You love me, you really love me!

Thanks so much to Kara, from Visions unto myself , for awarding me this….

In order to accept (plus it gives me some substance to constitute an actual post) I have to list 5 guilty pleasures and pass this award on to three (just 3?) of my favorite bloggers….

Off we go…

1. Cheese. Obviously. I love all things cheese, all kinds of cheese, even nasty processed crap like Velveeta. Does that make me a true cheese lover, or is eating that some sort of blasphemy?

2. Green curry, Indian food of any kind, chocolate, margaritas and frozen yogurt. Not all togeth…. Wait, I just had a fantastic plan for supper!

3. Rodents. I collect them like some people collect stamps. Except most people don’t use small furry animals as postage, and stamp collectors hold their treasures in books, whereas I like to carry mine around in my pockets.

4. Cows. If it’s black and white spotted, I must have it. There are more cow items than cookware in my kitchen. And I have a lot of cookware.

5. MTV. Sad, but true. If I can get an afternoon marathon of Real World or Teen Mom, I’m a happy girl.

Now, I wish I was watching some trashy TV with a big bowl of curry and a platter of cheese on the side. A rodent snuggled in my pocket and my stuffed cow, Sir Loin would complete the picture. What a fantastic day that would be!

Enough day dreaming, gotta pass this on to some other worthy blogs….

Big Fat Gini

http://bigfatginiblog.blogspot.com/

Bre's Recipes

http://brerecipes.blogspot.com/

Life After the Aisle

http://ashleyisawife.blogspot.com/

MIA

I know, I know, I’ve been in hiding lately. Last week (while LT Fromage was away at training) I got word (over the phone, with bad reception) that his unit is deploying. In a matter of weeks. To Afghanistan.

Since life is so serene and balanced right now (sarcasm) this was just the news I wanted to hear (or barley hear, due to that bad reception. Still oozing sarcasm, by the way).

So I’ve been pulling myself together, making lists (what do we need to do/buy/change/cancel/add before he leaves?) and buying more rodents (It’s a comfort thing for me I guess… We’re at a whopping total of 13 mice/rats now)

In an attempt to maintain some structure and veer back onto the track of normalcy, I’ll be back to writing up a new blog post weekday mornings. Thanks to everyone who hasn’t stopped following me in my absence; without even knowing you’ve contributed to keeping some regularity in a part of my life.

One more thing, don’t forget to enter to win the latest contest! You only have until midnight to follow my new blog, 365 days in pictures, or link to my blog on yours in order to win the Stick It set!

Comments off on this one. I don’t want pity comments, or worse, no comments!

Do remember to comment on the contest post with your method of entry though, and a winner will be announced tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Is it 2011 already? So many things happened in 2010, here’s a quick recap:

Launched this very blog and found myself 27 followers. Thanks, folks! You really brighten my day with your comments!

Acquired some new furry (and slimy) family members. Toby the cat, Clarence the frog, Mr. Clean the snail and a multitude of rats.

Weaned 2 rat babies, one from 2 weeks old, the other from just 8 days old!

LT Fromage and I celebrated our first anniversary; we went to Kansas City, ate some stale cake and fell even more in love (insert sappy awwww, here).

Hosting our very first Thanksgiving, for both families!, went off without a hitch!

Battled a house full of fleas, which included bathing 2 dogs, 3 cat baths and hours of flea spray and vacuuming. Fromages: 1, Fleas: 0!

Bought my first gun, learned to shoot and even completed a pistol course!

Began medical transcription training and made the Dean’s List (If anyone knows about a job opening for transcribing autopsy reports, hook a sister up, will you!)

Broke my diet soda addiction! (Smokers trying to quit: I feel for you) I’m down from 6 a day, to less than half that number in a week!

Drove back to Colorado to see a Rockies game (oh yeah, and the family, too)

On a solo drive back to CO for my sister’s bridal shower and blew a tire half way home. With both dogs in the car. On a Sunday. Drove a quarter of the way home on the spare tire at 55mph.

Stood as Matron of Honor at my little sissy’s wedding, where I found out my new brother-in-law’s grandma could drop it down lower than any of us young ‘uns!

And so, so much more. I wish I could list it all!

Upcoming in 2011, be sure to check out my new blog (don’t worry, it’s an addition, not a replacement), 365 Days in Pictures – a photographic journey. And, as always, keep checking in here for more Fromageness!

New Year’s Resolutions I Will (probably not) Keep

I will not let the gas light come on in the truck (Ironhide). Also, I will not keep driving when said light does come on.

Yeah, right. 2011 will likely be the year I’m stranded on the side of the highway out of fuel.

I will stop eating Nutella out of the jar with my finger when I’m grumpy.

In 2011, I will use a spoon.

I will stop dropping into the pet store that has all the cute baby rats. I am not that strong.

