WOW! It's been a L O N G time!!!

This has been quite the sleepy blog as of late. The reason being - I've been going through some personal and health issues...all of which required me to stop baking!!!

Now that I am beginning to get the food part of my new life under control I ventured back into baking by making by favorite chocolate chip cookies from Weight Watchers.

Though, I do not have the will power to have a whole jar full of cookies in my house so instead I made the dough and then I froze it so I could make a portion at a time.

This way it is a bit more work to have a cookie! You have to think about having one - turn on the oven (I used our counter oven) - get the cookies out of the freezer (which makes you have to think about how many cookies you are actually going to eat) - and then bake them - wait for them - and then enjoy them. See, that is a lot more steps than just walking to the cookie jar and getting some cookies!.

i {really, really heart} popcorn..

I mean, when I was a kid I once {along with my brother} recieved a grounding from The Cosby Show and popcorn because we were calling the operator. I bet that isn't something kids know about anymore. Come to think about it - is there still an operator??

Anyways, back to my reason for even telling that story about popcorn. For those of you who have Pinterest you've probably already seen this but it is too perfect not to share!! Homemade microwavable popcorn - aka - quick, easy popcorn without all the junk & plastic bag.

As I'm starting to learn about this insulin resistance I was devistated to see popcorn {and many, many other things} on the "you really shouldn't eat" list. My favorite list, if you could call it that, is located here. But I still couldn't resist some popcorn the other night and I did the paperbag popcorn trick!

Here's how you do it. Put a layer of popcorn at the bottom of the bag. Fold it over twise. Pop for 2 -3 minutes - I listen for it to be done poping! Spray a little ICBINB spray and a pinch of salt and you have yourself a single serving of fresh popped popcorn!

Enjoy!!!

handy husbands' first plumbing project!!

Last week our garbage disposal broke...such a first world problem.

I wanted NO part of fixing it, I knew it would just stress me out. When I was at the gym on Saturday, after his massage {yes, you read that right}, Jason fixed the problem all by himself.

We more than dobled our new disposing power. From .5 HP to 1.5 HP.

before

after.

I'm so proud of him...and even happier that he didn't get water or gunk anywhere!!!

a better way to vacuum your car!!

Oh yes, I went there.

This weekend was {AMAZINGLY} sunny in Washington State and I wanted to enjoy it!! Well, on Sunday I joined my husband in cleaning out the cars. Fun times, right?!?!

Now, we've been vacuuming out our cars this way for a while and I honestly don't know whose idea it originally was...{though I could say it's mine since he'll never read this!!} But when I just asked him he said "Well one day I just did it". I"ll let you decide!!

We use a ShopVac to clean out our cars but man, oh man it is ever S  L  O  W  when it comes to vacuuming out the floors and the trunk. I mean, that little one inch hole doesn't do much at all.

Welcome, the re-purposed-off the old vacuum attachment.

It doesn't get in the little spots or inbetween the seats but it does ROCK at the big, flat parts of the car. Using it in the trunk is the best. Oh and on the side of the doors...

You should try it. It will change the way you clean your car!!!

a quick, easy & family friendly "white elephant gift"...

Jason's company had their holiday part a few weeks ago and everyone was supposed to bring a gift exchange present. It was supposed to be a "nice" white elephant. I waitied until, oh, the day of but ended up finding a good family friendly present.

MOVIE THEATHER FUN NIGHT!!

I found the containers at Target for $1 each. The candy was also from Target and was under $4 for all 4 items. The pretzels were a little bag that was in their $1 section. The movie tickets {the blue piece of paper between the candy} I bought at Costco for about $14 for the two.

All in all a pretty good gift I think. I'd have been happy to get it!!

i heart comments!!!

Last summer I got a super sweet surprise and got a comment on my blog from my favorite, Bakeralla!!!

Well, last night I got another comment on my blog from one of the ladies at one of my other favorite blogs...eighteen25!!

I should say that it isn't like these awesome people read my measly (and deprived) blog on a daily basis like I do theirs...I did send them emails to let them know what I've been up too and how their lives and ideas have affected mine. But still, it is SO amazing that they took the time out of their busy lives to pop into mine for 5 minutes to leave me a comment.

I'm a happy girl.

Fun Frames from the year 2011

I had such a fun time creating my Fun Frames in 2011. It all started after I saw this post from the girls at eighteen25...and I took the idea and made it my own.

At the beginning of the year I made a list of all the words I could think of that were 8 letters or less in length that Jason and I liked for various holidays!

I am already thinking about changing many of the words around this year to give some variety and get more use out of my Cricut! One thing I am not in love with is that our house is SO yellow in hue...you can see behind the pictures that the wall looks like about 5 different colors, and I promise it is not!! I will have to play around with that this year!!

I also am not a fan of how a few of the words turned out in respects to the colors. I might need to do some laying for this year or make bolder choices of colors or more contrasting. In 2011 I went to the store and bought the background papers and then tried to use colors I had at home for the letters but this year I am going to buy them together to make sure they "coordinate". That...or I need to start bulking up on my paper supply ;-)

Here are all my Fun Frames words from 2011...stay tuned for the 2012 versions.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL ~ MAY

JUNE - SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

I wanted to try to link each picture to the blog post I wrote about it but I am NOT that techie...

My goal for this year, 2012, is to do one every month - even during the summer! Especially being a teacher there isn't a reason not too. Though last year I didn't want to be spending money every month to change the decor (not the Fun Frames) so this year I'll have to get creative!!