Saturday, June 26, 2010

Hey Good Lookin,' What You Got Cookin'?

After returning from a trip without Shannon, I asked very sweetly, batting my eyes, "Did you miss me?"

He says sincerely, "I really did."

"Awwww really? What did you miss most? My good looks? My charm? How hysterically funny I am?"

Wait for it. Wait for it....



  


"The food! I haven't cooked a thing since you've been gone."  Shannon spoiled the romantic moment!

Don't have your family missin' the food while you're at home caught up in life! Looking for a quick DELICIOUS recipe!? This is SOOO YUMMY. Easy as Pie!

Apricot Chicken
Serves 4






Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup apricot preserves (I use sugar-free)
  2. 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
  3. 1 tablespoon reduced sodium chicken broth or rice wine vinegar
  4. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  5. 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  6. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  7. 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  8. 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
  9. 1 medium green pepper, chopped
  10. 1/2 cup unsalted cashews
  11. 1 can of mandarin oranges in juice, drained


Microwave Directions

1.In a large bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients. Add chicken and toss to coat. Transfer to a shallow microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring once.

2.Add green pepper, cashews and mandarins. Cover and microwave on high for 2-4 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, stirring once. Done!

OR

Stove Directions

Pour 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and cook the chicken a few minutes. Then add the preserves, soy, broth/vinegar, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, and  green pepper. Cook until chicken is done. Add cashews mandarin oranges. Heat throughout 1-2- minutes. Done!

Serve on a bed of rice!

What's your quick, go-to recipe for a crazy day?

Saturday, June 19, 2010

How Old Am I...Some May Wonder...

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday dear Keshia!!!! Happy Birthday to me! 

Had a great birthday! Celebrated a little bit at the beach last week and then camping this past weekend which was a VERY sleepless experience (but I won't ruin my birthday cheer with that story!) I always call my birthday Annual Princess Day and Shannon is so gracious to play along! He usually tries to give me a card with some kind of princess theme and I usually wear a tiara and a sash. Well I turned the big 2-4 (haha) today, although, many might argue that I am muuuchhh younger. Most think I'm a teenage mother when they see me with Keshlyn, but Shannon thinks I'm much younger than that...

Story time:

A couple of Friday's ago I came out of the closet (literally, not sexually ok...) wearing a comfortable t shirt, jeans, and hot pink heels- ready to go run some errands.

Shannon looks at me and says, "have fun on your first day of kindergarten." I look at him clueless- obviously missing his humor, to which he responds, "That shirt...really?"

Me: "What's wrong with my shirt?" 

Shannon: "I mean it's fine if you're trying to go for the elementary school look." 

So let me clue you in on what it looked like... a tiger with some neon colors surrounding it. I think it's totally a cute shirt especially to wear over a bathing suit or something for the beach (actually the reason I bought it.) 

So I fire back with this comment, "Ok, my shirt is AT LEAST middle school because this one doesn't have yarn for it's mane!" 

C'mon...you know YOU wore a shirt in grade school with a girl on it whose hair was actually yarn hanging off the shirt and her buttons were real buttons you could touch on the shirt. This creature had none of that going on! 

So, elementary school or middle school? You be the judge! Take a gander!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I'LL WEAR WHAT I WANT!

P.S. I'm very disappointed in my last post that not many people shared something they want to save for like a dream vacation. You can't tell me I'm the only one who dreams of grandiose vacays!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Crave to Save and The Urge to Splurge

I crave to save....
I try to "skimp" on certain things in order to save money for bigger, better things I want! One way I save is by couponing... For example:

I was able to take all of these items home for free from CVS: 1 always pantyliner, 2 glade candles, 1 proglide gillette razor, 2 scrubbing bubbles, & 6 dawn dishwashing liquid ($41.89 value). After using coupons, the total came to $6.89 (incl. tax). I then used a $25 Gift Card I got for transferring a prescription there (offered frequently), and CVS paid me $10 in Extra Bucks to take this stuff home! It's like I was paid $3.11 to take all of this home! That $10 Extra Bucks can then be used to buy other stuff you need! I went back to CVS a couple of days later to get 2 rolls of paper towels, 1 John Frieda leave-in hair conditioner, 1 John Frieda conditioner, 1 Pantene hairspray, and 1 Pantene mousse all for $1 (which was only tax). I was able to use my gift card for that one too (completely free!) plus I earned $5 in Extra Bucks. So fun to take things home for free!

