Chicken Philly Cheesesteak

So, after working a 7 hour shift, with no break at the beloved Einsteins, I am here to share another delicious recipe that the gentleman and I tried out.

Chicken Philly Cheesesteak!

While they may not be the best lunchtime snack, these sandwiches pack a ton of flavor and are a perfect quick dinner solution.

Ingredients:
- two chicken fillets
- oregano
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 C bell pepper
- 1/2 C onion
- Sub bread
- cheese

Directions:

Ok, so first things first, you'll want to cut your chicken up into thin strips.  Then season each little strip with oregano, salt, and pepper.  Unfortunately we went a bit wild with the oregano, so be careful how much you use.  Throw these chicken strips into a pan and let them start cooking.

So yummy!

You may need to add a bit of oil to keep the chicken from burning.  While the chicken is cooking, you can begin to cut those peppers and onion into small strips as well.  Feel free to add in some more veggies as well, the more the merrier.  You can go ahead and toss those into the pan as well.

When the chicken is all cooked, and the veggies are starting to soften, you can take them off the heat.  You'll then want to spread them out onto some sub bread.  We personally got ours from Walmart, because its only 1.68 for 6 subs. Once the chicken and veggies are on, top the sub off with some cheese.  We used cheddar, but mainly because that's all we had.  I'm sure any type of cheese would be delicious.  

Now the best part, pop these subs into the oven, or toaster oven, for just a few minutes. We set our oven to broil and left them in there for maybe 10 minutes at most.  You want to leave them in there for just long enough so the cheese melts and the bread begins to get toasty!

Pull them out and enjoy!  We found that they were even more delicious when topped with a little bit of ranch dressing as well.  Feel free to experiment and enjoy your yummy dinner.  

- Lizzie

Babies are too sweet

Ok I'm not talking about human babies, I'm talking about my kitten babies.  They've been cuddly and cute all day. I just can't get enough of them!

Monster Mash Miles

Miles has spent his day lounging on the bed, and squeaking for treats. 

Little Boy Blu

'm going

Blu spent his day helping out with craft projects and curling up on our laps. 

I'm not sure how any household can handle life without animals, my kitten babies cheer me up on my worst day and are always there for a good cuddle.  Today has been an extremely relaxing day and I plan on continuing with this relaxing feel by watching Battlestar Galactica and eating peach cobbler mess (more on that another day!)

--Lizzie

Homemade Potato Chips

What you'll need:

• 4 russet potatoes
• Baking spray
• Salt

Today, we are...

1. Eating delicious peach cobbler.  Recipe here. Definitely try it, incredibly yummy!

2. Cuddling with Blu Bird

3. Playing with Miles in the window and curtains

4. Making mini succulents!

Lots of fun packed into this Sunday.  Our plans for later are even more exciting, including making potato chips!  What kind of fun do you fit into your Sunday? 

- Lizzie

Once upon a time...

I felt like I had no more time for fun and it was incredibly sad.  It's Saturday, and I spent the majority of the day sitting at Einsteins.  Definitely not my ideal Saturday but at least I was getting paid.  Speaking of... guess who got a raise! I'm finally getting a little bit more than minimum wage.  I will be so happy when I get into the big girl world and have a real career rather than a part time job.  December can't come soon enough! 

I don't think it's necessarily the big girl job that I'm after (even though I can't wait to have my own classroom), it's more so the lack of multiple obligations.  Working at Einsteins isn't awful, but having to fit it around my school schedule is awful.  I will be so happy when I can go to school and get paid for it!  

I feel like this week has been extremely long, which I'm not complaining about at all!  With one week left of summer, I want every second to be filled with entertainment and fun.  We've obviously been getting into a little DIY fun, but we've also managed to fit in some less strenuous fun as well.  Last night we watched our Netflix movie - One Day, while pigging out on some Dominos Pizza!  The movie was a fabulous chick flick.  Of course I had to force the gentleman to watch it, but I think in the end he enjoyed it as well! The pizza was absolutely delicious, and since they're running the special where any pizza is half off, it was just the right price.  

