out and about.

anyone who lives in ohio knows that last night sucked! we had a tornado watch until 5 am! the storm woke me up at like, 1.30. i didn't want to fall asleep because it's scary to think that a tornado could come and suck us up in the middle of the night and we'd never know. the power went out from 2.30 to 5 and i was pretty much up the whole time. good thing i dug out some candles! i always think of the scariest things in the dark at night!

today i woke up and took mollie for a walk, laid around, then got ready to go shopping with kelli! i really need to get layers put into my hair. i had a cute concave bob cut back in march. now it's grown out and it looks really stupid when it's straight. (i also put two blue streaks in my hair!)

the only thing i really needed to buy was a gift for a 3 year old's birthday that i'm going to on sunday. i got her a cute hello kitty top and a heart skirt at target! there are so many sweaters and fall-ish things i want to buy after our finances chill out. then we went to the mall and i ended up buying some camis from wet seal (i collect them, ha), grey leggings and a sweet striped, button up sweater vest. i love it.

now i'm home. i have to exchange the vest for an extra large. :( all YSU students have been waiting to hear if there is going to be a faculty strike. it was just announced that they are officially striking, effective tomorrow morning at 8 am. this really sucks. we're supposed to start school on monday! i don't even care about not getting my refund check, i don't need the money. i'm mad because i'm so excited for school to start again.

i believe we're watching the browns for the rest of the evening.  i just want to rest because i'm working two doubles in a row. even sunday is going to be busy. we're going to melt, then the party, then the eastwood mall to visit forever 21!

the clouds were awesome today!

me and mollie found this praying mantis on our walk!

today was my first time trying caribou coffee. i got a mint condition with dark chocolate, it was pretty good!

i spent a good portion of the day drooling over corelle dinner sets.

adventures in homeownership

we also have a sunroom and a huge backyard. but i didn't take pictures of those because there were plenty of pictures of them on homes.com. i didn't intend to blog these, but why not!

tasty tuesday

Chicken a L'orange


serves: 4

oven: 350* 50-60 minutes


1 frying chicken, about 3 pounds, cut up. you may substitute breasts or legs if you wish.
salt and pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup shortening or cooking oil
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1/2 to 1 tsp. garlic salt 
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. molasses
3 medium oranges, peeled and sliced into half cartwheels


remove chicken skins, wash and dry chicken, season with salt and pepper. dredge with flour. heat shortening in skillet, add chicken and brown lightly on all sides. remove chicken to 3 quart casserole dish. drain fat from pan. to the skillet, add remaining ingredients except orange slices and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes. pour sauce over chicken. cover and bake at 350* for 50-60 minutes, or until chicken is tender. just before serving, add orange slices for garnish.

- Mrs. Eliseo Tareshawty.

Death by Chocolate


serves:12-16

1 package family size brownie mix
1/4 cup kahlua 
3 3.5 oz. pkgs jello instant chocolate mousse
8 skor or heath bars
12 oz. whipped topping


bake brownies according to the package. cool, then punch holes in brownies with a fork and pour kahlua over top. set aside. whip up instant chocolate mousse. break candy bars into small pieces in food processor or by tapping them with a hammer in wrappers. break up half of brownies and place in bottom of a glass trifle bowl. cover with half of the mousse. layer with half of candy. then add half of the whipped topping. repeat layers with remaining ingredients. cover and refrigerate.

-Carole Hollern

adventures in homeownership

i have super exciting news! we got the house!!! closing should be over at the end of the month the we gave the sellers 30 days to move out but i definitely think they'll be out before then. it's such an exciting time. we've been planning all of our little projects that we'll be doing around the house. and it's so fun planning the housewarming party!

i've been packing our stuff up that we don't use all the time this week. after a few conversations with joe, we decided that i don't need a second job. i make good money when i serve at the square and if he doesn't quit yet, i don't need another job. so, even though it's totally irresponsible, i just completely didn't even show up at the second job on monday for my training shift. i waited for the phone calls to start but they didn't even realize i was supposed to come in that day. i still haven't gotten any calls so whatever. my trainer last monday only made $35 from 4-8. that's not even real. you only get a three-table section. everyone was rude; at station square when we have a new person, everyone is all over them, introducing themselves and inquiring about where the new person is from and everything. no one even introduced themselves. the managers are clueless and unorganized. i'm better off just working the square. soon enough i'll have a set serving schedule and everything will be all good.

so since i only have one job to worry about, i've been off since sunday. i don't work again until tomorrow morning. this is awesome, it's like i'm on vacation. working everyday/working doubles every week has really worn me down. i think i was getting slightly depressed, too. so i haven't done much this week besides lay around and pack.

pictures to come, soon!

tasty tuesday

Super Supper


serves: 6

oven: 350* 25-30 minutes


1 5 1/4 oz. package mashed potato flakes
1 to 1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup water
1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
15 oz can tomato sauce with tomato bits
12 oz can corn with sweet peppers (mexicali), undrained
1/2 cup water
1 T. instant minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. oregano
1/2 cup sliced processed american or cheddar cheese


heat oven to 350*. in an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish, blend potato flakes, sour cream and 1/2 cup water until crumbly. pat firmly onto bottom of dish. in a large skillet, brown ground beef, stirring in all remaining ingredients except cheese. spoon beef mixture onto potato mixture. cover top with cheese slices. bake 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted or bubbly.

-Mike McKay

Peaches and Cream


serves: 8-10

oven: 350* 30-35 minutes

3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
3 T. soft butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
15 to 20 oz peaches, drained (reserve syrup)


topping:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 T. peach syrup
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


combine flour, baking powder, salt, pudding, butter, egg, and milk. beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. pour batter in deep dish pie pan or eight inch cake pan. put peaches on top of batter. combine cream cheese, sugar and peach syrup. beat for 2 minutes, spoon this cheese mixture on peaches, but stop one inch from edge of pie. sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon. bake for 30-35 minutes at 350* until crust is brown and filling looks like custard.

