iPhone 6 anyone?

Are any of you as excited as I am about the iPhone6?  Seriously I was on the edge of my seat all evening yesterday at the thought of placing my pre-order.     Pre-orders were starting on Friday at midnight, eastern standard time which is 9:00pm Arizona time. 

I waited and I waited and I waited all evening.   Then at 8:45 I walked into our office and decided it was time to log on.  At 8:58 I logged onto the Apple Store site.  Two minutes too early; the pre-order was still unavailable.   So I impatiently waited for 9:00 p.m only to find that the site was down.   Too much traffic that the site had shut down.  

Aughhhhhhhhhh!  The "we'll be back message" mocked me as it flashed the message in several different languages over and over and over!

I had no choice but to wait until morning to order.   So at 5am this morning I got up and walked straight to my computer and placed my order!  I was surprised because I went to bed thinking it might sell out before I got to log back in.   

BTW, I went with the iPhone6 over the 6plus because of the size.  The 6plus seems like the size of a mini iPad.  

I can't wait for it to get here! 

Rain Day in Phoenix

It's basically an oxymoron.   So we are clear, a rain day is the equivalent of a 'snow day'.   I was born and raised in Arizona and I have never had to stay home from work or school because of mother nature.   Ever.

I will say, however, that I have never seen so much rain in my entire life.   Yes, we have monsoon storms that come through here every year.   Sometimes the winds are so strong they uproot trees or knock down power lines.   Sometimes, we have flash flood warnings and the washes throughout the area will flow for a couple of hours.  Sometimes streets get somewhat flooded.   But on Monday, September 8, 2014 we had torrential rains and flooding throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan area as a surge of tropical moisture from former Hurricane Norbert.   So much rain that the Department of Public Safety advised residents to stay home.   Schools were actually closed.  Businesses were closed.  My corporate office sent out email and text notifications that employees were to stay home and not report to work.   The city was shut down.

The 10, 17, 51 and 60 (interstates) were all shut down in certain areas due to severe flooding:

1-10 and 43rd ave

Neighborhoods looked like this:

 

Sweetheart had to start digging a trench so the water could escape the back yard that was filled with water:

it was about 7am, he was still in his pj's.....

By mid morning, it stopped raining and the water started to recede.   The next day it was back to work as usual and everyone was talking about their experiences....     

 

Week One - Chicken BLT Lettuce Wraps

I am sure this will come as no surprise to anyone, but we LOVE football season!   We love the games, the sports bars, the Fantasy Football and of course, the food!   I am sure it will also come as no surprise that I love to be organized and I live by my calendar -- which contains my numerous "to do" lists, house cleaning lists, grocery lists, meal lists, etc.  You get the picture, yes?

Every year, I prepare a list (way in advance) of what meals we will have for days we watch the games at home and what we will have when we tailgate.   Everything, and I do mean everything, is planned out.   This year I thought I would post my at home meals.   We also decided we would eat at home more and make healthier choices for our football grub. 

After mass this morning Sweetheart and I had breakfast at one of our favorite spots, made a quick stop at the Home Depot to get some propane for the grill and then headed home just in time to kick off the first week of the regular season by watching the Red Zone pretty much all day.  

For dinner, I made some Chicken BLT Lettuce Wraps: 

click to enlarge

I found the recipe here as I was browsing one day.   I thought this would be a relatively great alternative to the typical greasy, carb-filled foods that we tend to gravitate to when we watch football.

I made slight modifications.  I had Sweetheart roast some green chile on the grill when he grilled the chicken for me.   It added so much flavor and just the right amount of heat:

Chicken BLT Lettuce Wrap

• head of butter lettuce
• 3 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced into strips
• 6 slices of bacon -- I cook my bacon in the oven so that so there is no splatter mess and perfect bacon each time.   To cook the bacon in the oven, line a baking sheet with foil, line bacon side by side but not touching.   Set the oven to 400 and place the bacon in the oven (do not preheat). Cook for 20 minutes.  Transfer the bacon from the baking sheet to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the grease. 
• handful of grape tomatoes
• 2 roasted hatch green chile -- seeded and cut into strips  

Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise - I use Best Foods Olive Oil mayonnaise 
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• pepper

I made the Honey Mustard Dressing in advance, placed it in a glass jar and put it in the fridge.   The more I can prep ahead of time works best so I can spend more time in front the TV and less time in the kitchen.  

_________________________________________________

For lunch, at Sweetheart's request, I made some Nachos.  Pretty basic:  tortilla chips, nacho cheese, turkey meat with taco seasonings, green onions, salsa and sour cream.  I don't like sour cream so my plate below doesn't have any on it.  :)

Quick and easy but oh so tasty:

Wishes for a happy work week!

TTFN

~Yolanda

Touch of Fall

Sweetheart and I went on a bike ride this morning and I ran into some pinecones along the path.   I thought they would be a great addition to my self in the kitchen.   Then I thought fresh clippings would be a good too.  So when we got back from the ride I went straight into the back yard with scissors and a small basket in hand.  

