Thankful Thursday

This week was hard to narrow down to 5 things that we are thankful for. After conferring with Mr. H as to what to write, we've decided on the following (and that we are extremely blessed):

1. Mr. H is spending tomorrow night hanging out with a friend from work whom he has not seen in awhile (they no longer work together for various reasons). I don't think that he has been this excited for something in awhile.
2. My first paycheck is tomorrow, and I get to go shopping.
3. My sister is bring the nephew out to my parents' house this weekend. I haven't seen him since he was 2 weeks old and he looks so different in pictures now.
4. Happily-ever-after pooch went up to someone at the park. He is a rescue dog that usually avoids any and all people he does not know at all cost; this is especially true when he's outside of our house. This has taken going to the park at least 2x/week for 3 years to get to this point.
5. I have today and tomorrow off from work, and did not even had to go in to organize my room. I was able to 'sleep in' this morning until 7 and ran some errands. We haven't done a few things, like buy milk, this week because of work.

We hope everyone else is having a week full of blessings!

Now that I'm in the "real world"

Not that anyone cares whatsoever about my plans for this weekend, but I just had to post it. I am going to my parents' house to see family (my sister and nephew are coming out, too) and see my younger sister perform at a local baseball game. BUT I am so excited to receive my first paycheck and shop with it. I really shouldn't shop since we want to save our money for a house and have some fun; however, this is my first real paycheck so I think we can spare a little bit of money. What am I going to buy?

How about these jeans (or something similar) since I have the hardest time finding jeans that fit me well and I can wear them to work.
And these, which I have had my eye on for a long time. Much more expensive than I usually spend, but I can get them since it's my first paycheck, right?

This wallet (since it's a wristlet/purse all in one). I usually do not go for Vera Bradley, but love this pattern and the concept (no more lugging a purse around everywhere.
Maybe I'll find a few other things as well. I'm thinking that some scrubs (pants) and plain shirts may be a good buy, too, since I can wear it to work (plus it's so comfortable!). I absolutely cannot wait to actually be able to shop and not feel completely guilty. I will still look for deals (and probably will not buy anything pictured here since it's all more expensive than what I usually spend).

Menu Planning Monday

This week's menu is a little crazy since I'm not really sure if I have to work on Thursday and Friday or not...If not, I plan on going to visit my parents/family while Mr. H works and fends for himself (he's a really good cook, and will be alright!).

Monday - grilled chicken in italian dressing with green beans

Tuesday - Homemade pizza with easy to make dough

Wednesday - Crescent Chicken with carrots

Thursday - Teryiaki Wings (wings tossed in teryiaki sauce)

Friday through Sunday - Mr H's choice :)


Recipes:

Crescent Chicken

Chicken, cooked and cubed ( 3 chicken breasts)

2 cans crescent rolls

1 package cream cheese

chopped green onion

garlic salt (a dash or so)

Melted butter

Bread crumbs (Panko with seasoning added, or whatever desired)

Combine cream cheese, garlic salt and green onion

Add chicken to cream cheese mixture

Pull crescent rolls out of can, press 2 triangles together to form rectangle

Place spoonful of chicken & cheese mixture in the middle of crescent roll and fold sealing sides (Make sure triangles are still sealed, as they come apart sometimes during this step!)

Coat outside of roll with butter and cover with bread crumbs

Cook on cookie sheet according to directions on crescent roll package

Easy Pizza Dough (from Cooks.com)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. oil
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 c. water (warm)

Mix yeast and warm water; let set 5 minutes. Mix into first 4 ingredients. Let rise in warm place for 20 minutes. Press into 10 x 13 inch pan. Add favorite sauce and topping. Bake about 20 minutes or until done at 400 degree oven.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Anything Goes!

We had such a crazy weekend filled with a visit from my brother, catching up on rest, and much to do with cars. You see, it all started when I pulled into the parking lot after a long day at work and saw my brother on his cell phone near his car with the hood popped. I thought, "this can't be good." And, it wasn't. His transmission went (we think, won't know until tomorrow) right as he got into town. What a way to start the weekend?! So, we got it towed and squared away. Then spent most of the day Saturday figuring out how he was getting back to Pittsburgh and getting my oil changed and changing my spark plugs (Mr. H did a wonderful job changing them). We also researched cars and crunched some numbers since my car is getting up there in age and miles (it's a 2000 with 127k - and has been driven all over the US). I am afraid that I may need a new car within a year (hopefully not, though!). My head is spinning just from thinking about it!

My car is the car that both my brother and I learned to drive on. It has dents on the driver's side from a run in with a dump truck on a side street and all kinds of crazy quirks (like you have to turn the AC off if you want to accelerate really fast or go up a steep hill with more than one person in the car) but, I love it. I'm not even close to ready to part with this car due to all of the memories. A new car means that I am growing up (which I am still in denial about) and moving on to the next stage in life.

It means that I am a real adult (not that paying bills and having a job have not shown me this already), and have to do real world things like haggling over a price and making some larger investments. Not ready for that. Nope. I have Peter Pan syndrome, and don't want to grow up. I still love talking with Mr. H about what we want our future house to be like, how we'll decorate it, kids, etc. like it's really far off (not right around the corner). I mean really, who wants all of that responsibility? I much prefer not worrying about it, at all. Which is why we are doing a TON of 'young' things this fall (like going to multiple college football games and tailgating like pros) instead of being completely responsible (and maxing out Roth IRAs).

It's okay to do this now, right? I mean, when else in our lives will we have a chance to be this irresponsible again? Yup. I much prefer this at the moment because I know that the years of doing the responsible thing is not far off. Once kids and a house and life happen there is no turning back. Everything will be planned - braces, college, retirement (if that is even a possibility for our generation), mortgage payments, home repairs, the list doesn't end. So, we're going to live it up while we can (while still being quasi-responsible and saving some money) so we don't look back on this time in our lives and think, 'why were we in such a rush for all of this?'