Huzzah! Black Friday gave me the perfect excuse to buy a new phone...and it was only 40 bucks!! #winning
Hopefully this means more bloggy blog posts as well. Stay tuned race fans!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Truvy has a phone again!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Ouiser's Freebie Round-Up 6/5/12
Free Card (no shipping!) at Cardstore.com when you get to the check out after creating your Father's Day card enter "LUVDAD2" in the promo code spot and your card is FREE. I already created one for the Wee Man to give to Hubby and it should be here in a few days just in time for the 17th.
I LOVE Bodycology, especially the body sprays. I've never tried the lotions so I'm pretty excited to try this one out.
If your have furry friends try this pate topper from Meow Mix (they also send a 1.00 off coupon)
I've gotten lots of neat things from Start Sampling so anything they tend to offer is totally worth the few minutes it takes to fill out the forms.
(copy and paste this in your browser):
http://www.startsampling.com/product.iphtml?item=40376
I just signed up for this one (I chose the dozy night dreams) so if I get it I'll obviously let you know how it goes.
I love Quiznos but haven't been in years. This offer expires on June 8th so don't delay.
I love smelly stuff (provided I'm not allergic to it), simply like them on Facebook and pick three scents to sample. I chose Night Orchid, Deep Wood and Summer Rain.
I will continue to look around today and see what pops up and post it on our FB page and here in bloggy format. Please note that I get a LOT of these links from other sources as well as my own personal research. In our next installation, I'll be sharing some of the freebie sites that I frequent.
xoxo
Ouiser
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Tonight's Dinner: Delicioso
1. Take any thin cut beef...in the past I used thin sliced sirloin tip...today they had some thin sliced milanesa (i have no clue what it is other than beef, but it looks like it will be super tender!) on markdown, so that's what we are going with. there is 1-1.5 pounds of it...hopefully will feed 6 people and have some leftovers. Anywho, take your meet and cut it into strips roughly 0.5 in by 2 in...don't worry too much...just as long as it is fairly bite-sized, you are fine.
2. Toss your sliced up meat into a bowl. Top with a can of Rotel. I used original today. This recipe was originally created by throwing random things from my pantry together, so this marinade is just what I have tried. Originally I added, in addition to the Rotel, Frank's Red Hot and Tony Chachere's. Today I did Rotel, Frank's Red Hot, black pepper, and garlic powder. Just browse your cabinets and go with what feels right. Put saran wrap over the bowl and stick the whole kit'n'kaboodle in the fridge. Let it sit a little while...I think I let it sit for an hour the first time I made this. This time it will be in there 1-2 hours. If your meat is tough, let it go longer.
3. Get your pan smoking hot. Dump the entire contents of the bowl on in, juice, tomatoes, and all. Cook the meat until it's done, of course.
4. This next part is also a guideline of what I have done. Raid your cabinets and let your tummy and taste buds lead the way. What I do is take a 10 in whole wheat tortilla, heat it up, and spread filling on, then meat, then cheese. The first time the filling was black beans and brown rice that I had leftover from the other night. The cheese I used was Kraft singles. AND IT WAS DELICIOSO! Tonight I will be using black beans and refried beans as the filling and maybe some shredded cheddar cheese. The filling i usually cook in the meat's pan together when the meat is done.
Enjoy! Time for me to go wrangle the youngun and get to work on dinner.
<3
Truvy
Friday, June 1, 2012
Part 2: Friends
Because of my personal experiences, I have found that friends that drain your bank account aren't always the best to have around for reasons other than budget concerns. If you can find a few friends who are more than happy to just come over and chat and do other free activities, chances are these will be the people you can count on in tough times also. But online friends can be even better.
When I was pregnant I joined a mommy website with a big community. One night when I was maybe 7-8 months pregnant I did a random "who's up and bored?" web chat with a bunch of girls, some of which I consider dear friends now over two years later. The lovely Ouiser is one of those dear friends. =)
We have been through a lot together. They are always there when I need them, and I return the favor whenever I can. After a life of having friends that always seemed to need a little more than friendship, this was big for me. I have a group of girls I can depend on without shedding a dime. If I ever do spend money on them it will be a grand meet-up vacation so we can finally see each other face-to-face.
I do have offline friends too, of course. After weeding out the toxic friends, I am left with a handful of people who "get it." Even if we rarely get to see each other, we can call each other up to chat and pick up where we left off a couple of months previous.