Speaking of right price, let's talk about my new obsession with free samples.  They are completely the right price!  About a month ago, I saw a free sample for kitten food, so I applied to get one.  This week I got it in the mail.  I'm one of those people, that really loves getting things in the mail.  So of course, I was excited! So now,  I am hunting down every free sample possible - because they're free and because it means I'll get mail!

As I'm typing this up, I'm pretty ashamed to say I barely have any pictures from this week.  Which definitely means that I've been busy.  I'll do my very best this upcoming week to document my life better.  Just so you'll have a little bit more of something to view than my super cool non slip shoes at Einsteins!

Oh and always a treat... a picture of Monster Mash Miles, sleeping on the bed.  So handsome. 

Those are the only pictures from the past few days... how sad.  

We just made a peach cobbler so I will be sure to have more delicious pictures tomorrow!

- Lizzie

  

Busy busy

Haven't posted too much lately. It's all due to my lovely schedule. This week was originally going to be a week of laziness, sleeping in and lounging all day... That was the plan at least until Einsteins needed workers and the Phonathon (second job) needed help with interviews.

So pretty much everyday this week I've been working at Einsteins and then going to the Phonathon... Ok not everyday just two, but either way it hasn't been fun. I know it's good though, considering I'm getting paid for all of it and it's getting me used to a hectic schedule which will no doubt start up on the 20th.

In my bits of free time, when I'm not taking cat naps I've been working on a few projects. Obviously the entertainment center, but I'm also entering Forever21's flashpack contest where you DIY a backpack. I'm really enjoying working on it and in my opinion it looks really good :)

Here are some pictures of both the entertainment center, with paint, and the backpack, which I'm not sure if it's done or not yet.

Next week is another hectic one, I'm just hoping I'll be able to keep this all up when student teaching starts!

Coming to you from the wonderful world of Einsteins
- Lizzie

Workaholic

Here I sit, in Einsteins, about to fall asleep.  School doesn't start back till the 20th (about two weeks from now), so campus is completely dead. I can't even say for sure why we are really open this week even, I'm sure it's costing the company money to have us all be here. We have no customers.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. I am more than happy to sit around for money, it just seems a bit silly.  Oh well, guess I'll continue to waste time playing sudoku and crosswords....

Mondays seem to be project days

So yesterday, after work, the gentleman and I on our drive home spotted a lot of furniture next to a dumpster of the apartment complex next to us. Well, growing up we did a lot of dumpster diving, for broom handles, furniture, anything of use. My mom always says that one man's junk can be another man's treasure. So of course, I made him pull over so I could determine whether or not anything was of value. We were in luck, there were some bar stools. We don't need any bar stools, but we had been planning to make a side table and a table for our plants, so the extra wood wouldn't hurt. We ripped off the disgusting seat cushions and threw three of the stools in the car. Once home, we got to work planning out what we were going to make. After much talk (and I mean a lot of talking) we finally decided on a set up that would be perfect for our plants with storage for extra potting soil and pots.

The kittens were a great help throughout the project!

a rainy day calls for some thrifting!

Truthfully, when we woke up it wasn't raining, nor did it look like it was going to rain.  However we still decided to head off to Savannah, because honestly we were very bored of Statesboro.  In just 40 minutes we found ourselves at the Savannah ReStore.  I'm sad to say it was not as amazing as the Statesboro ReStore.

Statesboro ReStore!

While I haven't been to the new location yet, our ReStore has a lot more of the things I'm interested in - cups, glasses, plates, pictures, etc.  If you are in need of a sink, the Savannah ReStore is definitely the place to go!   After a bit of a disappointment there, we headed to our favorite Goodwill in the area.  While not technically in Savannah, it's on Whitemarsh Island (I think that's the name) and has tons of treasures.  The Goodwill in downtown Savannah is far too picked over for us, so we normally skip over it.  I have put myself on a budget lately... I'm not allowed to buy things that are over $5 at thrift stores, unless there happens to be some magical piece of furniture!  Anyways I stuck to my budget and only bought one thing (shocking!) 

a rainy Thursday

Taking a look at my previous post, it's pretty easy to tell that it was a pretty lazy Thursday.  I woke up this morning, not feeling too hot which put me in a bit of our sour mood.  All I wanted to do was lay in bed and eat saltwater taffy (Who knew it was so delicious? We certainly had no idea!) While that's what I wanted to do, I decided it might be better to venture to Walmart and pick up some medicine.  So off we went.  Back at home with medicine I finally started feeling a bit better and realized that it was almost 1 and I hadn't done anything substantial all day.  Thus began my yarn tree.   Typing that, I realize I need to come up with a better name, because honestly that sounds so silly and stupid.  I'll work on that more later though.