Well…. Maybe just to look….

I will not judge people.

Much. Except bad drivers, bad dressers, bad parents, bad… er, ok, this one may be hard to keep…

I will grow up and stop sleeping with stuffed animals.

Except Sir Loin and the Petite Sir Loin. And the other cows when LT Fromage is gone. But all others will stay out of the bed.

I will not use duct tape as a fashion item; even though it is designed for holding things together, the things held together should not be my pants.

I will learn to bake. And while doing so, I will try very, very hard not to catch the house on fire or add a little crunch to brownies with a splintered wooden spoon.

I will lose the last….

Oh forget it. No weight loss resolutions. I’ll mess that one up before I finish this post!

I will take a picture a day for 365 Days in Pictures.

Ok, I actually plan to really really try hard to do this one. Check out my new website devoted to my year in photos.

What are your resolutions?

All I Want For Christmas….

Looks like denim…. But feels like PJs! They’re Pajama Jeans!

https://www.pajamajeans.com/flare/next

Jeans that are pajamas? H3LL yeah! Sign me up! I like to be comfortable while looking sharp!

Am I ashamed of my desires? Perhaps slightly. But c’mon, it “Feels like sleepwear but looked too good to keep hidden under the covers”!

*Concern is on the rise that I may soon give in and purchase…a….snuggie. Someone stop me, I need an intervention!

I Am My Mother’s Daughter

(image couresty of postsecret)

I strive to be even half the woman, the wife, and one day the mother that my mom is. My mom is my hero and my best friend. I haven’t yet mastered her patience or her home-made biscuits, but we’re 2 peas in a pod when it comes to interest in world religions, we’re both painfully introverted and we share a love (ehm, obsession) for Rocky Horror Picture Show (Not many people can relate when you say you’ve already watched it for the 5th time that week… on a Tuesday). She passed along much of who she is to me, and for that I’m so thankful. Except for one thing…

My mom has an aura that screams “Walk all over me! Use me! Please! Please! Take advantage of me!” My poor mom gets no respect. Like the time she was in Italy with my dad, they were the only ones in the restaurant for a late lunch. My dad was given a handsome, leather bound menu, while my mom was tossed (No lie, it was actually tossed to her) a dirty, food stained stapled stack of paper listing their food offerings. She could see a tall stack of fancy menus, but it was no surprise that they wouldn’t waste one on her!

Back home in America, when we go out to eat, the waiter or waitress will refill every empty glass except mom’s, sometimes they look right at her, turn with the half-full water pitcher and leave the table. Then there was the time the storage top on the car came open on the interstate during a family road trip, of course, the only bags that flew out were mom’s.

Just last week she tried to reach the 32nd floor of a hotel, the elevator wouldn’t move. She tried another but still wasn’t taken to her floor. Other guests rode the elevator with ease. She traveled up and down with them, never stopping on her chosen 32nd floor. She finally asked another passenger to push the button for her, and, of course, it worked then. Poor mom.

This, this is what I inherited from my mom. Not her ability to clean any stain, her charm, her vast knowledge about everything (basically), nope, I got this. A lifetime of empty drink glasses and lost luggage at the airport. When our couple’s massage appointment was “accidentally cancelled” recently, LT Fromage just sighed and said, “You defiantly are your mother’s daughter…”

Thanks, Mom.

Be sure to check out her blog, which she no longer updates, ehem, mommy dearest, but reading thru her archives is sure a lot of fun. Also, you'll notice this post is more than 4 years old... how come she didn't market her own snuggies?

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Congratulations to citymouse for winning the very first Lady Fromage give away! Get in touch with me so I can get your copy of The Rebel Housewife Rules out to you, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

(click her comment to visit her blog)

A consolation prize, to everyone who didn’t win: some yummy festive snacks. Some assembly required. (Pictures of the finished product can be found on this post)

Cranberry, Pistachio, Chocolate Cookies
Yummy to my tummy!

I’m actually not going to share the sugar cookie recipe I used, because it sucked. Use one you know and trust, or, go buy a roll at the grocery store. I promise it will be better than what I ended up with.

Oh so easy from here:

½ cup pistachios
½ cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Bake, and then gobble up with a cold glass of milk!

White Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Now, you’ll have to bear with me again. I didn’t measure (This is why I cook, not bake)

Melt approximately 1 cup of white chocolate in a double boiler (Don’t have one? No biggie. Boil a small amount of water, and set another pot inside. You’re just keeping this treat off of direct heat).

Add a few crushed candy canes (I used a mortar and pestle, but a rolling pin and ziplock bag works nicely, too) and a half cup (or so...) of mini marshmallows.

Stir continually until the mix has set enough to scoop with a melon baller, shake some red sprinkles and enjoy!

