Starting again...P*AD* 1- Erin Go Braugh

Ok, so I have been convinced to start doing my Picture A Day thing. So I will. Yesterday was good ol St. Patrick's Day. I may not look it, with the red hair and all, but I'm Irish. My grandma's maiden name was Kennedy and NOW my last name is Murray. Hahahahahaha I'm so Irish. For years and years, every St. Patrick's Day my mom has cooked corn beef & cabbage. In the past few years I have discovered a liking to cabbage and I have always liked corn beef.I just knew I had to attempt my own corn beef & cabbage meal yesterday. The corn beef cooked all day in the crock pot and it was SO VERY GOOD! I was very impressed with myself. The cabbage was quite tasty too. My St. Patrick's Day was just like it used to be at home (except way better corn beef...hahahahahaha)

p*A*D*-Day 21-Vanilla Bean Goodness

This is the very rare vanilla bean scone from Starbucks. If I see it in their baked goods case, I must get them because supposedly they stopped making these early last year. Rarely, some do still have them in the case. These are so very delicious with a latte or coffee. I don't really need Starbucks since I have learned to make my own coffee very well, but I do still enjoy their lattes very much.

P*A*D*-Day 20-No preggo!

And so, I am not pregnant. This is good, but I'm a teeny bit sad. I do want kids and I don't want to be an old lady having babies, haha. No plus sign, so no baby. I'm just relieved. I'm leaving Friday for St. Louis!

p*A*D*-Day 19-Valentine's early

This was the early Valentine's day dinner I made for Kevin. The steak was a bit over cooked, but still pretty good. Almost everything at this dinner is from Angelfood. I hid his present in his chair and he was surprised when he went to sit down for dinner. He opened his Spongebob heart filled with gummy crabby patties and the stuffed dog I gave him. I told him it was for him to hug while I was gone when he missed me.



Then I made some yummy V-Day funfetti cupcakes which were so good. All in all it was a great Valentine's Day.

P*A*D*-Day 18-Romantical Dinner

Kevin was hiding from me so I took a picture of him hiding. I found it funny. Tonight I am making him a Valentine's Day dinner since I will be in St. Louis for Valentines Day. I even got him some cute lil gifts. He has no idea that it's for V-Day, so I hope he will be surprised. I even made some fun-fetti V-Day cupcakes. I also got Parker & Gabby some V-Day presents and My sizzle's soon to be born Emalynn some cute baby shower clothes. I wrapped them in the cutest cupcake wrapping paper I got from Gabby's school fundraiser. It is the BEST wrapping paper ever - and it is reversable so Parker's present has more manly stripes on it instead of cupcakes hahaha.

P*A*D*-Day 16-Chicken Fajita Tortilla

I made the chicken fajita tortilla soup last night. It was so so so so so so so delicious. It was filling and full of flavor! And it was quite easy to make. Anyone looking for something different, make the recipe below! I accidentally bought crushed tomatoes instead of diced and it still turned out great. I always knew that even though I find Rachel Ray extremely annoying, her food would taste good. Looka at that picture, I even got the garnishes and everything. I'm so cool.

P*A*D*-Day 15-clean sheets

I did ALL this laundry yesterday. It was ok to get it to the laundry mat but was extremely difficult getting it back home. I washed all my jeans and every sheet, blanket, and comforter that we own. So sleeping in soft clean sheets was wonderful. Kevin has this habit of eating in the bed. Eating EVERYTHING in the bed. I dislike it SO much cause he always seems to get crumbs and junk in the bed and leave the dirty dishes in our room for ME to clean up. It is very frustrating. I need some 2000 thread count sheets. That would be great . We also need a new bed frame, ours is busted badly. I step on the broken pieces of our bed all the time and that is not cool.

P*A*D*-Day 14- Baby shower for sizzle...and me?

This is the baby shower invite to my sizzle's baby shower. Isn't it so cute? Now, the reason this is so picture worthy is because I GET TO BE IN TOWN FOR THE SHOWER!!!! That's right, I leave the 30th for St. Louis and come back the 17th of February. Yes, yes, I know that's a long trip, but Kevin and I discussed it and we're both okay with that. I'm very very excited to see my sister, her pregnant belly, the kids, my mom & dad, my whole family really. I have the job of thinking up games for the baby shower and I think I've come up with 3 good ones. Now on to more pressing information...


