Its almost the weekend!!  Can you hear me yelling in Canada?  Probably I am THAT excited!  BUT a weather forecast of rain is doing just that...RAINING on my parade.  :(  Some very special friends are coming our way for the weekend and we have a jam packed OUTDOOR weekend planned.  Blech for rain.  BUT I am hoping to make the most of it and our dear, yet rather crazy, weatherman is wrong. 

So as I was putting the clean laundry into the dryer I hear joyous yells from my daughter.  What were they you ask....she was yelling "Poop, Poop, Poop....etc".   Whats this?  Gabby is showing interest in the potty?  She is alerting me to a possible bowl movement (this is epic because the girl could care LESS about any type of potty training much less if their was a pile of doo doo in her diaper) so I am seriously elated to think MAYBE she is wanting to go to the potty.  I quickly finish transferring the laundry and race out into the toy room (which is also the home to our backdoor/outside where the children were playing) and what do my eyes see....Poop.  Literally in Gabby's hand.  She has so graciously helped us pick up the DOGS poop.  Her little eyes were so excited and she REALLY thought she had done something wonderful.  See she watches Hans pick up the dogs doo doo on a daily basis (only he uses a bag...ya know...the HYGIENIC way of picking up doo doo) so I can only assume she thought she was doing good....as I am heading to her to grab it out of her hand she races to the garbage can.  In it I find at least four or five other pieces of poop.  So she had been doing this for ohhhh....a handful of minutes.  Lovely.  Hans will be proud.  After a VERY thorough scrub down Gabby is now in bed and I swear I can still smell dog poo. 

Today I am attacking my dollhouse project....

Not much to look at now...but hopefully by the time I am done Gabby will have an awesome one of a kind dollhouse for her enjoyment.  I will post the after picture and a little sch peal about how I did it...ya know...when the actual AFTER part happens.  ;) 

Another thing I really want to touch on during my blog rantings is RECIPES.  A little history about me....I don't cook.  (I told you a "little" history....)  But really that sums it up.  Its not that I can't...I just always have excuses...wrong ingredients, my oven/stove stinks, I don't know how to use the grill..blah blah blah.  BUT I am married to a beast who doesn't like to eat out.  Mostly because he is cheap (so am I...that's why were are a couple days away from our 8th anniversary..I swear) but also because with a family of five...three of those beings are 4 and under...it makes for a chaotic and annoying time and we just avoid it at all costs.  So I am expected to produce an edible meal almost every weekday...The beast tends to take over on the weekends.  So I rely on TESTED AND TRUE (preferably by friends or family) recipes.  They are hard to come by.  Its easy to search for a random recipe online...but how do I know its edible?  So I, my friends, have decided to be a guinnie pig for all of you....I am going to try out new recipes weekly and I will post them....good or bad....they are going to get blog time. So here is one from Wednesday nights supper:


                                               Cayenne Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Healthy and yummy looking...I think this might work!  Plus it called for Avocado (my favorite thing on earth) AND Lime (The beasts favorite thing on earth)

IT WAS YUMMY!  I served it with brown rice and black beans.

Cayenne Chicken w/ Avocado Salsa   (Link to Ms. Martha Stewarts recipe)

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (6 to 8 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 Hass avocado, pitted and cut into chunks

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cayenne; rub all over chicken.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken, and cook until browned on the outside and opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine onion and lime juice; set aside. Just before serving, fold avocado chunks into onion mixture; season with salt and pepper. Serve chicken topped with salsa.

**I will say HALF the lime that is called for...is plenty.  Yikes!  AND I used more Cayenne but we like things hot in this house.

PS....for the munchkins I made something different....I took a chicken breast, cut it in half and smeared Mayo mixed with Parm cheese....then sprinkled bread crumbs on top.  Sounds odd....taste's delicious!  I baked it at 350 for around 20 minutes...or until juices run clear and top is browned a bit.

OK thats today.  Kinda boring but I never promised LOADS of excitement!  ;)  Stay tuned to Monday and hopefully I will have after pictures of the doll house and LOADS more "oh no" moments from the Pluntke household!