Using the same theme, you can melt milk chocolate and add any of the following:

-Andes mints, sprinkle on imperials and dried mint as a finishing touch.
-Cinnamon and cyan pepper for a bit of bite!
-Orange extract (find it near the vanilla, and many more flavors are available) and zest fresh orange rind over the tops.

I also tried making eggnog truffles, but the ‘nog made them a little too sticky, more like a taffy. I would suggest skipping the liquid (unless you don't mind the mess!) and simply adding all spice to your white chocolate/marshmallow mix if you care to try them (they were pretty freakin’ dee-lish!)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the very first Lady Fromage give away! I had fun, I hope you did too, and we’ll be sure to do this again soon (And no, I don’t mean that the way a guy does after a mediocre date!)

Lady Fromage Give Away!

Drumroll please…

Get ready for....

The very first Lady Fromage give away!

Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss [Paperback]

by Sherri Caldwell and Vicki Todd

Here's what Amazon.com has to say:

“The Rebel Housewife Rules is a whole new set of rules for today’s housewives. The book contains 38 short chapters—four pages each—because that is about all that a mom can read locked in the bathroom with a three-year-old while the dog vomits outside the door.
Each chapter:

• Exposes a myth about being a housewife: "Compared to an outside career, taking care of a house and family—and myself—will be a breeze."

• Reveals the reality behind the myth: "My husband comes home to a disheveled wife, a disaster of a house, and laundry all over the stairs."

• Lays down a new rule: "Your day will never go as planned."

• And offers a rule Rx, a prescription for real domestic happiness: "Be proud of your most important accomplishments every day."

Following the often hilarious adventures and advice of Rebel Housewives Sherri Caldwell and Vicki Todd, readers learn to be themselves, get what they want, and love in new and deeper ways. Sherri and Vicki share their hard-won wisdom in this "survivors’ guide" to momhood, housecleaning, budgets, self-care, and love after kids and babies. Bottom line? Happiness is more important than passing the white-glove test.

In The Rebel Housewife Rules, the recently engaged, new brides, or long-married wives find the courage to live by the greatest housewife rule of all: "Live, Love, and Laugh, one day at a time, baby."

You can (and should!) check out Sherri's blog here.

This book is freakin’ awesome, ladies (Sorry, any gentleman readers. This may not be up your alley). I’m lovin’ my copy and want to share one with a lucky reader, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me your favorite Holiday Tradition! (Mine is eating cold pizza on Christmas morning).

A winner will be randomly picked on Friday. Tell your friends, that is, unless you don’t want to lower your odds of winning this great little book!

Host First Thanksgiving as LT and Lady Fromage: Check!

(Unattempted as of yet, but they look quite yummy! Check them out here!)

Phew! It’s over.

We actually had a great time, and I have to mention (rub in) again how lucky LT Fromage and I are to have in laws we love, who love each other! The food was great, the company even better, and by a miracle of God (or it might have been my momma) the house was sparkling clean when everyone left!

However, the stress of so much company, more cooking than we normally do in a month, constant entertaining and 3 dead car batteries (each family experienced it at different times, his, mine and ours) spread over the week has us a little on edge now. When I say a little on edge, I mean I slept on the couch last night. (Lesson learned: When LT Fromage is burnt out, he wants to be left alone, which conflicts with my need to draw close again. Ah, the discoveries of a young marriage. See, L, we aren’t perfect all the time!)

With thanksgiving out of the way, it’s time to start prepping for the most spectacular time of the year…. Christmas!

Stay tuned for cookie recipes (It’s true, I’m going to try my hand at baking once more!), darling home décor ideas and wish lists (listen up, Santa! Or blog readers in a giving mood!) In the mean time, be sure to check out Shutterfly, where you can score 50 free personalized Holiday greeting cards, with your photo! They also offer mugs, calendars and more. LT Fromage and I are totally doing it this year. Especially since we get them for free. Free is good. It means saving more money for the mega-electric bill we’ll get in January thanks to all the lights I’ll be attaching to the house.

Tweeting is for the Birds

Someone help me out. I need to know, what the eff is Twitter?

If a bird, say, an African Gray parrot is involved, I’m in, but I have a feeling it’s something…. techy.

How did this happen to me? A million years ago I did contract work building websites (back when it was good old HTML coding and nothing more); after high school, I pursued a degree in graphic design, but somewhere along the way, I lost it. I can still write HTML (which is like, drawing on cave walls nowadays), but I have no idea what a 3G, or heaven forbid, a 4G phone is.

The last time I upgraded my cell phone (about 2 years ago) I was shown the Iphone, but I actually paid more for a regular old phone. A phone with buttons and no internet, a phone I knew how to use. I’m not sure how many Gs it is, but it’s green and so I’m happy with that.