And I can't write a post about friendship without mentioning my hubby. =) He makes me laugh. He "gets" me and all my eccentricities, and he embraces them. We can have fun together just sitting home and playing video games or watching one of our shows. The other night we were watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and having a blast talking about the performances. Sometimes I can't stand him, but at the end of the day, he is my best friend. =p
So the point of this post...
Recognize when you are in a toxic friendship. If someone only wants to hang out when you have the money to do something, please examine that relationship to make sure they are really wanting to be there for you instead of looking for someone to do something with. If they understand that you can't go out to eat because you just paid rent or your electric bill without giving you a bunch of grief, that is someone you can benefit from having in your life.
Sometimes it is ok to be selfish. That was one of the biggest lessons in life that I had to learn. And when you are a mommy, you have to be selfish for your kiddo too.
Cherish the friends you can be your true self with without holding back...even the weird, gross, somewhat disturbing you. ;)
<3
Truvy
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Let's Get Back To Basics
Monday, May 14, 2012
We KNEW!
Now that the Mother's Day dinners have been consumed, the flowers are starting to droop a bit and the chocolate is starting to melt, let's get down to the nitty gritty here. In the past couple of weeks, I've been reading the local paper at work (as usual) and on Sundays in the Life section(front page of it no less) there is a local columnist who is a relatively new mom herself.
Now that's all fine and dandy, great! But she complains a lot. Or at least she has in the last two articles I've read of hers. Perhaps I'm just reading too much into it or making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. Sadly, the paper doesn't link to the article in question, but the gist of it is that the woman wants a vacation from her kid.
She spends the entire column whining about how she wants to get away, doesn't want to be a parent for a day etc etc blah blah blah. This week she finally gets her way and spends Mother's Day AWAY from her child. Awww she feels SAD about this.
Newsflash sweetheart. We KNEW what we were getting into the minute we saw that second line appear on the pregnancy test. Your life is no longer your own. Sleep? Fuggetaboutit. Girls Nights Out? Goodbye! *unless you're like me, and never went on those ANYWAY, but I digress). The point is. WE KNEW.
There are no sick days, no vacations, no pay when you become a mommy. If you have a spouse or a significant other, yes they will (theoretically) pick up the slack when you get sick, but guess what? Unless you're on your deathbed, YOU ARE STILL MOMMY and BABY will still need and want you regardless of whether you're sneezing, snotting, shitting or hacking your brains out. YOU ARE A MOTHER. Life doesn't stop just because you have popped a kid out of your hoo-ha and it doesn't go back to the way it was afterwards either.
We KNEW this. For someone to whine and complain to get their way and then be all sad because they got what they wanted just literally makes me ill. There is a difference between venting and just flat out constantly complaining and then for all intents and purposes running away for a weekend which happens to be the very weekend you are celebrated BECAUSE you're a mom!
Don't get me wrong, there are times that I'd love to just crawl into a hole with a blanket, a flashlight and a book and just be left alone. This usually occurs when The WeeMan is showing his muscle in what we like to refer to as "99 Ways to Make Mommy Lose Her Schmidt'. This usually occurs right about the time I get home from work in the morning and he doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to sleep, wants to play play play, get into everything, bang on the walls with his toys. But the second he puts those chubby little arms around my neck and wraps those legs around me in a big bear hug, who cares if the floor is food covered and he's just stripped down to his diaper because he hates clothes? Not me. He may drive me crazy at times but you know what?
I wouldn't change that for the world.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Mommygasm: Defined
In my hometown, where I still live, there is a magical secret which I have just unveiled...an Organic School. Not like crunchy, hippy organic...organic in the sense that every child is a unique individual. Their beliefs in childhood education mirror my own from learning through nature and doing to learning at their own pace.
I can already tell Lil Bit will learn by doing, much like myself. The kid just turned 2 in March, and she is already trying to sing the alphabet. She even gets it right some of the time, parts anyway. Like "ABC ABC ABC LMNO QRS ABC ABC Now I ABC ABC ABC ABC. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Thank you, thank you." Childhood prodigy I tell ya! Lol.
So I have dubbed my almost endless squeeing as a mommygasm. It was seriously like a high. I kept clicking different links on the school website looking for a bigger buzz. It's addicting. =) Luckily my sister came home, and I could force her to look at the website. That is the only way to come off a high that good. Bahahahaha.
