Working for the Weekend

I am in a grumpalicious mood today....tired, allergy-ridden, and let's just say work was not so great today. Monday: I do not like you!

In order to make myself feel a little bit better (um, lets pretend I didn't eat a cupcake and ice cream bar already...), I am just going to tell you allllllllllllllllll about my weekend.

Friday night: hockey game. Condor's won 7-3. Score. I forgot how exciting hockey games are, especially when you get in free.

Saturday morning: Free McDonalds iced coffee (got coupons at the hockey game!), then to the dog park for some play time. Sadie's first time at the park!


After that I pulled some weeds, fun right? I KNOW! Saturday afternoon I finally made curtains out of some fabric I bought at Ikea, like....5 months ago...not even kidding. I'd take a picture but our room has crappy lighting at night, so I'll save that for later. Oh and I made some bandanas for Tundra and Sadie. Cutezor.

Saturday evening we went to ANOTHER hockey game :) We were in free again, but got to sit in season ticket holder's seats: front row glass, right behind the goal. Saweeeeet. Again, they won 7-4.

Sunday Chris said he wanted to fish. Which turned into me looking for fishing spots. Which turned into me finding there is a fish hatchery and museum an hour away up in the mountains. So, we took the beautiful hour drive and checked it out.


I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, and that your Monday was better than mine.

Amen.

Front Yard Planter: Before & After

Can I just get an amen please?

This is before we moved in:

And this is now:

It took a lot longer than we thought, but it's now completely done...I cannot wait to get the rest of the yard looking this good :) And I am so glad we did it all ourselves, there's something so rewarding about DIYing, dontcha think? Now grow plants, grooooooowwww....

I'm a winner, baby.

Have you guys heard of Metromint water? I saw a program on it in the Food Network (I think) quite a while ago, then shortly thereafter I saw some of their flavors at World Market - so I bought some (the spearmint) and it was so refreshing, different and yummy!

Anywayyyss onto the more exciting stuff, I saw a giveaway for a Metromint sample pack on Hostess With the Mostess and...because of the contest enterer I am, entered that in a heartbeat! A couple weeks ago I get an e=mail saying I WON THE CONTEST. Um, yeah...I'll be one of those people that says I do not win things...but now I can't! (Hey enter enough contests for free things...you're bound to someday win something...) So yeah, I was also super ecstatic because I had actually tried and liked the stuff.

It came in the mail this weekend (yay!) and what I got was:
-A case of cherrymint water.
-A case of chocolatemint water.
-A sample pack of all of the other flavors.
-3 reusable Metromint shopping bags.
-2 Metromint t-shirts (can we say American Apparel? Score).
-A pack of "wellness" recipes, including coconut rice (can't wait to make that).

Okay okay, here's some pictures of the stuff. I am totally saving the boxes because they are too cute.


I've tried the cherrymint and chocolatemint, and it's just like a slight hint of those flavors...you have to try it yourself. Trust me.

Bragging rights now removed.

A New Little One

Little miss Sadie is the newest part of our family :) She is an 10-week old Australian Shepherd. I'll update more later!

A Cookie Worth An Entire Blog Post

I just made these peanut butter cookies and they were like, the most amazing thing ever...no joke. In fact, there is still a batch cooking as I'm typing this...that's how good they are. I told Chris that I am going to make them every day. I hope you make them too :)


Sorrrry, I can't find my camera battery charger so I have no pictures of mine :(


Peanut Butter Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (smooth is what we used, but I am pretty sure they use chunky at the bakery)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips

For sprinkling: 1 tablespoon sugar, regular or superfine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips. Place sprinkling sugar — the remaining tablespoon — on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crisss-cross pattern (I used the back of a small offset spatula to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

***I didn't use the chocolate or peanut butter chips with mine and they were perfect :)

Rocks Suck

The past two weekends we've spent ripping out our front planter, buying new plants and things, and (finally) starting to plant flowers this past Sunday.

We moved into our house the end of September, and our house had been vacant for over a year, so the yard was already looking pretty sad. But since then it got cold...rainy...yadda yadda, we haven't really been able to deal with the yard until now! (and now...it's just REALLY bad). So this is what we've done so far. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures, I'll update in another week or two when it's actually complete.

Clearing out the rocks, and the very convenient meshing underneath them.

Tundra is a good helper :) See the lovely bushes?

Rock removal: done.

Almost there...!!

I won't even gross you out with the amount of nasty bugs and spiders we uncovered when uprooting the bushes...SO NASTY!!!! (If you know me well, you know even the teensiest spider makes me scream and run..far...FAR away!) Sooo, this is the only remotely pretty thing about our front and backyard right now (except for these trees). Our backyard grass was all dead when we moved in and now it's all WEEDS. Not to mention that the grass in the front is filled with weeds too. I'm not talking itty bitty weeds you can just pull out with one hand real quick-like...these are gigantic monster weeds that require a shovel and a bottle of allergy medicine to conquer!!!

Hopefully we can finish soon without my allergies killing me :)