Karebear Central

I have been married for 2 years in June and I would love to do it all over again (with the same husband of course.)  The thing that kind of sucks about getting married is that you are so worried about so many things that could go wrong, you don’t enjoy yourself as much as you should.   I know I would do a bunch of things differently now. 

Anyone that knows my husband and I, they know we have a fondness for the tropical weather and palm trees.  Give us a beach, we would be happy for a long time.   For our wedding, we went with pretty standard (yet pretty) invitations.  Looking back, I think we should have gotten 1st Class Wedding Invitations of the beach at sunset.  This would say more about our laid back personality than our normal ones.  I have never been accused of being normal and I don’t want to start now! 

I know when we were looking at wedding invitations, we were both kind of hung over (not something I would recommend when you have to make big decisions) and it was a Saturday.  I had other things I really wanted to do, like relax.  Plus, having a fiancee who was very indecisive didn’t help.  He basically left it up to me.  I do remember there was a lot of different shapes, colors, sizes, but I do not remember looking at any Beach Wedding Invitations because I am positive we would have agreed on those in an instant. 

Its great how you can personalize these invitations with a favorite quote or saying that really expresses the love of the newlyweds.  Even if you don’t like a sunset for your invitations, there are some more sudden yet still beachy themed invitations.  These would be great for destination weddings.  Hmmm, this makes me want a vacation!

Its so weird with watching TV right now.  Normally, the shows either are in reruns or not much is happening because its not May sweeps.  But this year is different with the writers strike.  I really do not know how I am going to be able to keep up with all the shows.  Right now we only have 45 hours left on our DVR.

Monday was the first of the new episodes for “How I Met Your Mother.”  I love this show.  Its witty and fun.  Its a nice show to come home and watch and laugh.  I love the fact that they keep showing glimpses of “your mother” but she’s always hidden by something.  I have a feeling we have seen “your mother” a couple of times already. 

I look forward to next week with Britney.  We’ll see how that turns out.  Maybe it will be legend—wait for it—dary.  (I’m sorry I had to!)

Every day, Andy gets more and more excited about how many miles we are getting per gallon.  Right now we are to 42 mpg!  This is really going to save us money right now.  But then it makes me want to go on a road trip. I don’t know where, maybe to Maryland to visit his brother, maybe to Minnesota to visit his parents, or maybe to Branson Missouri just because we can.  All on probably two tanks of gas.  Now that would be sweet!  I think I love our Prius.

Yesterday, since I got my incentive bonus at work last Friday, Andy went to the liquor store for some wine.  He bought a Pinot Grigo for $5.   This wine is more what you would think of s $5 wine.  It is kind of watered down, with a lingering fruity taste.  It went down really easy, and kind of makes me feel like I will feel it in the morning.  The one thing it does have going for it is the smell.  It is very fragrant. I would rather pay $4.50 for Frontera wine. 

Okay, we didn’t quite get 50 mpg on the trip to my sisters, but it was 49 mpg in the Toyota Prius (Blue Betty–we named her).  That is nice.  The hour traffic jam we got stuck in probably really helped.  We didn’t use any gas for an hour during that jam.  The way back we got about 40 mpg–but that was against wind and uphill.  So we averaged about 45 miles per gallon.  We just barely had to get gas.  I blame it on Andy driving around Oak Lawn, but we probably would have had to get gas anyway!

This weeks questions (that I am doing prior to Friday morning) thanks to Fun, Crafts and Recipes:

#1. What’s your favorite fruit and how do you like to eat it?  Right now pineapple, cut into pieces–fresh is okay, but I think I liked canned more.
#2. What is the one spice in your kitchen you use more than any other?  Crushed red pepper (we eat a lot of pizza)
#3. Pudding. Instant, stovetop or premade?  Premade–not a huge pudding fan, but I’ll eat it every once in awhile.
#4. Share a recipe using potatoes. 

This is a recipe we made because we had left over potatoes. 

Ingredients: 10 oz of spinach chopped, 3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 3 TBSP butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, 3 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese, 3 TBSP melted butter, 1 teaspoon dried parsley. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a medium size casserole dish. 

Place potatoes in a pot of water and bring to a boil.  cook until tender, about 22 minutes.  Drain and transfer to a bowl.  Mash potatoes in bowl. 

Gradually add spinach, cream, butter, salt and pepper to the bowl.  Mix until combined.  Transfer potato mixture to casserole dish.  Smooth out top.

For topping, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan and melted butter.  Sprinkle topping evenly over potato mixture.  Bake until topping is golden, about 15 minutes.  Sprinkle parsley on top and serve immediately. 

We added chicken to the mixture because I thought we needed some kind of meat.  It made a great filling meal.  I know we will try this recipe again. 

I have this obsession I do about twice a year, even though I really do not have to.  I dye my hair.  Usually from blonde to red the blonde again.  Its just something I feel like I can control.  The bad thing is that I think I have damaged my hair.  I have always had extremely fine hair and I think dying it hasn’t helped it that much. I haven’t been able to find anything that has helped my hair that contained naked naturals. 

I put enough chemicals on my hair to dye it, I don’t want to do that with the shampoo I am using.  That why I wanted to try natural shampoo.  Naked Natruals only contains what it needs to, nothing more.  It contains Keravis which is some kind of protein that helps your hair feel stronger.  I am always afraid when I put my hair up or curl my hair that my hair will break.  This shampoo makes your hair a lot stronger.  The stronger the hair, the more fuller it looks and that is what us fine haired girls need. By fine haired—I mean thin, extremely thin hair.

I’ve tried the shampoo for the last few mornings, switching it out with my old shampoo and have been amazed at the change in my hair.  It feels lighter, healthier and a little bit redder.  The conditioner makes my hair feel silky, I actually feel like my hair is one of my better assets now!

Motorcycles do help make a man look more manly and appealing.  Its weird to say, but the movie Wild Hogs makes these four men William H Macy, Martin Lawerence, John Travolta and Tim Allen–seem appealing for old men.  The movie is about 4 middle aged men who go on a road trip pretty much to not feel old and useless.  They end up upseting a local biker gang on the way lead by Ray Liotta.  Hilarity and fighting ensues. 

If you don’t expect too much from this movie, its not bad.  Its what you expect from a Tim Allen movie.  I laughed a bit and was glad I watched it once.  It is not a movie I would probably watch again. 

Even after a week and a half, the new car smell is still in our car.  It helps that we have set some ground rules for the car.  Absolutely no smoking or eating in the car (yet food can be transported in the car).  No taking the car downtown to go to the bars.  I can’t wait until it is warm up so we can wash our car often and maybe buy some auto accessories. 

I think my husband and I have gotten to that point in our marriage where he has started to not listen to.  For example, last night he asked me if I wanted to watch one of the movies we had on DVR, Twin Peaks (I was already in bed and he wanted to watch a movie before bed).  I said “Yes, watch Lost and Delirious, I’ve seen it.”  He took that as yes watch Twin Peaks.  Today, he brought my car to get the oil changed and on the way, he called me to make sure I didn’t crash the new car on my drive home ( I was nervous! But I didn’t crash).  He was going out to eat with some work people and I am not feeling well, so I stayed home.  I told him I wanted Taco Bell because he was coming home to switch cars.  He said “Anything for you baby.”  He came home, walked in and sat down to me empty handed. I just stared at him with ”the Stare.”  It took him a few minutes to realize why I was not happy.  I didn’t think we would get to this point after only 2 years of marriage!