Why I Haven't Been Blogging

Friday (today): Get up, get dressed, go to work, call dealership work all day, go home, get changed, go to dinner, go to happy hour, be Alex's DD, go to sleep because I can't keep my eyes open

Thursday (yesterday): Get up, get dressed, take the trash out, go to work, call dealership, work all day, get a last minute dinner invitation, get car washed, go to dinner with friends, drive home in a torrential downpour, watch a show with Alex while trying (vainly) to get my desk organized, go to sleep because I can't keep my eyes open

Wednesday: Get up, get dressed, go to work, go get license plates for new car, work all day, make dinner, clean up dinner, attempt to put license plates on car, run all over town to get brewing sanitizer and drive by rental houses for Alex's friend, get frozen yogurt, fail to get car washed because it is so late, go to Target, put Target stuff away, go to sleep because I can't keep my eyes open

Tuesday: Get up, get dressed, go to work, work all day, go pick up paperwork for car, run errands, pick up Oklahoma Joe's for dinner (aka wait in line forever for delicious barbecue), eat said barbecue at home, attempt to clean up house

Monday: I don't even remember

Sunday: wake up ungodly early, babysit while Alex and his buddy go golfing, hang out at our friends' house all day so we don't have to drive to Blue Springs twice in one day, softball, drive home, go to sleep because I can't keep my eyes open

So needless to say, I feel like I am never home and when I am home either 1) there are chores to do or 2) I am exhausted and all I want to do is get ready for bed.  Maybe one of these days I will get my life together--hopefully that will be soon.

Cadbury Egg Cookie Cups

I did something silly this past spring.  I gave up candy for lent.  Now you might be wondering why that is silly.  I’m not Catholic, but Alex is and so I try to be supportive.  Anyway, I didn’t realize until after I had started that I should not have done that and by then it was too late and I was committed.  It was not my best idea because Cadbury Eggs are my favorite candy.  I actually had never had one until I went to England.  There, they are available all year round but here in the States you can only find them around Easter.  And they don’t age well so you can’t hang on to them too long (I learned that last summer).  So I guess if you are really into Lenten sacrifice, then it was a good choice.  If you are into Cadbury Eggs, it was silly.

Luckily for me, I stumbled across this pin on Pinterest.   Bingo, just what I needed.  I decided this was a cookie, not candy, so didn’t count.  I had no idea how easy it was to make the filling.

The recipe made a ton of filling, way more than I needed.  I thought about eating it with a spoon, but thought Alex might judge me for doing so.  It was also kind of runny, which is how I like my Cadbury Eggs.  The only problem with that it is made Alex transporting the majority of them to work the next day somewhat of a precarious operation.  I also next time might try to cook my cookie cups a little less and maybe make them a little less thick.  They were delicious though and really hit the I-shouldn’t-have-given-up-candy-for-Lent spot. 

Tips & Tricks: Daily Deal Sites

I know that a lot of people are already onto the daily deal sites, but in case you aren't, I thought I would share some that I use along with some of my rules for using the sites.  

First, my rules for buying from daily deal sites.  My number one rule is to be picky.  Yeah, a lot of the time they are really great deals.  But if you aren't going to end up using them, then they are just a waste of money.  Generally, if I wouldn't pay full price for something, then I don't get it from a deal site.  For restaurants, I only buy the ones for places we already go or for places where we have talked about wanting to go in the past.  For activity ones, I only buy them if it is something that we would do without a coupon.  And for goods, I try to be selective.  It has to be really cheap and it has to be something I would get in the store.

My next tip it to be sure you are aware of the fine print and when they expire.  Before you buy, check to make sure there aren't any restrictions.  Some of the travel deals a great, but you can only use them at certain times or during the week or something.  Same for the activity ones--I will sometimes buy the golf ones for Alex, but I always check to make sure they aren't only good for the winter or something like that.  For goods, be sure to check about shipping prices.  Sometimes it doesn't seem like such a good deal when you add on shipping. And finally, make sure you are aware of expiration dates.  For anything that does not ship automatically, I like to print out a hard copy of the deal.  I keep it in a notebook with other household papers and flip through it on occasion to see what I have that I need to use.  Also, for restaurants and activities, beware of waiting until the last minute.  If it was a popular one, a lot of people might be trying to use it at the last minute too and you might not be able to get in.

Now for the deal sites I use.  The one I use most often is Groupon.  