The colors are perfect for my Fall shelf:

I added some to the living room table as well.   There are those dollar store pumpkins I was painting last night.  They look so much better in white:

I added some clippings to the front table too:

See how pretty the color of the clippings just blend in with the gold pumpkins?

And to my pumpkin in the hallway I added some glittered pumpkins to give it a little more color:

Those are the pumpkins as I was added color last night:

The front door also got a little bit of Fall added to it:

And I made a banner last year year to hang by the front door but all I could find was the four letters.   I used the same banner for Halloween, Valentine's day, Easter, 4th of July and Labor day.   I must have tossed it out because the actual burlap banner was nowhere to be found.  So, I just made another.  I had everything I needed:

There it is peeking out from the inside:

Simple, but I like it:

I know that it's not officially Fall until September 22nd.  But putting this stuff out just gives me a great sense of what's to come:  cooler weather, footballs, holidays, birthdays and a lot of fun stuff!

It's that time!

It really is that time of year again!   It's football season!   And that means a very busy schedule -- we have football games and tailgating, birthdays, holidays and a non-stop schedule all the way through the first of the year!  

We have our first regular season football game of the year this coming Monday.  Yep, it's MNF and we will be there with bells on! 

This weekend I am going to work on putting a few "Fall" touches around the house.  Not too many, just enough to satisfy my need to start decorating the house for the holidays.   Since Fall in Arizona doesn't mean cooler weather -- it's still very hot and temperatures will remain high for a couple more months -- it does mean that Football season is here!  So how best to celebrate than to place a couple pumpkin lovelies around the house.   I just finished painting dollar store pumpkins this pretty off white color because the original orange color just wasn't speaking to me.

Just a sneak peak below:

So, I'm off to finish the rest of the pumpkin placing as I sip on a glass of Merlot.   That usually slows down the process, but I'm totally okay with that.  

And as they say "Happy Fall Y'all"!!!

ChalkBoard

I can still remember how I loved writing on the chalkboard at school as a young girl:  the smell of the chalk, the residue dust on my fingers, the sound of the chalk as it glided across the board....   

That may be why I am obsessed with chalkboard labels.  I slap a label on everything that I can.  

This week I was working on finding a way to conceal my 'clorox wipes' container.  I use the wipes constantly; I loathe a dirty counter.   I generally keep it underneath the sink but lately I've kept it on the counter because I use it so often.   The only problem with that was I didn't like the container sitting on the counter in plain view.  

So I did a little bit of research on Pinterest for ideas on how to conceal it and came up with this:

Most of the ideas on Pinterest included using ModPodge on fabric and covering the entire fabric with ModPodge.   By the way, my first attempt at this last night was an epic fail.  I didn't like the way the ModPodged fabric looked and felt.  So I tried it again.  This time I used my hot glue gun to adhere the fabric to the container and then sprayed the fabric with a stain guard.   I was pleased with the end result.  :)



And because this post is about chalkboard, I thought I would share the oil bottles that I also added a chalkboard label to:

I recycled an empty Queen Creek Olive Mill oil dispenser by just taking the label off and adding my own chalkboard label.   I did the same for the Safflower Oil dispenser.

And although I didn't make this chalkboard sign in the kitchen, I do enjoy changing the messages on there quite often.  The last time I updated it I simply wrote my smoothie recipe on it since I keep forgetting to add and one thing or another every single morning.  

I'm getting ready for Easter and for a visit from my sister, aunt and cousin next Friday.  I'm so excited to see them!  I'm getting my house ready for their visit! 

Randomness

Because sometimes my mind likes to multi task and it won't allow me to focus on just one thing....  

Random 1:  This year is already moving way too fast.   I'm getting ready to put out all my Easter decor this coming weekend.  I normally have it done the weekend after Lent but it's been crazy busy.   I saw a cute Easter themed wreath on Pinterest that I want to make and I'm super excited about it!   I can't wait to work on it.  

Random 2:  While I was at Hobby Lobby picking up project supplies, I found this cute sign I placed on the shelf in the kitchen.  It reads:  Home is wherever I am with you.   When I saw it, I just had to have it.  

Random 3:   The stick people in the frame are courtesy of Sweetheart.  I was looking for an 'in-between' and couldn't find anything cute to put in the frame so I decided I was going to use a dry erase pen to write on the glass when he suggested a 'family portrait'.   He drew me and him and the two pups.    I know, sooooo cute!

Random 4:  I also bought this cute jar to house my kosher salt.  I had been looking for a salt cellar everywhere and I really didn't love anything I saw.  So I decided to make my own.  The jar is from Hobby Lobby; it came with the little wooden spoon which is perfect for scooping.   I added a chalkboard label and my do-it-yourself salt cellar was complete!   I think it's pretty cute.

Random 5:  See the cute little Wizard of Oz figures down below?  My sweet niece surprised me with them.  I love all things Wizard of Oz and she saw these at a Hallmark store and bought them for me.  She couldn't wait for my birthday in November so she gave them to me on Saturday.  So sweet!!!   They are just the most darling little stuffed toys.   They are called "itty bitty's"  and I believe are part of an infant's toy collection.   I love them!

Random 6:  I use the word "cute" way too much.  I think I need to start using a thesaurus....

TTFN