And before I finish, here is an update on the bedtime front...SHE WENT TO BED AT 6:30PM TONIGHT and has yet to wake up. =D No tears, just some playing and reading and she snuggled in for a long summer's nap. Today was a day of win, really. Last night she fell asleep around 8PM, woke up about an hour later, went back to sleep about 30 minutes later, then slept until just before 7AM. We had breakfast, I tried to catch a few more winks, and then we went to the park and grabbed my Grandma's pants from the cleaners. When we got home we played on the porch and in the yard armed with sidewalk chalk, colored bubbles, and a garden hose. She had a blast. No nap, but we had an impromptu second lunch with my sister-in-law. After dinner we had another round of chalk, bubbles, and garden hose. Lil Bit got to run around in the front yard in her Applejack panties like a boss while she slung the garden hose around screaming "Got you! Got you!" at me. Then we both took a bath, put on jammies, and by 5pm, we were both ready for bed....of course, you see where I am now at midnight, but that is beside the point. Bahahaha.
And now, Mommy must head to bed to prepare for another potential 7AM wake up call.
<3
Truvy
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Zombie Mommy
But last night....was heaven! My sister-in-law asked if Lil Bit could have a sleepover. A choir of angels appeared as she asked. So when Lil Bit woke up from her noon-3pm nap, I took her on over. I actually got to rest! I made the most of it by having a red velvet cupcake and a glass (ok, maybe 3) of wine. Then I corralled my sister into a Bones marathon and junk food. It was marvelous! I even slept til noon today! Every Mommy needs a break like that once in a while. Especially during a 2 year old's unruly sleep regression. I'm picking her up tonight at 7pm...let's hope tonight is an easy one.
We are also potty training right now. Yesterday from about 7:30am-noon we went panties only. She has about 10 pair of panties. She peed in every single one...and 2 or 3 of them got peed in again after i did a load of laundry. But after the third accident, she start saying "Mommy help!" every time she got wet...so I will take that as progress. I think tonight I will make cookies so I can bribe her to actually go in the potty this time. Any tips and tricks are more than welcome. I keep her potty in the living room aimed at the TV in hopes it will help her sit still long enough to go. Hopefully Caillou can help us make some progress tomorrow.
And on that note, I bring you this...
I found it while searching for potty training videos. I want to put it on a CD so we can go down the streets ballin.
<3
Truvy
...AAAAAAANNNNNDDDD We're Back. Again.
Wee Man has been chattering and jabbering up a storm as of late. He's actually using REAL words now as opposed to...gibberish. We even got a full sentence out of him the other day! We will TRY to overlook that it was "NO!Don't like clothes!"
Have to admit, it's straight and to the point though.
Most of his winter clothes have now been repurposed into spring wear. HOPEFULLY we won't have another cold snap up here otherwise he'll freeze his butt off. I've had to now take ALL of his feetie pajamas and cut the feet out up to the zipper, remove the sleeves and zip them up backwards, pretty much making him little sunsuits. I'm thinking that perhaps this weekend or next, I'll actually completely dismantle one of them to use as a pattern, get some material (on sale of course!) and try and see what I can whip up. Truvy is the seamstress around here though. Too bad she lives like 300 miles away otherwise I'd totally be hiring her to come make Will a new wardrobe.
The freebie finds have been piling in my snail mail box and I have some pretty awesome ones on the way. The best one so far was a bottle of Bayer Advanced yesterday. It also came with a two dollar off coupon. If you keep up with the FB page, I'll start posting some of the links to freebie finds daily. Everyone knows I need a hobby yes?
xoxo
Ouiser(don't call it a come back!)
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Ouiser's Kicking Ass...
Of course, I'm also a bit of a weenie and have yet to hit submit on the form. Something about the idea of potentially becoming a sitting duck for corporate. I'll get there though. In the end, it'd be worth it, if only to prevent this from happening to someone else.
Anyway, We are still looking for a new abode. Even though the landlord says they will be taking care of all the issues we listed (and they've started with the water, which, while it's a biggie, obviously isn't the biggest. But whatever.) Don't get me wrong, if all the issues with this place are taken care of we would have no problems staying here. I kinda like it here other than the fact that I feel we really ARE too far in the middle of nowhere. That can be good, or bad. Depends on your outlook I suppose.
I'm thinking about starting a new personal blog. More like a collection of essays et cetera. I have a few blogs but I rarely use them anymore, but I feel the writing bug itching at me again. Believe it or not, I actually used to be a good writer. I wrote every single day. These days, it just seems that there's nothing to write about. Hell, I haven't even finished my book "Boxes and Doors" yet! Oh, I have plenty of poems half completed for it, but it's that whole 'getting it done' part that stymieing me. I spend most of my days couponing, looking for freebies, working and naturally taking care of Wee Man.
