Clean-out the Fridge Meal

I was trying to not waste some of the leftover food in our fridge, so I planned to just make up some concoction out of them last night... well, it turned out to be one of the best meals I've ever made!!

Things in my fridge that needed to go:
1/3 link keilbasa sausage
1 uncooked chicken breast
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 head of broccoli
1/2 block monterey jack cheese

Things I always have on hand:
parmesean cheese
butter
pasta
canned diced tomatoes
garlic
lots of spices

Things I bought at the store:
10 shrimp

So I decided to attempt making a spicy Creole Pasta dish. I was going to just make it up in my head, but then I found an Emeril recipe that I managed to modify (quite a bit) and man, was it yummy?!

If anyone wants to try it... you'll just have to come have a dinner date with us and let me make it for you!! :)

More FREE Food!

If you still haven't signed up for e-VIC at Harris Teeter, you're missing out! This week the special is FREE ice cream! No purchase necessary! (But your card has to be signed up for e-VIC.) And today through Saturday are Triple Coupon days... I guess that's where I'm headed on my lunch break :)

Almost 1 Year! :)

As hard as it is to believe, our first anniversary is in less than 7 weeks! To celebrate, we are going to spend a week at a resort in northern Vermont with a day in New York City on the way up! We are so excited and are looking forward to hiking, shopping, eating and all the other good stuff! :) If anyone has favorite places in Vermont that you think we should see... let me know! We know that samples at Ben & Jerry's and the Lake Champlain Chocolate factories are a must. And we're also going to check out Simon Pearce handblown glass store & restaurant and we have to find where they make these great Maple Cream Cookies!!

Oh yeah!

We have gotten some clarity and peace and direction with what to do with our house/ job/ family!!! We have decided that we will stay put at least until next summer! Mike will stay with the Red Cross and continue getting good experience there... and will feel better about being there at least 18 months instead of half that time. We'll have time to work out some of the issues that have recently arisen with leasing options for our condo, and if we decide to sell, we'll put it on the market late spring 2009 and hopefully the market at least won't be any worse than it is now, even if it's not better.

We've been saying for over a year that there just aren't jobs here for Mike... but we've realized the carnality in that statement. In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. We really need to just be where He leads us, and if He's not leading us to something new right now, we can rest that He has a plan, even if we don't know how it will unfold. Pretty exciting, actually!

The Best Deal Ever!

I am enrolled in E-VIC (Harris Teeter's weekly e-mail that tells me what's on sale with my VIC card). Wednesday, the e-mail said that with your VIC card, you could get a jar of H.T. Traders Salsa FREE - no purchase necessary! Mike got off work early and said he'd stop at the store to pick up Tilapia (which is also on sale at H.T. this week) so I told him about the free Salsa and he planned to pick one up. Well, when he went through the line, used the VIC card, it didn't ring up free. He explained to the cashier and she even said it rang up free for someone else earlier, but wasn't now. The manager came over and wouldn't honor it. So he left, and called me to tell me. Well, I read the email again, checked all the fine-print and we should have gotten it free, no question. So I printed the email and later that evening, we went back. I asked for a manager and explained the situation. They told me to go ahead and get a jar of salsa and they'd take care of it. Well... it's regularly priced $3.99. They had it on sale for $3.29. So they rang it up, it gave me a $3.99 discount, which meant the cashier owed me $.72!! And then, they gave us a $25 gift card for the trouble!!! We told them that wasn't necessary and they certainly didn't need to give us $.72 change on top of it all, but they insisted! So I spent $0 and got a jar of black bean salsa, $.72 plus a $25 gift card!!! That's some seriously productive shopping! :) If you're not signed up for E-VIC... you should be... apparently this was not advertised in the store, just online!

Needing Something New

I miss designing. Sadly, my current job neither requires nor allows for much creativity and I am realizing how much I miss that artistic outlet. So using my very limited resources, I felt the urge to do a quick redesign on my blog. What do you think? :)

I love opportunities to be creative, so I jump on them whenever I get the chance. My latest indulgences have been coming up with baby names for whenever that day comes, (yes, I admit it... I have narrowed it down to 5 that Mike likes too... I'm just praying none of my many pregnant friends beat me to them!) planning a baby shower for Suzanne, and hopefully soon, helping my mom pick paint colors, kitchen counters, and furniture for my their new house. (That's the best when I can help spend someone else's money!) :) Sometimes for me, the need to be creative can get expensive, so I'm sure Mike is glad I'm not redecorating any rooms in our house or redesigning my wardrobe!