Are you curious how this is done? Sites to check out would be:

callingallsupersavers.com (general- free samples, groceries...)
iheartcvs.com (CVS)
iheartwags.com (Walgreens)
coupongal.net (General- online, restaurants, groceries...)
totallytarget.com (Target)

because I have the urge to splurge on other things... Here I go with my lists again (that really do exist) on things I want to save for:

1. a trip to France
2. a trip to somewhere tropical besides Hawaii
3. an Alaskan  Cruise and/or Disney Cruise
4. a trip to Ireland (have ancestry there....would love to check it out. Pictures are beautiful!)
5. build a brick home someday...that looks like this on the outside...and I have files of torn out pages from decor magazines of what I want the inside to look like!

6. a trip to Disney World (never been and I LOVE DISNEY!!!!)
7. fourwheelers! (Shannon's paradise would be us riding away into the Logandale, NV sunset on the back of a four wheeler as script writing appears one letter at a time across the screen saying, "And they lived happily ever after..."lol)

How do you save? 

What do you urge to splurge on? Have you planned a fantasy vacation?  

Friday, June 11, 2010

All About Keshlyn

Meet The Keshlyn...




1. My name is Keshlyn Jolee. (Let's get something straight...Jolee is a variation of the word, "jolie" meaning pretty in the French language. I am NOT named after Angelina Jolie. My mother doesn't like her at all! She just likes the French language!)

2. My name was almost Kenya. But then my mother figured "Kenya Phillipenas" didn't have a very good "ring" to it...

3. I came into this world with my tongue sticking out and eyes wide open. I didn't cry for a minute which worried the nurses, but I was just curious to see everyone. I still like to stick my tongue out!

4.  I give slobbery open mouth kisses.
                                                              http://www.kandylanephotos.com/
5. When I blow a kiss, I just stick my tongue between my fingers and then hold out my spitty hand!

6. I can say "momma," "dada," "no, no, no," "mo" (for more), and "namanana" (banana).

7. I like to put everything in the bathtub, or in the secret storage in my little riding toy. That's where mommy finds lots of missing items!

8. I smile 24/7. Even when I'm in trouble- I just cheez. I melt mommy and daddy.

9. I just turned 1 yr old. on the 23rd of May.



10. I was the most boring cake eater ever at my party!

11. I have really blue eyes.

12. I do not cuddle and I do not want to sit still ever. I'm curious!



13. I love to look at books and chew them.

14. I know most of my alphabet.

15. I can find matching items (the match to the shape mommy holds up, or the other match to a shoe...)

16. Anytime I find mommy's necklaces or bracelets or hair bows, I put them on! I'm a girly girl.
17. I love to get into EVERYTHING and love to climb the stairs!

18. I steal other kid's toys!

19. When I wake up  in the morning or from my naps, I just stand up in my crib, throw all of my toys/blankies out, and smile/laugh until my mommy or daddy comes to get me.

20. I love to sleep! I sleep from 7:30am to 7:30pm and take two 2 hour naps during the day. (Mommy owes it all to Babywise.)

21. My new favorite treat is peanut butter and celery!




22. I love to swim...especially with my friend, Paige Cooper!

23. I look like I came out of my daddy, but my mom says her girly parts prove otherwise.


24. I'm not allowed to date until I'm 40, according to daddy.

25. My daddy calls me Kesh Dizzle and now the nickname has evolved to "Dizz." Mommy doesn't like it that much because she doesn't want me to tell my preschool teacher someday that my name is KeshDizzle Phillipenas.
26. I'm a cute little gal. The end.

Monday, June 7, 2010

All About Shannon-

Shannon:

1. When the phone rings in the car- he will turn off the radio rather than turning it down low. He can't stand the music on in the background.

2. Dislikes loud music altogether.

3. Is the most forgiving, easy-going, calm person I know...and the best looking!

4. Served a 2 year LDS mission in Kentucky for the Lord and was a very faithful missionary. In fact, he was so good that the Mission President let his "AP Missionary" pick where he wanted to go his last 3 months. He  picked Muhlenberg County. BONUS- I WAS THERE! More of this story later...