“Sometimes I do smart things. Sometimes I do dumb things. Most of the time I don't do anything.” ― Gorilla Rising Hintz

We're having one of those days here.

Lazy weekend

So here's how my weekend started. A delicious Saturday breakfast of fried egg, homemade bread, turkey bacon and fresh fruit.  It was delicious and a fabulous start to the weekend.  By the way this was all done before 9 am.  We were very impressed by how early our day started.  In fact, by noon, be had completed all of our errands and were kind of bored.

Now, when I say errands, many people may think of grocery shopping or things of that nature.  Well, our errands consist of visiting the local thrift stores, garage sales, and lastly visiting the kittens at Petco.  It's pretty much the best kind of day for us.  I was actually able to pick up some awesome things at the thrift stores and yard sales.

Please disregard the washer and dryer to the left and the mini pantry we have and focus on the pretty new tray and cross-stitch under the clock.  I believe I paid a total of 2 dollars for both of them.  Here's a better look at each of them individually. 

How precious is this? 

I'm pretty much in love with all vintage and floral items so this tray is right up my alley.

I left with a few other goodies as well, a bright blue bunt pan, a small stain glass cardinal, a trivet, and a small print of a cardinal.  The gentleman is from St. Louis, so it is imperative that we incorporate a few cardinals into our decor. Both are now hanging above our bed with some of our other bird prints.  The gentleman picked up a drafting triangle for the total of 25 cents, which he is very pleased with.  Overall it was a fabulous Saturday.  Our Sunday was very similar, however we actually bought some brand new things!  We picked up a copy of Children of the Mind, the next book in the Ender series.  My favorite purchase of the day is definitely my new dress.  

Cannot wait to wear this!!!

While I may have bought the dress new, I certainly didn't pay full price.  This beautiful dress was a total of $10! I absolutely love the sale section.  It was definitely a wonderful weekend and I am sad to say it is over.   I'm down to my last two days of summer and of course the weather is gloomy.  I'm hoping that the gentleman and I will be able to have a bit of fun today despite the weather.

How's the weather where you are?

- Elizabeth

Quite the interesting day

As you may have noticed earlier, not much was done at work today.  It was our last day before we close for the "summer", which is just one week.  I believe there were a total of 8 of us there, and well nothing was done all day.  We had the rare customers, which of course we served, but primarily our time was spent in the lobby where we watched videos and played games on our phones.  Oh and for a time we had a bit of fun all around the store...
Yes, for a time, we planked around the store.  It was quite enjoyable.  However, being as small as I am, it was most often my job to get into the most difficult plank situations. Honestly I can't say I had planked prior to day, but I guess there's a first for everything.

Something else that was introduced to me was the Chicken Chow Down video.  I highly suggest you all go and watch this video as it will be very enlightening, especially while the debate with Chick Fil-A is happening.

 It was definitely an enjoyable last day of work, even if it was a nine hour shift.

So that was pretty much my morning/mid afternoon.  From there I took a little cat nap, went to Goodwill (my favorite place in Statesboro, and went to the grocery store.  The gentleman cooked up a delicious dinner and now we're watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics and wondering what the hell is going on.  Don't get me wrong but this is just a bit strange of ceremony.  A friend of mine said "It's like a flash mob gone terribly wrong."  I can't say I disagree at all.  We're going to continue watching, but definitely hoping that it will get a tab bit more normal.

Other than all of that, I am very happy it is the weekend and I have some time to sleep in, relax, and see the new Batman!!! I've heard great things and cannot wait for date night on Sunday.

Hope you all also had an interesting day!