Speaking of Wee Man, he's learned a few new words as of late. They are, in no particular order:
Whoo Hoo
Boobies!
and my personal favorite HA HA (said like Nelson Muntz)
Needless to say, we will NOT be going to Hooters again anytime soon til he FORGETS that word. Perferrably til he's at least 16. And yes...I AM the one who taught him 'boobies'. But in my defense, I didn't think he'd be able to say 'breasts'. He kept pulling the front of my shirt down and going 'that? that?' after a fair amount of time I finally pried his hand off my shirt and went "BOOBIES!! Boobies okay??"
The next thing I know, I see him pause, give me a big grin and say in his tiny voice
"boobies" "boobies boobies boobies"
*shakes head*
I've created a monster!
Monday, April 16, 2012
The wonderful thing about WIC.
Money is tight...so that is when we get creative. I did my WIC shopping yesterday. It was perfect timing because we are flat broke and had just run out of milk, bread, and juice. We were also very low on peanut butter and cheese. WIC to the rescue!
WIC wraps:
Scramble, fry, etc some delicious eggs. Season if you wish. While that is going, heat up one tortilla per egg in the microwave for like 30 seconds. Spread some peanut butter on each tortilla, then add some cheese along the center where the egg will lay. Substitute jelly if you have it for a sweet breakfast. When the eggs are done, lay one egg in the center of each tortilla straight from the pan. Wrap the tortilla in thirds as you would a burrito. Serve immediately.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The word of the day is FREE. =)
It is amazing what all you can accomplish for free if you get a little creative. I have been taking lil bit to the bay to swim and play in the sand for the last few days. By spending an hour or 2 I'm the sand each day for about 3 days, I am already noticing a drastic reduction in my nasty callouses. What could be better than a free pedicure? Lol. O yea! I am also getting a decent tan for a change. Screw the tanning bed! And the kiddo is entertained. Woohoo! And all I pay is gas money.
I got creative last night. Our super comfy brown couch should be shot. It is broken and saggy. But couches cost money, so we are stick with it for now. So last night I was trying to decide if I wanted to throw out or keep some of the boxes I unpacked a couple of days ago. So I compromised and saved my sofa at the same time! I broke down (flattened) the boxes and stacked them under the cushion with the sagging problem. I put about 10 boxes. Voila! Sag solved! And the next time I need a box, I have a hidden stash.
So what have you gotten for free lately? =)
<3 Truvy
With The Best Intentions...
Life in Ouiser-land is very...something...at the moment. The Wee Man has decided that clothes are bad and diapers are just plain evil. I have had to resort to cutting out the feet of his feetie pajamas and putting them on him backwards, just so I can get some sleep when I get home in the mornings without waking up every few minutes to make sure that he hasn't decided it's NEKKID TIME and bounce around in his crib, stopping ever so often to stick his weiner out between the slats and peeing on the floor (always the floor, never the bed...small favors I suppose)
Things are the same as usual at Le Lifesuck (aka WORK), though admittedly after my last what we will call MELTDOWN OF EPIC PROPORTIONS(invovling a very snarky yet to the point Nasty-Gram), people FINALLY started buckling down and doing their jobs. I am only one person and I kick ass, but I refuse to do the job of everyone else simply because they can't be bothered. It's also worth noting that I have evidently gotten overlooked (ignored) for promotion. AGAIN. For those of you who are keeping count, this is the NINTH. Yes NINTH time. What's even more sad is that the person I was bumped for the THIRD time is now the person I was bumped for for the NINTH. There is something truly fucked up about that. Evidently corporate thinks I'm a troublemaker (who me?) because I won't kiss ass, suck up or allow them to walk all over me. That's right kids, Ouiser takes shit from NO ONE. *nods* obviously at the expense of a promotion and more money, but I won't lower myself to get there*
I also won't start an entry at 1pm and forget about it til almost 9pm...oopsie.
See...best intentions.
"Boxes and Doors" did not meet my self imposed deadline. It's almost done though so MAYBE this month?
My diet and exercise program has been derailed (again) by sickness. The Creeping Crud is making another round here it seems. It started Sunday with a mildly twitchy nose and has now segued into a throbbing head, sneezing, snotting, coughing, wait who put this elephant on my chest type thing. Sunlight hurts my head worse so all my windows have now been covered. Darkness is good....
See! I've lost my train of thought...