5. Is mesmerized by his daughter... this will be a problem later on. I can see him giving her EVERYTHING she wants.

6. Doesn't know any song titles, or singers/band names associated with certain songs and generally doesn't listen to words of music ever. (Quick Story- He wanted to prove to me this wasn't entirely true this weekend on our way to California when Taylor Swift's Love Story comes on the radio and he starts singing...and says "See, I know some songs..." TAYLOR SWIFT!? I mean come on... of all the songs in the world to know the words to and he knows TAYLOR SWIFT! hahha...oh and Boys II men, Backstreet Boys (You are...my fire...), and the entire song of Blink 182 (The Party). Wow...I learned a lot about my husband in the car this weekend!)

7. Loves picking his nose (especially in the car). He often has sores in his nose because of it.

8. Is adventurous. Loves bungee jumping and wants to go sky diving. Loves roller coasters, crazy mountain biking trails, snow boarding...

9. Is definitely outdoorsy. Loves four wheeler riding, wake boarding, biking, camping, etc.

10. Hates being late and hates waiting on me when he's ready to go! haha

11. Loves having his head scratched.

12. Loves RED VINES which I think tastes like cardboard!

13. Thinks Logandale, Nv IS paradise!

14. Has the coolest last name EVER: Phillipenas

15. Thinks Kentuckians are crazy...especially his wife.

16. Works out every morning, comes home, takes his shirt off, looks in the mirror, grabs his stomach, and says, "I'm your chubby hubby!" HAHAHAHHA Makes me laugh everytime!

17. Does a special "voice" while holding Shannon Jr (A build-a-bear he got me) when I'm sad and it never fails I ALWAYS LAUGH!

18. Loves reliving his glory days in baseball and says he believes he could have went far had he not hung up his career for the Lord. He chose preaching of Jesus Christ instead of playing ball. I'm so proud of him for that.

19. ABSOLUTELY LOVES ping pong (hahahahah...I got Shannon a ping pong table for Christmas. It's June and he just put it together FINALLY a couple days ago. I'm not sure if he did because he really wanted to play or if he wanted to get me off his back! We do enjoy it though.)

20. Has a huge pet peeve of 2 things: People running into you or cutting you off in a store and not saying "excuse me." AND advertisements etc being in Spanish. While he is accepting of all races and creeds, he believes this is America and we should unite in purpose and in language!

21. is addicted to flossing.

22. Loves ESPN.

23. Very much covets the iphone.

24. Says to me the other day, "Babe, when I'm done with Paramedic school I'm not going to be cheap anymore...(pause)...Nah- I'm still going to be a cheap A just don't tell anyone...haha"

25. Loves water parks.

26. Started a scholarship fund for Moapa Valley High School baseball/softball students in memory of 2 of his fellow team mates that have passed away. (I'm so proud of him for this!)

27. Never complains and is always smiling. This smile sure gets him out of trouble with me! *wink

28. Asked me to marry him after visiting him for 1 day. So either he was CRAZY or very confident in himself!....it was probably a little bit of both!

29. Is SO fidgety/wiggly! He is at all times but especially at nights in bed while trying to fall asleep and almost always knees me in my leg! Ouch! I always say, "Shannon! You kneed me! That hurt" He then ALWAYS says, "Awwww, I do NEED you babe!" He thinks he's SO funny! : )

30. Has seen lots of old people naked! HAHAHAH.... with his line of work they get calls for EVERYTHING! (The best case was someone called 911 because they were on the toilet with severe hemorrhoids they said...When they got there- there was a big lady who stood up, lifted her shirt up to show them a better view! I love those stories!)

Well there you have it...just a little bit about Shannon. If you have any questions, fire away! 

The Dodgers vs Braves game this past Saturday:
Final score 9-3! Go Braves!

Shann, Me, and my face shield (As Shannon calls it!)

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Resurrected Blog!

Ok...after asking a few people if they thought it's worth keeping up a blog...I decided to give it one more shot. It will be a little about me and Shannon, a lot about Keshlyn, and then other random things. Favorite quotes, funny incidents, comments on the books I'm reading, reviews on new makeup I've tried, favorite recipes...We'll see how this goes! Comment to let me know you're out there!

The Scoop About Keshia

Today the post is about me...might even be more than you care to know but here it is! All about Keshia:

1. I have a great passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. I have a fairytale story about how I met my husband.

3. I LOVE the color pink and anything glittery/sparkly! (Quick Story- I love sparkly things so much that a few years ago I bedazzled my cell phone and my husband nicknamed it the “gonorrhea phone!” RIP my bedazzled cellie!)