- Elizabeth

You can just call me Suzy Homemaker

Lately my work schedule has been 8-2 or 7-1, so today is a rare day that I'm scheduled to work 1- close.  And let me tell you I am taking full advantage of this relaxing time.  The gentleman is at work so it's just me and the kitten babies.  So far we've baked a loaf of bread, done the laundry (most of it anyways), and washed all of the leftover dishes.  I've been in a very "bakey" mood the past couple of days and it really makes me feel like I should have been born in the 50's!

The gentleman and I have been making smoothies every morning... the green monster actually! (It's good!) The recipe requires bananas, so we obviously stocked up on bananas, not realizing we were going to run out of yogurt and not be able to make smoothies for a few days.  Thus we had a massive pile of brown bananas yesterday.  Now, the only logical thing you can do with brown bananas is bake banana bread! To me, this is one of the easiest things to bake, other than box cakes of course! My sister gave me a recipe a few years ago and I've been a banana bread baking fiend since.

Ingredients:
3-4 smushed/mashed bananas

No chocolate or strawberries this time, but still oh so delicious!

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 C melted butter
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Mix the butter into the bananas
2. Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla
3. Sprinkle in baking soda and salt
4. Mix in flour
5. Put into a buttered pan and cook for one hour at 350

Sometimes I get a little bit crazy and add chocolate chips or strawberries, sometimes both!

I also always stock up on the easy muffin mixes, you know, the ones where all you have to add is milk or water.  We had a couple people over last night, so we also whipped up some mini blueberry muffins.

They're very yummy, and since they are so small, I don't feel quite so bad when I have two... or three!

My last baking adventure, was as I talked about earlier, my loaf of bread.  However now I'm not so sure you can really call it a loaf... perhaps more of a ball? I'll let you decide.

I got a fabulous recipe from Simply So Good for what she calls crusty bread.  It is also an incredibly easy bread to bake and only required four ingredients: flour, salt, water, and yeast! It's definitely my kind of recipe.  However if you are planning on making this bread, keep in mind that the dough has to rise for 12-18 hours!

We made the dough last night and set it aside until this morning when I got out our dutch oven and made a delicious loaf/ball of bread!

Very pleased with all of my baking adventures! I think my subconscious knew that starting next week I would have zero time for baking or anything exciting really.  Here's to hoping I can fit in a little bit more fun!


- Suzy Homemaker

and so it goes...

I'm down to my last week of summer! A week from today I will be preparing for the first day of school. (eeeek!)  In my last few days of freedom I'm trying to pack in as much fun as possible.  Today's fun started with a 6 hour work day :( but since I am now free of work I have planted some catnip for the babies! It doesn't sound like much fun, but it's something I've been meaning to do for weeks.

Isn't my little pot precious?? 

Another bit of fun has been completely reorganizing my photos on the computer.  Ok, so it's not really that fun, but it makes me feel accomplished!  Speaking of accomplished, I really need to work on my resume for student teaching!  I need to finish it so it can be critiqued prior to orientation.  Which will then lead to me applying for jobs! (again eek!!)   For actual fun, the gentleman and I are planning a beach trip for this weekend and planning an elaborate fort/movie night.  And, as always, my two main furry men, are still as lazy as ever, spending their summer days lounging around. 

Aren't they just so handsome!?

Hoping everyone is filling their last days of summer with some sunshine!

project organization

So since we've made a big move to the new place, I have been trying desperately to clean out all of the junk we've acquired in the past few years.  I can't say it's totally gone but, we've made a little dent.  Also with Student teaching just a week and a half a way I had to get my act together and start organizing my school stuff as well.  I'm not sure the specifics of other student teaching programs but mine requires me to have three specific binders, 31 dividers, and 24 sub dividers.  I ended up spending $30 just on school supplies.

After making my purchases, I headed home to begin organizing and labeling all of my new binders.  I have to say I felt very accomplished after labeling each divider... and my binders are kind of pretty.  

Other than organizing we've had a pretty relaxing week filled with friends, drinks, and delicious food.  I'm incredibly sad to see the summer come to an end.  Looking back, this has been such a fun filled summer.  Even though I worked probably 95% of the summer I really wouldn't change it for anything.  I can only hope that my school year will go just as well.  

 Had to end the post with some precious pictures of my boys who are definitely enjoying their summer!