 

 They have a wide variety of deals, including restaurants, activities and goods.  They are divided up by city, but you can buy Groupons for any city.  Recently, we have gotten Groupons for dinner at various restaurants, Mattress Firm, Old Navy, Shutterfly, a hair cut for Alex (now that is one of the only places he will get his hair cut at), golf, vinyl decals, a Chiefs mat, bowling, wine tasting and cupcakes.  As long as you are selective in what you buy, Groupon can save a lot of money.  The Chiefs mat was a gift for Alex and the one for Mattress Firm saved us $150 on our new bed (we already knew we were going to get a new bed, so it was  a good buy for us).

The other site we use the most often is Muncharoo.

It is just for Kansas City and is only restaurants.  The deals tend to cost less, so we are more willing to buy one that we aren't so sure about.  We have gotten vouchers for BB's Lawnside BBQ, Paprico's Mexican Restaurant, Hamburger Mary's, John's Big Deck, Westport Flea Market and others.  They also do free deals every once and a while.

The two sites I use the most for stuff (rather than restaurants or activities) are Pick Your Plum and Very Jane.

Pick Your Plum tends to be more craft supplies and Very Jane is stuff you would find on Etsy.  I buy for myself and for gifts.  The only thing I would note is that sometimes the stuff comes speedy quick but other times it takes what seems like a very long time.  

I get Living Social's emails, but rarely, if ever, buy from them.  No real reason, I think their stuff just tends to be more expensive that I want to pay or stuff I won't use.  I have also from time to time bought from a deal site when I learned about the deal from a blog or something, like one time we got a deal for a website that specializes in putting pictures of dogs on wine bottles, which combines Alex's parents' two favorite things.  It made for a great gift.

I hope you find this somewhat informative.  My biggest piece of advice when using daily deal site is just to be picky about what you buy and to read the fine print.

Life as of Late via Instagram

$1 Taco and Margarita Night (and a 9:30 bed time...last week wore me out)

Date Night at Em Chamas...so yummy!

Such a cutie!  Glad to have cold 10:15 softball games behind us.

I can add wedding videographer to my resume now

Crafting in the car on the way to St. Louis

Scrappy Tutu

My friend’s two year old needed something to wear for her spring/2 year pictures.  Her momma asked me to whip something up, so I did. 

In the past, I have only done tutus with tulle, but I didn’t have enough tulle and didn’t really want to go buy any because I have too much craft crap and need to get rid of it.  This fabric came from a fat quarter bundle that I got for something else. 

All I had to do was cut the fabric into strips and then tied them on to a ribbon.  I like to keep the ribbon long so she can grow into it.  Oh and you might want a lint roller.  She looks adorable in it and I can’t wait to see how the pictures turn out.

Dessert Kabobs

Alex’s sister is in town, so we his family over for dinner the other night.  His sister can’t have dairy, so I had to get a little more creative than normal on what I was going to make for dessert.  Plus, I’ve been kind of worn out lately so I wanted something quick and easy.  Strawberries were on sale and one of my favorite summer desserts is angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  I had to modify it a little and here is what I came up with.  I thought I had something like this pinned but couldn’t find it when I went back to look.

I used some thicker skewers that came with my cake pop maker.  They are also a little shorter than the ones I have from the grocery store.

We bought an angel food cake although you could make one or use pound cake.  I put two chocolate bunnies in a ziplock bag and stuck it in some hot water until it was melted.  Then I cut off the tip (don’t cut off very much) and drizzled it on top. 

Best of all, they were super tasty.  That is the most important part right?

Fridge Frames

I have been looking for ways to add some color to our kitchen.  It is a big room and could use some brightening up but since we are renting I don’t really want to paint the walls.  I also don’t want to do anything that might mess up the cabinets since they are both brand new and not ours.  I had gotten a set of frames from Wal-Mart that ended up being way cheapo and pretty much worthless.  I had taken one apart to use for something else, but then I got the idea to it and a few others on the fridge. 

The black ones stayed black, and the others got painted.  The red ones also got a coat of Glitter Blast spray paint because I love that stuff.  They bring a little order to the fridge and a lot of color. 

I try not to keep a ton of stuff on the fridge and the frames help accent the stuff we do have.  Like our friends’ cute kids and invitations and cards that we get.

I used E6000 to glue heavy duty magnets to the back, so I can rearrange the frames at will.  Best of all, this project was free because I had everything I needed on hand. I love how it adds some interest to the fridge without making it too cluttered and adds a pop of color to the kitchen.