Maybe for my next upgrade, I’ll get the Jitter Bug. Then this could be LT and Lady Fromage

Ok, so someone help me out. What the heck is twitter? Do I need one? More than one? What is it people “tweet” about? Is this something like a facebook status because I’m still not even facebook savy, all I can do there is plow a virtual farm. Without the crutch of updates like “I just harvested 9 plots of wheat!” I’m not sure what I’d have to say to Twitter. Probably things like “Running late, but really have to poop. Should I go ahead and go and be late, or wait until I get to work?” or “My sweater has a hole in it, but I’ll probably wear it anyway and if anyone says something I’ll just act surprised”. Most of my updates would probably read “Picking up green curry on the way home from work, yum!” and quite frankly, while that’s earth shatteringly exciting for me, all those people in cyberspace may be less than impressed.

So I ask you, readers, do any of you Twitter or Tweet? What do you say? And how many Gs must your phone possess to work this magic? (Extra love if you explain what the G is)

Reviews on the Jitter bug will also be accepted, as I’m due for a phone upgrade soon.

Many thanks,
Lady Fromage

Priorities

With very little time this week to be online it’s going to be about prioritizing. What does this mean? Online shopping totally takes precedence to anything else.

In my blogging absence, enjoy eyeing my recent purchases:

Owl earrings from Etsy.com

Teal Satchel from Target

(Ok, lie. This wasn’t online, I got it in store because they marked it 30% off. I was supposed to wait until Christmas, but since I was having a rough day yesterday, LT Fromage decided I should go ahead and begin using my new bag! Thank you, LT Fromage!)

See you Monday!

Happy Dance

Speechless twice in one week? Nah, again, I never run out of things to say. So let me just say, THANK YOU to Life After the Aisle for nominating me for this award:


You made my Monday! :-)

In order to accept, I need to nominate 10 of my favorite blogs, so without further a due,

From Chaos Comes Happiness

busy bee lauren

Foxy Pink Cheetah

meredith and maggie

The Sassy Curmudgeon

Closet Cooking

Archie and his Family

How Could You Not?!

In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up

Spicie Foodie

I wish you could all see my happy dance. 'Cause I'm a freakin' awesome dancer... (oozing sarcasm...)

Toby the Meerkat

What a beautiful fall day it is here! I hope everyone is enjoying this same weather, wherever you may be.

I had a crisp apple for lunch today in the park, a squirrel and a yellow butterfly for company. A wasp came by, but luckily he didn’t stay long. It’s so nice to enjoy some time outside with a good book (see the side bar for what I’m reading now), even if it is just an hour.

LT Fromage is away (again, as we’ve come to be used to, thankfully it’s only 3 days this time) so tonight will be nothing more than frozen pizza while I watch a few hours of Teen Mom, but I’m looking forward to cooking later this week. I’ve enjoyed our recent trips, but have been looking forward to eating at home again. Last night I was dreaming of the big, fluffy pieces of stuffed French toast I’ll make on Saturday (If you’ve never had stuffed French toast, it’s a must try!). I can’t wait for this weekend, to make beer cheese or maybe broccoli cheese soup and sourdough bread (with the help of my handy bread maker, since baking is not my strong point!), beef stew and bourbon peach cobbler. Soon, I’ll be able to pick up fresh apple and cherry ciders on my way home from work, I can’t wait!

Besides the fall weather and yummy warm foods, a few other things that I’ve been enjoying…

Arrested Development. Have I mentioned before that Netflix + a bluray player = awesome? It does. We just started season 2 and I think it’s tied with the Office for best show ever (Oh yeah, and Teen Mom).

Sweet potato fries dipped in mayonnaise and BLTs with baby spinach (with “fakin’ bacon” on mine, of course!). I don’t know how we both forgot about BLTs, but neither of us had thought of them in years until recently, now, we eat them on Sunday afternoons, yum.

Green curry. Yup, I’m still pretty much obsessed. We tried a place in Kansas City that got great reviews, but I still say nobody beats our little place here in The Little Apple. I think before LT Fromage accepts orders to another post, we’ll have to scout out the Thai restaurants before making any decisions… At least I finally know how to make it at home.

Our cats, Garrett and Toby. Gary already knows sit, speak and roll over so we’re working on beg. Toby can stand up like a little meerkat and it’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, his balance is unbelievable. Next we’ll take on speak.

(They could be brothers! Tobes even has the same stripes)

“Smoke A Little Smoke” by Eric Church, “Walking Away” with Zak Brown Band featuring Allen Jackson and Deirks Bentley’s entire new album “Up on the Ridge”; also, “If I Die Young” by Band Perry and “Just By Being You” from Steel Magnolia.

Klondike Bars. Like BLTs, another long forgotten treat. The perfect dessert.

Lamebook.com, regretsy.com, awkwardfamilyphotos.com and awkwardfamilypetphotos.com.

Enjoy the fall weather, before winter sneaks up on us! And make some stuffed French toast this weekend, you won’t be sorry!