-Mrs. David Wolfe.

tasty tuesday (on friday)

since i didn't have time to do this on tuesday, here's this week's recipes!

Halushki


serves: 10-12

1 medium head cabbage
1 tsp. salt
2 medium onions
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup butter
16 oz. pkg. wide noodles
salt
pepper


finely chop cabbage. put in a pan with salted water to cover. bring to boil. cook 5 minutes. in the meantime, chop onions and saute in 1 cup of margarine until browned and tender, approximately 10 minutes. drain cooked cabbage, rinse with cold running water, squeeze out the excess water. mix into the cooked onions; add 1/2 cup butter, mix and cook until medium browned, approximately 30 minutes, stirring as necessary to prevent over-browning. cook noodles approximately 5 minutes. drain, combine with cooked cabbage, mixing well. season with salt and pepper to taste. serve with salad and fish or kielbassi.

-Josephine Kowalik.


Peanut Butter Cheesecake


serves: 12

oven 350* 70-90 minutes


crust:
1 12 oz. box vanilla wafers, crushed
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. butter, melted


filling:
1 lb. cream cheese, room temp
1 & 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


topping:
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup sugar


butter bottom and sides of 9 inch spring form pan. combine crust ingredients and press on bottom and sides of prepared pan. beat all filling ingredients well in mixer, except chocolate chips. stir in chocolate chips and spread filling into crust. bake until center is firm, about 70-80 minutes. let stand at room temp 15 minutes before adding topping. retain oven temp. blend topping ingredients. spread over cheese cake. bake 10 minutes. let cake cool. then refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

-Denna Brophy McLaughlin

introducing for your blogging pleasure.

so Len recently commented on last week's tasty tuesday post. so naturally, i checked out her blog to return the favor. i love it! she's a cool lady with a keen eye for photography and great taste in music. the style of her blog is uber unique and inspiring, if i do say so myself. so check her out! and check our her photo blog.


do it!

till death thursday ; how we met.

how we met is a story that doesn't really make me look that great. i'd been in a relationship for like, three years. i started working at station square the day after i turned 18. at first, i thought that joe was a total pompous jerk. after a long time, he didn't seem that bad. we became friends, which was hard because i was with dan. our relationship started to not do well. i didn't feel loved or desired blah blah blah. basically i did a lot of things i'm not proud of. i admit i was wrong now. but i found someone with the same goals as mine. 

it took me a hell of a long time to get him to this point though. we both did a lot of things to make the other one jealous. he constantly pushed me away, said that certain things which were really meaningful to me were mistakes.. but finally, after a night at the bar, i jokingly (and lamely) said "text me if you love me!" fifteen minutes later, i get a text saying, "i do." i played dumb and asked, "you do what?" he said that he didn't want the first real time saying it to be through a text. but i pushed and he said it. i felt so accomplished. haha after a couple of weeks we decided that we should get married. 

on my first black friday shopping trip, i picked out my ring. i pestered him constantly about when was i going to get it. there was an incident around christmas where i was bugging him about my presents. he told me to go upstairs and not come back down until he told me to. he told me to put my hand inside of a box. i thought, oh my god, it's going to be my ring! nope. he was just trying to teach me a lesson about snooping for presents or something. naturally, i was really upset. i know he didn't mean anything by it. but when you get your hopes up for something like that, it's intense. 

he's a browns fan, i'm a steelers fan. that season, i knew my team was doing very poorly. when the two were playing each other, i sensed we were going to lose. he insisted we wouldn't. so we made a bet. if the steelers lost, he had to propose to me within a week. well, they lost.

a short time before christmas, we wanted to spend a night together alone and drink and just relax. since we both lived at home, our only choice was to get a hotel room. he proposed that night! the rest is history. i planned our wedding all by myself. we're still happily going!

adventures in gardening

here are the most recent photos of my flowers that i've been growing. between working doubles nearly every day for two weeks and the extreme heat wave, some of them aren't doing so well. (i'd forget to water them, i feel overly guilty about it!) 

bright eyes....again!

so we went to go see bright eyes again on tuesday. i prepared for it on monday by getting my no lies, just love tattoo! the symbolism behind the anchor is something that keeps you grounded and is your "anchor". obviously. i've done a lot of shitty things in my life and associated with a lot of shitty people. finally, i have great people around me to be my anchors when i get a little crazy. no lies. just love.

tuesday we went to melt first. we just wanted to get plain grilled cheeses just incase they messed with our stomachs. so i got sweet cream cheese and gouda and joe got sharp cheddar and gouda. they were AWESOME. of course. 

then we headed to the house of blues. we went and got shirts first since we had to buy those gift cards to get in early for queens of the stone age. we really didn't want to catch much of the opening band. but we pretty much saw the whole set. which was annoying. after bright eyes started we ended up having to move like three times because people think it's cool to squeeze their chubby selves into 2 inches of space. i already couldn't see because i'm short and then this dumb girl came and stood literally one inched in front of me, with her curly hair right in my face. this completely distracted me from like three of my favorite songs. to top it off, when lover i don't have to love started playing she started to basically grind on me. GROSS. go AWAY! i'd had enough so we moved all the way to the back by the doors. to my surprise, i liked it better back there. i could actually SEE conor and it was cooler and no one was touching me. i didn't like the set list that much but it was still a good show. i still got to see one of my top 5 bands for the second time in one summer.

i love the melt bathroom graffiti! haha

euclid <3