Poly what?

Here's something fun I've been 'playing' with. Its called Polyvore and is a place were you can create designs for lot of different things. You can even combine those designs into categories! Its a nice way to get out my creative juices and to express my style. I haven't done much in the way of home design but so far I'm loving the fashion aspect of it. What you do all think? You can visit my designs at the link bellow. are you one of those people that gets hooked on things like Polyvore or Pinterest? I SO am. how about other blogs? is that how you found this one or are you my mom reading this :P ? would love to hear from you guys. Its been a while.

Ratatouille with fried Polenta

This is one of my most favored dishes. Its probably so loved because its so easy to make and tastes SOOOO good. Like no joke, this will most likely be the #1 thing I make for my kids. If you can't cook (or say you can't cook) this is a recipe for you. Its so simple even the Hubby has made it before and the max my hubby has EVER cooked was grilling cheese on a tortilla. Anther great reason to love this is that its vegetarian but it had NO tofu in it and taste 100% good. It almost makes you forget your eating healthy :P.  So here is goes.

You will need: spatula (or tongs) for flipping the polenta ( I like a spatula better because they are easy to break), one medium and one large frying pan.

• 16 oz pack polenta ( I use Italian flavored)
• 1 small red pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small garlic clove minced
• 1 Table spoon olive oil
• 1/2 a small eggplant, chopped with peel on
• 1 zucchini, chopped un-peeled
• 1 small yellow squash un-peeled
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• Italian seasoning
• shredded Parmesan cheese

1. heat half the oil in your large frying pan at medium high heat. Add in all the vegetables and fry until the tomatoes fall apart and the others are soft. stir occasionally
2. remove from heat and set aside. In the medium pan heat the other half of the oil (using the same burner if you like) and cook the polenta according to the package on both sides.
3. toss the ratatouille with a small amount of Italian seasoning to taste. serve the ratatouille over the polenta and sprinkle with a generous amount of cheese.

Let the Festivities Begin!

What could be a better way to spend the weekend then hanging out with your best friend? Even if your best friend is a chicken? o.0

Well thank goodness we don't have to debate that subject or my sanity any time soon. Its ok, its really My Darling... really. You see, over the weekend Hubby and I went to the Cox Farms fall fair (say that five times fast). We had so much fun even though most of the stuff there was designed for children and families with children. Ok so who says you have to under 10 to slide down a giant slide or pet animals at the petting zoo or go on a hay ride? hmmm. Come on now... I know all you parents out there just say your riding with your kid so they wont get scared. We all know your really doing it for you. Yep... busted! So Here is a little bit of the fun we had ( by the way, my camera died halfway through the day so these are sadly all I have). enjoy

He tried to eat my camera but this little piggy went weeweewee all the way back to his mommy empty handed!

And this 'little' piggy weighed more then Hubby and I combined... and lets just say I'm no toothpick.

These chicks were only 2 months old and were just SOOO cute. Oh, and yeah, I blocked the view of like four little kids and stood there for like two minutes taking photos. You would too if you were there!Don't judge.

After owing and awing over all the animals we decided to go on the amazingly-bumpy hayride they had. I kid you not, I think I saw a pregnant women pop her baby out on one of the 'bumps' we went over. And when I say bump I mean falling-into-a-river-and-driving-though-it bump. Yeah, it was that crazy. I think I was making this face the whole time --->

It was actually really fun. They had some nerdy stuff like aliens and star trek characters fighting it out with light savers while playing cartoon star wars music (if you can imagine that)

The next thing you know were driving though  Asia ....

and though a river to a Indian camp! But all in all it was a geographically enlightening event and I think the children learned a lot :D.

After our crazy hayride the Hubby and I decided to take a go at the five giant slides they have throughout the park and grab a bite to eat. We even went though a small corn maze (which I'm NOT marking off our list yet because it wasn't nearly confusing enough to deem worthy of the tile 'maze') which was more like a fun house then a maze but still loads of fun! It even had a tilted house and a spinning tunnel in it!

We also took some silly photos at one of there MANY photo props were Mt Darling got me to show a little knee. XD

Unfortunately it must have been to much for my jealous camera to handle because he died on me right after this. That butt!

When it was time to go we stopped at the little farmers market they have on the property and picked up our pumpkins we got with our tickets and bought one more for an arrangement we decided on for them. It truly was an awesome weekend and I'm so glade we got to do something different. I can't wait to see what we'll check off our list next :D .

How was your weekend? Did you spend it fighting aliens and visiting Asia or more like fighting a cold and visiting the doctor? ugh cold season! have you even been to a festival before? was it everything your inner child would hope for? Did you indulger that inner child or restraint it like the well behaved adult you are? come on now... you can tell me the true I wont laugh.

Me Monster

Do you ever wonder what you would look like if you were a magical creature or monster? ok so maybe I'm the only one who dreams about things like purple skies, flying giraffes, and me as a monster. But don't take my hope away, just go with it ... come on, you know your just a little curious. no? Well for those of you who aren't party pooper's lame jerk-a-saurus party pooper's, here your chance to find out what you might look like as said monster and/or magical creature just in time for Halloween! First of all, as a disclaimer, I am NOT good at portraits so its ok if you aren't either, you can improvise and work around the drawings flaws (it might make for a better monster) or you can enhance the parts that you thing look well drawn :)
First I took a couple photos of me and The Hubby and then printed them out. they don't have to look good as long as you like your smile or facial expression because your going to distort you face anyways.
Next I traced the prints out onto paper. ( I couldn't find a pencil that had an eraser on it so please excuse the scratched out parts)

For fun, they Hubby and I chose to create each other into a monster and see what each other picked. So he decided I should be a plant and I decided to make him into a robot/ Borg thing. This is were the fun begins. You can do what ever you heart desires and you imagination can conceive! Then I transferred my drawing to water color paper. (Hubby didn't because he decided it was to detailed for water color... I think it would have been better but who am I to judge someone else's artistic eye. )

Lastly, I just painted it in water color the way I wanted it.