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The bunnies are coming! The bunnies are coming!
sooooooooooo... =) Easter is only a few days away. the Easter bunny went on a walgreen's run yesterday. eggs have been bought. sausage sister schuberts are in the freezer. I'm excited!
and now I am turning my attention to actual cottontails. I planted some seed starters today...lettuces, spinach, carrots, corn, beans, and peas. yummy yummy! the bunnies will undoubtedly agree once I transfer the starters to the earth. I figure I have about a month to acquire bunny-proof fencing. to the interwebz! well...later I shall look.
right now I am laying on the couch watching dr. g. lil bit and hubs are sleeping. it is so peaceful! I spouse I could go start tonight's dinner marinating. om nom nom. I'm excited for that as well! lol.
after that I will, once again, tackle operation: organize. I know...I'm scared too.
<3 Truvy
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Truvy is back!
I found a way to post from my phone. lol. a brief review...let's see...
-i upgraded from a dumbphone to a smartphone.
-we moved out of hell into a trailer. fine by me. lol.
-except for the rat...
-lil bit is now 2, so she has now been replaced by a squirrel with a nasty coke habit.
-we all got the flu.
-i got fired because I was out sick with said flu. ikr. wtf.
so now I have filed unemployment. I also have a food stamp appointment tomorrow so we can hopefully eat something besides sammiches and cheese balls. in the mean time, I am throwing myself back into being a stay at home mommy. it's lovely. someone please fetch my bon bons. lol. luckily I got canned at the beginning of summer. woohoo! we have hit up the park, the river, the bay...and maybe next week we will be heading to the beach. this is the best place on earth to be a sahm. I am also trying to get a crafty business going. we shall see how that goes.
to celebrate my return to the title of "domestic goddess" I will share with everyone my struggles in domesticity. right now my struggle is housekeeping....and unpacking....and finding time to work out. my project for tonight is to program reminders into my phone via the cozi app of what needs to be done throughout the day.
wish me luck!
<3 Truvy
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Ouiser Writes A Book...And Other Oddities
Peanut Butter on a trap. That and I offered to ship Delilah (our barn cat, even though we don't HAVE a barn) to her as she's an excellent hunter, and will even clean up after herself. (I swear the cat is a snake in disguise, I've seen her swallow fat field mice WHOLE....) But don't get me started on snakes...Robert saw one over the weekend. (Non venomous but still...)
My freezer died. It got zapped by lightning over the weekend during the nasty ass storm we had. By zapped I mean that the wall where the plug was is now black and scorched and so is the back of the freezer. The plug itself is missing one prong and the other is half missing. Needless to say, in addition to losing the freezer, we lost ALL the contents...which had just been deposited in it THAT AFTERNOON...
*sigh*
The spiders are coming back and the exterminator wants 500 to kill them all.
We've told the landlord, but he has not seen fit to call us back. This house has turned into my worst nightmare...soooooo...Ouiser is going to attempt to pull ONE MORE MIRACLE out of her ass and find ANOTHER place to live. One where the bugs haven't taken over or TRY to take over...where the electrical system isn't iffy...*sigh*
This house can suck my dick. Or it COULD if I had such a thing.
In other news, I've almost finished writing my book! Entitled 'Boxes and Doors', I should have the manuscript ready for publication by the end of the month. It's poetry, so if you're not into that kind of thing sorry, look for my next book currently in the writing process called 'Blister' which is a supernatural horror type thing. That should HOPEFULLY be ready by the end of the year. Yeah, I'm self publishing.
And on that note folks, because I have to work tonight, it is bedtime for Ouiser.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
My Name is Ouiser...
Ah well.
In the 20 plus years since then, I'd like to think my culinary skills have sharpened somewhat. These days though it's all about making appetizing, inexpensive, aesthetically pleasing, palate tingling food that a certain Chubby Fisted Wee Man will eat. Granted, he'll eat just about anything you put in front of him, but there are some foods I wish he'd eat MORE of.
Wee Man approved foods include: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, bacon, peas, green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, yogurt, chocolate pudding, mashed potatoes...
Do we see a trend there? He doesn't care for broccoli much, is kinda iffy on cauliflower, corn is 'meh', so I'm constantly looking for ways to integrate those foods into something that he'll actually eat. Hence part of my addiction to cooking shows. (And the secret desire to get my own show...I can see it now...Iron Chef: Redneck Style)
Anyway...
So, I came up with what I'd like to call a bastardized risotto...
Cook some orzo in chicken broth.
Add parmesean cheese (about 1/4 c.)
Add a few tablespoons of cheddar cheese powder (bulk of course)
throw in some diced onion, bacon bits and green peas.
It's quick, filling and you get your basic food groups covered. It's definitely Wee Man approved.
