water tasted weird. I told him I'm an excellent smeller and I didn't think anything was funky with it. All of the Ladd boys believe the water tastes different.....ANYWAYS! While we were there Carol asked if we wanted to play a game.....and so I was introduced to RUMMIKUB!


It's a game that makes you think and since only 4 people can play at a time Eric and I paired up so I could learn the game and 5 people could play! Let's just say 2 heads are probably better than 1, we won the first round and came in close on a couple other rounds!!

Here's the crew playing minus me and Alan is watching the game on TV!

Thanks for having us Carol we had a good time! Sorry I worked 12 hours today plus need to make a route for tomorrow so this is about all I've got for you tonight....but aren't I dedicated to you readers...I'm exhausted and I still made time for you all.

P.S. GO CATS!!

I haven't forgotten!

New Blog Post Tomorrow Night!! I PROMISE!!

I just enjoyed my weekend to much and didn't take the time to blog. Today I worked 10 hours and we have small group on Monday nights so NO TIME and now it's my bed time!! Off to Lincoln tomorrow and I still need to figure out my route.....where does the time go.....

Please continue to pray for guidance in my career! It would be much appreciated!!

5 months down!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

You may ask how did we celebrate? Well, we went to dinner down in Old Market at an Italian restaurant called Vivace.....YUM! We both got pasta....homemade pasta at that! I got cayenne quadralini a cool looking pasta that was flavored with cayenne pepper so it had a bit of a kick! Eric got black peppered fettuccine.

A picture of quadralini

Well not much to report tonight! Hope all you readers out there are staying warm!

Driving Lesson

Well my day didn't go exactly as planned. I didn't go into work till 11 but on my way there I got a call from the office "You have a referral" When I get there you guessed it was from a hospital in Lincoln......GREAT! My boss was all worried about me because another employee had gotten in a wreck on the way to work. My response, well what else am I supposed to do "Would you want to eat?" He sort of kind of offered to drive me but not really. I told him that I grew up on a farm and my dad had taught me well. So here are the lessons I learned on the farm.

1. Leave super early. I remember in High School my dad would make my brother and I leave so early on days that the weather was bad we would be the first kids at school. (WE always complained, today it took me double the amount of time to get to Lincoln)

2. Wear proper attire. NO flip flops. You have to have a coat. What if you have to walk for help! (I probably wouldn't walk....just a thought) Just for you dad. I had my snow boots on and ready!

3. Your trunk should be stocked. I always had a sleeping bag and blankets in my car trunk during the winter time and my in-laws gave me a kit for my trunk at Christmas. WINTER SURVIVAL, I even have my very own mini shovel!

4. Gas Tank Full!! Every time the weather turned for the worse my dad was always on us, "Did you fill up with gas at Zenith" "Make sure you fill up with gas, you want to make sure you have a full tank in case you run off the road and have to run it for awhile" I had a full tank when I left Omaha and filled up before I came home!

Now onto the driving tips!

5. Tap on your breaks! Never slam on your breaks when there could be ice this will cause you to skid and potentially cause you to get in an accident.

6. SLOW DOWN! Never go the speed limit. I swear some people were going faster than the speed limit today (I however was not. I drove about 45 the whole way to Lincoln)

(NO I did not take this picture while driving; however, the visibility was this good in a couple of places)

7. Don't follow the car in front of you closely. I think this should be common sense in bad weather but apparently not. I was doing fine until a car was closer that I would follow on a nice day. STUPID PEOPLE!!

8. Don't break and turn at the same time (this one is from my husband)

I hope you can use these tips this winter. -4 is the high tomorrow and I believe that it feels like -35 here today! LOVELY!

SNOW DAY???

Kind of....I got a call from my boss at 6 this morning saying he was closing the office till 11. Granted I didn't get it till after I had showered but oh well. I am taking the morning to clean the apartment....it could really use the attention.

Update on the car: Eric said it still wouldn't start this morning. He called a tow company and they came out and it took them awhile but finally got it started. We are going to take it in this weekend to have it looked over since its still under warranty.

Just saw an update on the weather and traffic. Glad I'm not going into work at the moment traffic looks awful. It sounds like most highways are closed so I'm really glad Eric stayed in Fremont today!

Have a WONDERFUL day and STAY WARM!!

Cinnamon Crunch Bagel

Can you say YUM!! I discovered this delicious treat last year in Nashville, when I trained for the half-marathon. I had a specific route I would follow on my long runs and it happened to take me past panera 3 times.....SO my reward for finishing 9-10 miles would be a cinnamon crunch bagel from panera with hazelnut cream cheese!

I took bagels to 3 of my accounts today, so I picked one of these up for myself and can you say delicious. I rarely let myself get one because I'm sure they are packed with calories and NO I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY THERE ARE. Sometimes its not so much fun to know how many calories are in food especially when its a rare treat for you. Here is the description from the panera website:

Cinnamon and vanilla chips flavor the dough, topped with a sweet, crunchy shell of cinnamon & sugar.

Wicked Winter...I didn't say it the news did......My hubby will not be joining me at home tonight :-( His car won't start!! I'm glad he has a friend he can stay with in Fremont and its probably best he didn't try to make it home. The snow is really starting to blow so I'm glad he is safe in Fremont. I went to a patients home this afternoon and I couldn't make it up the street so I parked further down and walked the rest of the way. I think that's SERVICE....now only if they would tell their docs how I go above and beyond for them.......

Be nice to Sales People....

Well I think the title says it all. It wasn't the best day.....

I could use your prayers for direction in my work life. Well that's about it for tonight!

On a lighter note the biggest loser starts a new season tonight. :-) I promise to have a better attitude tomorrow.....sorry to be such a downer this past week....I'm going to get inspired as I watch the biggest loser as always!! No more complaining after today. (I think Eric would like that)

This weekend I'm going to write a blog about how to lower your cholesterol get excited.

Grown Up Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Well today it was -15 when I went to work AND my nose hairs froze when I walked from the hospital parking lot to the hospital. SO.... to warm all you readers up this winter here is a yummy

GROWN UP recipe for Tomato Soup!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1/4 c butter
3 T flour
2 C pureed tomatoes (I used canned stewed tomatoes Italian Style and pureed them in the food processor)
2 cups milk
3/4 cups evaporated milk (I just substituted normal milk for this)
1 c cooked rice
1 tsp salt (You can say BAM! when adding for a little excitement)
1/8 tsp pepper (see above suggestion)

Saute onion and butter
Add flour and make roux
Add tomatoes gradually and heat.
Add milk, rice and seasonings stirring to avoid scorching.

Pair with a grilled cheese sandwich and you're set!! ENJOY!!