4. I love white teeth and notice teeth almost immediately on everyone! If I were going to be a doctor, I would be a Dentist.

5. In another life I would have been a party/wedding/event planner.

6. I sing in the shower.

7. I talk to myself…I mean REALLY talk to myself. I am sometimes thinking about situations I have been in or may be in and instead of thinking about what I would say I often find myself speaking it out loud! It’s embarrassing sometimes!

8. Music is very influential in my life. I am most moved and closest to the spirit when music is present. I love ALL kinds of music!

9. I honestly thought that I would have been well-known someday…playing flute and traveling the world.

10. I LOVE to laugh and be goofy! It’s my favorite thing about myself!

11. I’m honest and have a sincere desire to be better each day.

12. I LOVE girl’s nights.

13. I have not met someone in Vegas since I’ve been here for 5 years that I would consider a best friend…Met some good friends but elements are still missing. I would like to find someone who "gets" me. Someone that I call and who calls me and we talk regularly to catch up on life and share a laugh. Someone who spontaneously drops in. Someone to put forth equal efforts to share a genuine concern about each other. I want to be adored as much as I adore them.

14. I enjoy reading tabloids about the stars while standing in the grocery line

15. I LOVE to read! It’s such a wonderful escape!

16. I enjoy learning and studying!

17. I am obsessed with trying and reviewing new cosmetics! I sincerely believe it’s important to take care of your skin! I guess that’s expected from a makeup artist and Aesthetician, right!?

18. I’m patriotic and proud to live in the United States of America.

19. I think children are the most amazing and spiritual beings I’ve ever met.

20. I believe in exercise and healthy eating habits! Love studying that!

21. I like to try to be crafty and make things! (I’ve recently been really excited to go to the happiest place on earth: Goodwill! Haha I love getting things and refinishing/redoing them for décor)

22. I tear pages out of interior design magazines and file them away for the home I want to build someday and for current decorating ideas.

23. I love to make goals and dream! I am very passionate about life and am determined.

24. I am VERY organized. I am a big list maker! I have lists for everything- projects (short term and long term), wish lists for Shannon to reference for Annual Princess Days (my b-day) and Christmas and “just because” days. I have a wish list for cosmetics. I have lists of items I need to decorate my house by room and projects that need to be done. I have a detailed chore chart and menu for each week. I have a list of all of my flaws I need to work on (that’s a loooooooooooooooong list!) And the beat goes on...

25. I'm very family oriented! I have the dreamiest husband and the smartest, cutest little Keshlyn!

26. I'm a gamer! Cards, board games, ping/pong, foosball, darts, corn hole, horse shoes...anything that gets us interacting!

27. I enjoy movies but HATE television. I think it's pretty much the biggest waste of time EVER and not all that enjoyable! (The one exception to this rule is FRIENDS- will never get old to me- and 24- got into that while recovering from Keshlyn. But 24 is over now and FRIENDS is on a DVD anytime I want to watch.)

28.  I love trying new recipes...and have to admit I have a weakness for sweets! That's why I can't keep them in the house!

29. I'm a country girl that thinks Vegas is WAY overrated! Not impressed and I miss strangers that are kind

30. I love all 4 seasons and would live in the South if I could get my way.

31. I can be opinionated at times and love myself for that rather than considering that to be a vice.

32. I am also a little perverted at times....oops!

33. I am in a whistle band with my husband...call for a booking.

34. The word on the street is that I'm funny (per my husband)

35. I like to be spontaneous.

36. At 9:00pm every night, I begin complaining to Shannon (for about an hour) about what needs to be cleaned (he told me to include this one)...this is actually true.

37. My favorite part of the day is pillow talk at night with my husband. I truly believe it is one of the best ways to keep your marriage strong! This is when you can really talk about what's going on in life.

38. I am a smoothie monster! I could have one every day! yumm!

39. I have to have the toilet lid down in all the bathrooms!

40.  I HATE when I'm woken up in the middle of the night to my husband's STANKY farts! First, I try and push him out of the bed to go get the air freshner but if that doesn't work I get the air freshner and spray his body under the sheets! He doesn't like that! I guess we're even then, right!?

Stay tuned for All About Shannon and Keshlyn!

If you have any questions about me, let 'em rip!