Today's lunch consists of baked potatoes stuffed with leftover pulled pork from the Pulled Pork Recipe I posted. (I made a metric assload of it and froze some, so now we're eating on the frozen stuff). Cheap, filling and yup, Wee Man approved. We'll overlook that he likes rubbing the taters in his hair as though it were some new fangled hair styling cream.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Old McOuiser Had A Farm...
We're quickly nearing the end of February (eek!) and that means it's time for....
SPRING PLANTING!!!!
Course, we'll overlook that I have a black thumb and couldn't even grow a chia tree last year for Christmas. But I love Chia, and my mom gets me a new planter every year, so I keep trying. That and I've found a local source for chia seeds. Did you know that Chia will actually grow to about 3 feet tall and yes, it IS edible. Even the seeds. Naturally, you would plant that in soil to achieve that. (There's your useless knowledge for the day)
So with my Burpee Seed Catalog in hand, I'm going through and trying to decide what I want to attempt to grow this year. Tomatoes for sure, maybe some watermelons. I dunno. I plan on using planters for this (since we don't own the land here) so I'll need to make my selections carefully.
Also in the works are finishing that rocking chair by the 4th of March (aka Wee Man's birthday). I had Hubby draw a rough draft for the toy box. THAT won't be finished by then though. This is going to be an awesome toy box though. I had him design it large enough that when the little one no longer plays with toys he can store things in it. This box will carry him throughout his life. Almost like a hope chest I guess you could say.
Needless to say, there are lots of things in store here this season in Ouiser-Land. And eventually Truvy will be back to update with the randomness that is her life*lol*
xoxo,
Ouiser
Monday, February 13, 2012
Not So Cruddy Goodness! (and a few recipes to boot!)
My eye cleared up after about 24 hours and my ears FINALLY popped a few days later meaning that I didn't have to have customers (or Hubby) yell in order for me to hear them ever so slightly. I did however manage to brush up on my lip-reading skills so that's a plus I suppose.
I never did make it to Publix though. Their 'deals' just really aren't cutting it for me and the drive hardly seems worth it, considering that it's a 45 minute drive one way just from my house. Kroger is only 25. Food Giant is 8 mins. So obviously you know where I did the shopping. And yes, I DID go by myself, and finished the whole gamut (drive included) in about an hour and a half. AND STUCK TO THE LIST. Granted I went over the 100 dollar budget, but the 10 pound Boston Butt took up a good portion (as in almost 20 dollars of that).
And now a recipe:
Ouiser's Super Tasty, Super Easy Pulled Pork
1 Boston Butt
1/2 bottle of Wicker's Baste and Marinade
3/4 bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar
1 c. Brown Sugar
Rub with a pork seasoning rub
Squish into a crockpot and program for 3 hours on HIGH
Once timer goes off reprogram for 10 hours on LOW
Note: You will probably have to drain liquid after the fat layer that is found on all butts starts to de-solidify. I personally ended up having to drain off 3 cups.
How do you know when it's done? when you poke it and the meat collapses in on itself!
Remove from crockpot and shred either by hand or forks. This will make a LOT of pulled pork, so make sure you have containers and bags to store for freezing. It'll keep for a good 6 months in the freezer. Just a little tasty hint of summer to come :) The priciest part of course is the meat itself, but considering how many meals you can get out of it it's fairly cheap per serving.
I also made Potato Soup yesterday too..
Ouisers Tater Soup
32 oz of chicken broth
1 c. water
6-8 potatoes, diced
1.c onion
1 T garlic, minced
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c. sour cream
bacon bits
shredded cheese
in a skillet, saute the onion and garlic with butter just until the onion starts to turn opaque. Put into pot of chicken broth and water and bring to a boil.
Peel and dice 6-8 potatoes (varying sizes) and add to pot. Once potatoes start getting tender, reduce heat and cover til potatoes are completely done.
DO NOT REMOVE LIQUID
Add the milk and sour cream, bacon bits, cheese (to taste preferences) and mash (or you can add the mix to a food processor if you want a silkier soup with no lumps, but I usually either just mash or mash and then blend with my immersion blender to remove the largest lumps.
Serve.
Note this also makes a LOT of soup. A good two meals worth if not more. It freezes well also and is fairly inexpensive to make. This is good cold weather, feel good food. Which is good since it's BLUE ASS COLD HERE CURRENTLY.
Wee Man has started saying a new word recently.
S**T.