Remember this: If it was hard to get outta bed this morning, just remember and be grateful that you had the CHANCE to get out of bed.....live today like nothing matters!  ;)

T. Pluntke  "aka" The Mom.

Well...its the middle of the day on a day that I LOVE...its Trashy Tuesday.  Stop by my house on this day and you will see why...is my house dirty?  No.  Stinky...nope.  BUT its a strong possiblity I am...along with my kiddo's.  Yes folks Tuesday are one heck of a lazy day here at the Pluntke household and I am not embarassed to say it.  I WILL get outta of my pajama's...but its pretty much just to get back into a pair of yoga pants and an old Tshirt.  My kids are more than likely naked

                                           (see I told you...don't hate because its warm here)

 and IF they are wearing clothing...its probably doesn't match and comes from a thrift store (wait...all their clothes come from thrifts stores these days...but thats another whole post!).

                                                  (or in Gabby's case: Captain America!)



I will say I feel accomplished.  I finished an 8 page paper, completed my 7 page newsletter for our Navy command we belong too, AND I can honestly say there isn't ONE piece of dirty laundry.....it may not be all put away...but its clean!  Yay me!  These accomplishments may be minor to some...but they are huge to The Pluntke clan!  We also had a fun improptu playdate this morning with a couple of neighbor kids and now I am blissfully listening to a little Jack Johnson Curious George sound track and wondering WHERE IN THE HECK IS MY COUPON BINDER?  I have a small internal fear that I may have left it at the grocery store two weeks ago.  This my friends is PARALYZING!  Not only do I worship the ground my coupon binder often lays on....I NEED IT FOR MY (small) SHOPPING TRIP TOMORROW.  This could seriously be a catastrophy.  *SIGHS*  This is the other kicker that surrounds this dilema....my coupon binder is HUGE.  Gigantic some might say.  It is actually a stampin up scrapbooking binder..but the cheapo in me converted it to a coupon binder...why you ask?  Because it was free of course!  Dah!  When I grocery shop I get ackward stares and the occassional..."wow you must be an amazing couponer."  How much are you going to pay for all that?  $10?"  And my favorite..."I watch the show...you must be one of the best."  No folks I am just a lowly couponer saving my family a few bucks here and there.  My grocery bill still skims $200 and I do not get things for free (well sometimes I do...but not TOO often).  So you all now see why I am shaking in my nikes....literally.  I NEED THOSE COUPONS.  I think I may need to install a tracking device on it....just like everything else in my life (children included) ask my family...I have a small tendency to loose almost everything that may be important.

So I gotta be truthful about the real reason I am starting to blog.  I wanna win stuff.  Ya.  All these vendors/companies that have facebook pages and do giveaways always have mega entries for people who blog about their product.  I like to write...I like to expose my life to the general public.  Why on earth do I not blog.  So here I am.  Blogging. 

My favorite company right now is Epoch Designs.  Look them up on Facebook...you won't be sorry you did!  They are a furniture company who makes some of the nicest furniture I have seen.....well the nicest NEW furniture I have ever seen.  I have a special place in my heart for vintage (as we all know...especially Hans who is lucky enough to see some of the vintage awesome I bring home everyday...even when it needs work *cringe*)  Anyway back to Epoch....AWESOME.  Whats SO awesome you ask.  They GIVEAWAY furniture.  ALL THE TIME.  One of their main distributors is Costco.  Yay...you know the giant warehouse COSTCO.  When a customer orders something online, buys something from the store...gets it home...doesn't like it...etc....they return things.  Well when a piece of Epoch Designs furniture gets returned or refused at pick up....THIS company decides to give it away to someone in the area (is there a costco close to you? reletively close? yay...its there) TOTALLY FREE.  They make everything from dressers, to beds, to nightstands, to desks, to YOU NAME IT.  Picture below is a bunk bed set that they are giving away AS WE SPEAK to someone in Northern California....yeah...Northern...not Southern.  Boo for me.  BUT yay for someone up north!!!  Isn't it beautiful!!!

Some of the pieces may have small defects but we are talking FREE expensive furniture people. Wanna know my ONE complaint? I have now helped THREE friends/family WIN pieces of furniture. BUT I don't win. nope. not yet anyway! :)  i have faith my day will come!  ;)

Here is the linky for Epoch on Facebook:
Epoch Facebook Page


So since I know I have now lost you all and most are probably snoring away I am going to go and search for my coupon binder a bit more and pray that I find it hiding out in, oh I don't know, that bathroom or something. 

Hope all is well and for now...keep pushing through the days...because tomorrow just might be that day you have always dreamed of. 

T. Pluntke "aka" The Mom.