And that all folks! Happy hunting's and joyous jests!

Fall Fun List

As life gets more and more crazy and I seem to have the desire to rip my hair out escape the hectic-ness, I find myself at a lost for things to do with the hubby for a good time. It seem everything that we would want to do has been done already. that's when I came across this brilliant idea for Kate Bower. Its a list that me and the hubby sat down and talked about all the things during the fall that we would like to do that we might not be able to do (or want to do ) during other times of the year. By doing so we found 20 things that we BOTH like to do and because most of them are things we can only do during the fall, a lot of them are things we have never done together or even ever! Some of the things you might notice I stole from lovely Kate but all of them are definitely 100% us approved :D

If you are unable to read this (thats as big as I could get it ) here is the list -->

♤ pumken patch  ♤trich-or-treat

♤ pumken carving  ♤trail walk

♤ orchered picking  ♤chair project

♤ museums  ♤fall fair

♤ leaf picking  ♤paint cabnet

♤ antiquing  ♤wood carving

♤ corn maze  ♤dinner date

♤ monster painting  ♤build model boat

♤ gost walk tour (missed it :( )  ♤coloring book

♤ make a weath  ♤starbucks date

package, packing, and primping

Today the Hubby and I finally got a note in the mail for a package we have been waiting for for quite some time now. It was a box-oh- goodies from his grandparents for our birthdays and such!! Also, because John took today off (there is little work to be done at his work so they suggested people to use up there vaca. time now and John took the advice and took off for a couple of days) we spent all day cleaning the house and packing.

Packing? yep... packing. You see I am nothing if not a doer. I can't sit down for a second without thinking of whats the next thing I could be doing. We are planning to find a house and move with in the next few months so me, being a busy bee, decided to get a head start on packing thing we don't use on a day to day bases; like books the sewing machine, out door summer dishes, and so on.

 A lot of people might think I'm jumping the gun or rushing things but I think other wise. The way I see it is that if I don't make an effort toward something every day then my mine does not stay focus on it and the need and priority of that goes away. So by doing things like packing it helps me stay focus on the time line which I wish to stick to and at the same time keeping my mined thinking about that goal. It may seem like I'm being a worry wash to some or that I'm preparing for something that might not happen but to me its a good thing. By doing this helps me make sure that my goad DOES come true. :)
Well after we got a bit of work done we decided to treat ourselves with a luscious treat of gifts! I mean who doesn't love getting stuff in the mail?! It feel like Christmas on a random day and I think that makes it even more special. XD here's our new digs...

Sorry that the photo is blurry this is the best one I could get. This is the new embossing kit I got for my grandmother-in-law! It even came with cards, envelopes and stickers. This is my first attempt at embossing something and I think it came rather well.

I'm so excited to use my new kit to make a nice thank you letter to my sweet grandparents.I also got these new stamps to go with the kit I already have.

It will be great to sink my teeth into crafting with my new scrapbook and scrapbook paper :).

Well that's it folks. Have you ever got a nice surprise in the mail? Anyone out there packing for a move ? I'm sure I can't be the only one who packs way ahead :P and pre-packers out there? How many fall cleaners are out there? isn't it so much better then spring clean since there's less distraction from the amazing weather ? I think so.

The Small Things

Yesterday, the weather was a bit warmer then it has been in the past week so the Hubby and I decided to go on a nice walk with Pepper. Right as we are about to leave a little black cat came to say hello on our back patio.

This is not a new occurrence, you see, I have found out that there is quite a bit of adorable stray cat around our apartment complex and I have made it my duties to care for them. It all started with a little gray kitten that showed up on our back patio about a month ago. She was visibly malnourished and so hungry that she would come right up in front of me and cry for food. She would even eat right out of my hand cautiously; jerking away when I moved or adjusted my hand. Mind you, these cats are feral and were never house pets so to see one eat out of a persons hand is quite a shock. After that day I decide to leave a bit of Peppers food out for them each day so that no more of them would starve. I had pondered on calling animal control but after doing a lot of research around my area I found that there are no non-kill shelters near us! So I decided that it was better for the cats to live out there lives as they had before (many of them are more then a year old so I know they can handle the winter) and to just do my best to make sure they make it out there in the world (i.e feed them a little bit) for as long as we live here.
So,  as we headed out for our walk I decided to snap a few photos along the way. Mind you I am new at this day-to-day kind of blogging and photo taking so most of the photos (in fact all of the photos except for the cat) are plants. :(  I hope as I do this more often that I will get better photos of our life so that I can share more memories with you all and to look back on. But for now here you are.
I'm not exactly sure what kind of plant this is but I'm sure its a weed of some kind but what ever it is I just love it. I like how bazaar its flowers look and how bright they are. Its almost odd to see so much life at such a cold time of year yet, at the same time its so pleasant to see plants holding out for the winter and staying strong!
p.s. I just found out (with a little bit of research) that these are called Showy goldenrod.

I love these little wild daises. There are just to sweet and delicate. Plants like this is what makes wildflowers my favorite type of flowers. There is just something so organic about them that you can't find in things like roses in my opinion.

When the Hubby and I got home (with a well tired Pepper) I put this together with a few of the flowers we gathered along the way.

Nothing is as free as mother nature!
So have any of you gone on a nature walk lately? or taken in a stray animal? Is it just more or does that cat look mad at me for taking its photo? 0.o