This is my cup of coffee. I wasn't sure how else to show how crazy tired I have been recently. I sleep till about 11 or 12 when I would usually wake up at 8ish. I go to bed really early too. Kevin keeps asking if I fell okay, and I do. So now Kevin, my mother, and a few others are convinced that I am pregnant. I really don't think I am. Aren't you supposed to get like morning sickness or something? With how I usually am I have always had a feeling I would get the worst morning sickness. Kevin doesn't want me to take a pregnancy test till after the St. Louis trip so it is "looming" over my head the whole trip. I'm going to be going nuts with curiosity the entire trip. I just think he doesn't want it to be looming over HIS head the entire time I'm gone. Oh well, results of that will come soon enough I guess...

P*A*D*-Day 13- Messy table

This is my kitchen table. It used to be bare and clear and cleaned off. Now? It is a mess. Groceries go there, mail, sodas, just everything we can't find a place for. I originally took the picture to talk about going to the grocery store like two or three times a week instead of about once a week. But, as I looked at the picture, I noticed that table is a mess! Ugh. I need to clean that up. So I will leave you to go clear it off.

P*A*D*-Day 12- 100th Celebration

Today is my 100th post. My husband went to his mother's house and I told him how nice it would be if he brought me back a surprise. So, in celebration of my 100th post, he brought me home some yummy cake. Okay, in reality I know he has no idea it is my 100th post - but it sounds great. I am a huge fan of surprises. When someone goes somewhere, if they [they being my husband or my sizzle or my mom or dad] bring me back a surprise I am overjoyed. And by surprise I mean anything. Even if they found a rock that reminded them of me for a good reason, that would be awesome! I also greatly like surprising other people.
So, in conclusion, this is my 100th post, I like surprises, and we have a 44th president. Yay!

P*A*D*-Day 11- So bored

It has been WAY too cold to go anywhere here. And it has been too cold in this apartment to even get out from under the cover. So not much to take pictures of. But I did manage to make a delicious dinner. I made Mexican style mini meat-loaves. They were very very good. At least Kevin was impressed. I'm going to make Italian style mini meat-loves later this week. They were very easy and very yummy. I recommend this quick and delicious dish.

Take 1 lb. extra lean ground beef, 1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix and 1 cup water and mix & match your recipe from these options...

seasoning option
add-in choices
cheese possibilities


Italian Style
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzerella

Mexican Style
2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 cup salsa
3/4 cup shredded mexican cheese

Greek Style
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
3/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

American style
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
3/4 cup cheddar cheese

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and the seasoning until well blended. Press evenly into 12 medium muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; make an indentation in center of each with back of spoon.

SPOON add-ins evenly into indentations in meatloaves.

BAKE 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through (160°F). Top evenly with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 min. before serving.

Enjoy!

P*A*D*-Day 10- Pizza! Pizza!

Today's picture was supposed to be picking up our Angelfood order and it being very awesome, but because of weather, it didn't come when it was supposed to, so we have to wait till Saturday to get it. I will talk all about Angelfood when we get it.
Kevin & I were hungry and knew we were going by Little Ceasars so we decided to stop in and get some $5 pizzas and hot wings. It was so very very good. I love cheap cheese pizza!!

P*A*D*-Day 9- It's a noisy day in the neighborhood

This is the view outside my living room window and bedroom. We live right above the parking lot. This is extremely annoying. All day long, car alarms go off, people honk, people are yelling. The trash man comes here to this spot at like 7 in the morning and is SO loud. He always wakes Kevin & I up. And people who come to pick someone up just sit in the parking lot and honk. And honk, and honk, and honk...oh it drives me insane. I'm pretty positive that an alarm was going off when I took this picture [that's what made me think of taking one...]

P*A*D*-Day 8- Heat heat, what about the heat?

I'm not sure if you all can see it, my husband had no idea what I was talking about, but on my ring finger, on the bottom of my middle finger and on the bottom of my thumb are bruises. I have no idea where they came from, but they hurt! It is difficult to open things like bottles and such. How did I get bruises on my fingers? Weird.
In other news, our heat is not working. Our heat! It is 10 degrees outside! It is kind of ridiculous. We called housing and they said they'd come check it out - but I would like them to fix it. Kevin and I have on pants and hoodies and socks and we are just bundled up. In fact, writing at the computer is freezing my bruised fingers.

