One Year Gone

A year ago today, I closed on my condo and became a first time home owner. I can't believe its been a year already. I can't say that I have much new to show inside the house but that's soon to change. I've picked out my paint colors and am getting a new bedroom set so there will be more posts to come.

Happy One-Year Anniversary to me!

A Lesson In Lasagna

Don't laugh.

I'm Italian....and I've NEVER MADE LASAGNA! Its true. My mom used to always make it and I simply never learned how. Well last week, this all changed. My BFF came over and we made lasagna! Here's the recipe we used:

• 1 package of ground chicken (which was omitted when we made it because I'm a big idiot and can't read properly)
• 2 cans of spinach (I bought frozen spinach instead, much better!)
• 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 small can of mushrooms
• 1 container of ricotta cheese
• 1 container of cottage cheese
• 1 package of shredded mozzarella
• 1 package of lasagna noodles

I think it turned out well for my first attempt at making it. I'd like to try different ingredients and adding a little more flavor but overall, it was yummy! I probably won't be making it any time soon since I certainly don't need an entire pan of lasagna to myself but it was a good lesson. AND we both wore white shirts to make lasagna. I made it all the way until after we finished eating before getting any on my shirt!

Thanks BFF! Next time I'll make sure to have more wine and a bumper car for ya! That's TWO nights of making dinner in one week--pretty impressive I'd say. This concludes recipe week :)

Thai Lettuce Cups

I made a delicious dinner for my good friend Barney and myself last night and thought it was worth sharing. I can't take credit for the recipe, I saw it on Rachael Ray last week. Its called Thai Lettuce Cups:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 iceberg lettuce heads, cut into quarters and leaves gently removed to make the lettuce cups
• 1/2 cup honey-roasted peanuts, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 handful basil, chopped

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with one turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in the pan until golden brown on all sides. Add in the red pepper and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add in the chili sauce and honey and simmer to reduce it and coat the chicken. To serve, lay the lettuce leaves on a platter, then scoop some of the chicken mixture onto each leaf. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts, lime juice and basil.

It was quite good. I have to say though that I didn't add in the basil because I couldn't find it at the store, but I did add in baby corn (luv it) and it was still delicious.

Thanks B for bringing the movie. 'I don't have the strength to stay away from you' :)

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a great Easter Sunday.

Happy Retirement

Today I am wishing my dear old dad a very happy and well deserved retirement!! After serving the Madison Public School system as Legal Counsel for many years and more recently as Chief Legal Counsel, my dad is entering the next phase of life and retiring!!

Of course that doesn't mean he's not going to be working. He's going to continue to do his teaching and seminars, I believe he has three or four lined up already in the next month or so, but at least he won't have to get up early every day and go to work.

Congrats Dad!! I'm happy for you!

I did it....

.... I signed up for Crazy Legs this year! YIKES!

Getting in Gear

I am very excited to announce that I've signed up for my first 5K run since my back surgery. I will be running the American Cancer Society Run on April 11th. I know I know, its only 3.1 miles but I used to run these all the time and haven't been able to run one since last June because of the pain in my leg and back.



I'm still debating on whether to do Crazy Legs this year....its 5 miles. There's a big difference between 3 and 5 miles, let me tell ya. I have been able to run quite well on the treadmill recently so i'm definitely thinking about just doing it.

Anyway, I'm excited about it so I thought i'd share my good news. I wasn't sure i'd be able to run again after my surgery. Everyone kept telling me not to run blah blah....but I just started back slow and now here I am able to run my 3 miles no problem.



Wish me luck! I had my best two times ever the last two races I ran before the pain in my leg took over so I think this will be a good gage of where i'm at running-wise! If anyone wants to join me just let me know...its fun :)

Dream Catcher

I'm going to try and sneak in a quick post today. Yes its not been a good month for my blogging. BUT i'm going to make an effort to squeeze in more quicky posts, lucky you :)

As far back as I can remember, I've never been much of a dreamer. Either I don't have dreams at night or I don't remember them, hardly ever. I decided that in fact I do have some dreams but remember very few of them. I remember back when I was a kid I had a reoccurring dream that a humongous black crow would fly through my kitchen window (from my old house in Stoughton) and attack me. I remember having this dream many many times and even after we moved into our McFarland house, I would still have this dream.

I guess I never thought much of it....

Then more recently (and I say recently but really I mean like the last 3-4 years) I started having another reoccurring dream. I just had this dream again last week which prompted me to try and look it up because it really was bothering me. My reoccurring dream always consists of me and then someone attacking me. I've had the dream with a physical attack like being beat up and i've also sadly had the dream when i've been sexually attacked. I've probably had this dream about 4 times in the 6 months.

So long story short, I decided to try and look up what this dream meant because, well, let's be honest, its kind of disturbing. I found this great website for dream decoding:

http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/a.htm

When I looked up what being attacked meant, here's what it said:

"To dream that you are being attacked by someone, signifies questions on your character and the need for you to defend yourself. You are feeling stressed, vulnerable and helpless. You may also be faced with difficult changes in your waking life. Dreaming of an attacks provides a way for you to confront a situation that you are avoiding in real life.

To dream that you are being attacked by an animal, is a warning to be careful with those around you. Take notice on who you know in your waking like that shares and exhibits the same qualities of the animal that attacked you in your dream."

And when I looked up dreaming about being raped, it said:

"To dream that you have been raped, indicates vengeful feelings toward the opposite sex. You are feeling violated in some way or being taken advantage of. Something or someone is jeopardizing your self-esteem and emotional well-being. You feel that someone or something is being forced upon you."

Interesting wouldn't you say?! I kept thinking that if I kept dreaming that I was being attacked meant that it was going to happen in real life or something, but according to this, I'm stressed and need to do some real-life confronting!

Anyway, I thought i'd share this website with you. I found it quite interesting and I'm hoping that I can start to remember more of my dreams.

Happy St Pattie's Day

Grab a cold one!

Scrapbooking Extravaganza and Ax Men

This past weekend, I took it upon myself to try and get caught up with my scrapbooking. I had just started 2008 on Wednesday and between Friday nite, Saturday and Sunday, I successfully made it through July of 08!! It may not sound like a lot but it really is. I took a few pictures of some of my pages just to show you an example.

My moving day....and further celebrations, April 08

Memorial Day weekend, which also included the Marie and Mikey Yates wedding...

Seeing my favorite band Tantric at the Dane County Fair...

I haven't blogged much about my luv for scrapbooking but it reminds me that I'm more like my mom than I ever knew. She's the one that got me started into it and I think I have about 10 albums now. After I get caught up with 2008 (and start the little bit I have for 2009), I plan on doing a heritage album, which is an album about your family, going back generations. I"ll keep you posted on that.

While doing scrapbooking on Sunday, I found myself engrossed in the show Ax Men. Have you seen it?? Its on the History channel. I had seen one episode before but didn't think much of it. Then on Sunday I started watching it and found myself, 10 episodes later, really into it! History was having a marathon of Ax Men because the new season starts tonight.

Its a show all about the men who log in the North West. Its very similar to the Deadliest Catch on Discovery. The show follows 4 different crews through the logging season. I just found it very interesting and of course after watching 10 episodes, you start to learn about the lives of these guys and how different it is from anything I've ever experienced.

Its a good show if you are looking to watch something different...