Yup. Ouiser (and Hubby!) need to watch their mouths...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Four Days
Now I'm all sick, coughing, sneezy, snotty (hell-O) I just went through TWO boxes of Kleenex in LESS than TWENTY FOUR HOURS!! Whucking HELL??? Today at work I ended up getting splashed in the eyeball by some mystery liquid (I THINK it was water) while dumping the trash. The fact that I'm now running a fever however makes me wonder...and the Red Bitch showed up too. I'd ask what next, but I know better...
Little man of course is perfectly fine now. So is Hubby. GAH!!!!
So, due to my lack of taste (figuratively and literally), I decided to try some Wasabi Peas.
I tasted nothing...
BUT PAIN!!!
TASTE THE PAIN BITCHES!
So, our new Publix opened yesterday, and I haven't been yet. I've only ever been to Publix ONE time in my life and that was almost 10 years ago. I liked it then, but they DO seem a bit pricey, so we'll check it out this weekend (assuming I'm not like DEAD or something...damn bugs....) and give a full report afterwards. Our local Kroger does seem to be trying to cater to the need for change (see:Sushi!) so we'll see how the two compare in Ouiser's World and whether or not the extra drive would be worth it. There do seem to be a few deals this week, so who knows, maybe I'll get lucky! I also understand they have a fairly decent coupon policy.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sushi Spendthrifts!
Yeah. A measly twenty four percent. I COULD have done better. I even had THE LIST. But...From now on, I swear I'm just going to do the shopping by MYSELF. I'm price checking the stuff we needed and whatnots and he's going for store brand (when the sale was cheaper than the store brands...) *sigh* so yeah there was about 20 bucks we didn't need to spend, but whatever. (Yeah I also didn't NEED the 11 bucks worth of sushi, but I had budgeted for that and it was my treat for having to work 6 days in a row this week so neener neener).
Ok, the sushi wasn't that great. Note to self: Do not get the crunchy spicy California rolls. Was not impressed.
I also picked up a book at the Dollar Store about 365 ways to live cheap. I'll be reading through that this week and plucking the gems and talking about them here. I will also not start an entry on Saturday and not get around to finishing it on Monday because the Wee One is sick again with the sneezies and the snotties and the occasional coughies. And yes, in case you were wondering, he DID in fact sneeze in my eyes. Again. Which means that I forsee another round of the Crud™ around the corner. AGAIN. Only because this is how the whole cycle started to begin with. He got sick, sneezed in my eyes, I obviously incubated for about a week and then all hell broke loose. Bleh.
Maybe I should load up on the garlic.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Road To Ouiser-Ville Healthiness.
Note to self: even though the original infection (the strep) is gone doesn't mean that those nifty secondary infections didn't sneak in behind it which caused the problems. Yeah, I have a sinus infection, an ear infection and pharyngitis (as a result of the untreated strep). One mega dose of steroids later I can FINALLY speak and swallow (shut up Truvy, not that kind of swallowing, though I'm sure some folks wouldn't mind*lmao*) again. Now I'm on a nifty Z-pack and Flonase (which I can't get til Friday so I hope the steroids last til then so we can continue on the Road To Ouiser-Ville Health). So let this be a lesson, it's MUCH cheaper to get the original infection taken care of BEFORE you get the secondary infections. MUCH cheaper. Just sayin'.
Over the weekend Hubby and I finally got around to putting the plastic over the windows. Worked well for a day til that storm blew through yesterday...A gust popped the plastic from the tape so we have to retape them. Ah well. But it did raise the temperature in here by about 5-6 degrees before that occurred. Hopefully this will be the end to our entirely too expensive electric bills. Over 200 dollars MY ASS!
Gotten quite a few freebies in the mail this week. My personal favorite is the memory foam sample. It looks and feels like a giant sponge. I may make a tiny case for it and have a mini pillow. Works for me!
Be on the look out for the revamped version of Freebie Thursdays coming up. I'm gonna get on it tomorrow after I get home from work, I'll be looking for all the neatest freebies I can find and post them here for y'all. Of course, our favorite feature Friday Night W(h)ine will be back as well this week.
Til then
xoxo
Ouiser
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Ouiser and The Full Body Heebie-Jeebies
So the strep starts going away and everything but my throat is still killing me. But at least I no longer sound like a deranged muppet when I speak. I spent most of last week sounding like Janis from the Muppet Show. But NOW I've got a cold AND bronchitis!
*headdesk*
My body can evidently only handle one crisis at a time, but this is getting to be a bit much. Thankfully, I have my best friend NyQuil (and its cousin TheraFlu) to help beat this beast into submission. Unfortunately, there's one tiny side effect (which occurs immediately after swallowing it)
THE FULL BODY HEEBIE-JEEBIES.
What's that you ask? It's the face-twisting, tongue sticking out, WeeMan looks at Mommy like she's lost her ever-loving mind(shut up!), foot stomping, full body shake at the taste of the stuff. It works though. I can zzzzzzzzz through the night (or day..whichever) and NOT hack up a lung...or two. Nor do I end up hacking so hard I nearly pee on myself (ahh the joys of having had a child on your bladder for months, even 2 years later I still nearly piss myself if I get to coughing too hard...whucking hell? I had a c-section, this should logically not be occurring...but I digress)
Thankfully, Hubby is off Monday so I have three (well two now) days to get some PROPER rest and HOPEFULLY kick this bug out for good before going back to work Monday night. I can hope right? I'm running out of things to try and 'cure' this. I even resorted to hot and sour soup to try and burn it out so it speak (gah it burns it burns!!!)
If all else fails, I'll use that dab of wasabi I got with my sushi from the grocery store (a rare treat as it's expensive, but damn it's good).
xoxo,
Ouiser
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Sleep Wars
Nap time? Oh that's funny.
Bed time? No thanks. I would rather stand at the door screaming and beating my head against the door. For an hour. At midnight.
I am about to lose it.
Hubby is watching her tomorrow while I work 8:30am-5pm.....I am suggesting no nap. We shall see how bed time goes. *sigh*
Why does she protest something I willingly do at the drop of a hat?
<3 Truvy
Sunday, January 8, 2012
We Got The Funk!
The Wee Man is doing MUCH better now and is even eating again.(he literally ate EVERYTHING we put on his tray last night) I just WISH I could eat. Attempting to swallow makes me all stabby inside. This just SUCKS!
I even had to call out of work Friday night. Course when I left Friday morning I could barely stand up straight and one had better not even THOUGHT about touching me as the mere brush of a finger was enough to send me into hysterical howling. That was before I lost my voice though. Now I can be touched but can't talk. The little one of course is taking advantage of this fact and the hubby can't hear me half the time which means I end up having to steel myself and shout very quickly...which doesn't help matters thanks.
So here we are in OuiserLand, chugging the Sprite, the tea, the salt water gargles and sipping super watery potato soup.
Speaking of potatoes, that 20 pound bag I bought last month? Yeah, I have about 3 pounds left. Luckily this week RED POTATOES were on sale...20 pound bags...yep I got one.
It's Ouiser vs the Potatoes Part Two...w00t!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Don't Call It A Comeback, Er, I Mean Resolution
It's that time of year again where we all set ourselves up for complete and absolute failure.
Let's make a change this year. Instead of "resolving", let's just "try."
This year I will make an honest effort to be more organized and less cluttered. To celerate, I unsubscribed from THREE newsletters on my personal email. Told em to kiss my grits and stop flooding my email that may or may not be filled with 2500 unread messages currently...
I am also "trying" to get my own business started so I can quit working for a bunch of people who have bad attitudes and poor management skills. At the minimum, I hope to cut my hours back to maybe 10 a week. But I really just want to get the heck out of dodge.
I am also going to "try" my hand at potty training. Changing diapers is for the birds. And big girl panties are friggin adorable!!
Also, I will "try" not to forget I am writing a post and leave the page for 2 hours. lol.
Goodnight Mamas!
<3 Truvy
Happy New Year From CM!
We have lots of changes in store here at Champagne Mommyhood for the coming year. A new look, more bloggy-goodness and more money saving tightwaddery abounds! Course, this means that we actually have to get off our duffs and DO these things, but we'll get there!
Here in KY, it's blue ass cold. Well to us old people anyway. The 215 dollar electric bill I recieved in the mail today is also a testament to that fact.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
So we're going to add this to "Ouiser's Money Saving Projects For the Month"
Plasticing all the windows (is that even a word??). We'll probably do that this weekend. I can't get my house above a toasty 65 degrees in the living room, and above 60 in my bedroom. Thankfully the little one's room gets to about 70, but he's still snotty and coughing. BOO!
Also on tap this year (and before March!) is:
The building of the toybox. I am going to build a toybox. Not sure how, but I'm gonna do it. Weeman has a metric assload of toys and the cardboard just isn't cutting it anymore. So, I have the plan in my mind, now to execute it.
Also in the works here is
The Great Rocking Chair Redo. I've been putting this one off for over a year. I have the paint. A nice barn red. The chair (which was Robert's when he was a little one), and the time. Sorta.
Pics will undoubtedly follow.
xoxo---
Ouiser (the potato queen...I still have about 10 lbs of potatoes left...maybe less)