P*A*D*-Day 7-Shannon!!

My friend Shannon came over last night - this is yesterday's picture. I went and got her from the train station and we stopped at the liquor store on the way home. I cooked dinner and she got the tequila. I had never done tequila shots, so i was excited. We started off with a couple shots, ate, did some shots during dinner and then we finished the whole bottle after that. I was a bit intoxicated. Hell, I was drunk. It was fun, at least I had fun I hope Shannon did. I made fajitas for dinner last night and they were DELICIOUS! I was proud of myself fo sho.

P*A*D*-Day 6 No babies just yet please, but if I was, I'd keep it!

A few weeks over due, I got my 3rd Depo shot. Depo is one of the few birth controls that I can take. I'm not 100% sure that I am not pregnant, but the lady said to check in 2 weeks and that the shot wouldn't hurt the baby if I happened to be pregnant. She kept insinuating that I wouldn't want to keep the baby and offered the morning after pill a few times. I was getting annoyed. No, lady! If I am preggo, me & my husband would love to keep the baby. I said that more than once. Oh, the picture. That's where I got the shot. There used to be a band aid on it, but I guess it fell off? It hurts more than any other shot I've had and the area is sore [really sore] for a few days. I got it on my left arm because when we sleep, my right arm constantly gets bumped by Kevin and it hurts.

P*A*D* Day 5 Kara Jean's travels

So today I had to run some errands. Well, I mostly just needed to get a new toothbrush and was drawn in by Baskin Robins across the street. And then Kevin wanted some OJ from the store. Kevin ALWAYS wants Orange Juice. I am shocked that he hasn't turned into an orange or at least smell like oranges 24/7. I went into Baskin Robin before I went to get the toothbrush. It was very very cold outside, but it is never too cold for ice cream!







Then I went to Walgreens. I enjoy going to Walgreens because we had them in St. Louis, so I have a better idea of the stuff they have. Being familiar with a neighborhood store makes things a bit more comfortable.

P*A*D*-Day 4 Movie Rules

We have a lot of movies. Kevin likes to call it his DVD collection. It is not that he watches all of these movies. A lot of times he just buys the movie just to have it in his collection. I added my 8 movies into his collection upon marriage, including the 1st 3 seasons of "Aquateen Hunger Force" - one of the funniest adult cartoons ever. Every few weeks we'll have a "Movie Week" where we will take turns each night where one of us will pick a movie and the other has to watch it without complaining or gripes. The only time we didn't finish a movie is the night I tried to make Kevin watch Saw. He does not like scary movies and got freaked the first 12 minutes into the movie. So I was nice and let him stop the movie.

My picks:
Snatch
Anchorman
Kung Fu Panda
Some Aquateen Hunger Force

His Picks:
Unforgiven
Bum Fights
Lucky Number Slevin
The Godfather
The Dark Knight


These weeks that we do this have been quite fun. It's my turn tonight, and I think I want to watch Horton Hears A Who...maybe. I'm not sure what will pick. I need to buy Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels for him to see.

Anyone have any good movie ideas?

P*A*D*-Day 3 Laundry Day.

We had no towels left. So today, I got to do laundry! Yay? When I do laundry I get very bored. I would just sit there and watch T.V., except it is usually on the Spanish channel and I don't speak Spanish. So, I've started bringing my GIANT book of sudoku my sis gave me last year. I like doing Sudoku and it makes the time by really fast. Most of the huge book is filled up. I really like playing Sudoku. Kevin went to his JiuJitsu class today and brought his outfit down to be washed and dried before his next class. The towels were drying and we started to get bored so we started thinking up games to play to pass the time & so Kevin wouldn't leave me all alone in the laundry mat.



First, we played the dollah dollah bill game. One person thinks of a number, 1-10 and the other person tries to guess what it is. If they guess wrong, the roles are switched. BUT, if they guess right, they are owed a dollar. It takes a certain amount of trust in the other person that they won't switch the number if you are right and I don't think anyone has paid up since me & my sizzle made the game up.
After that [Kevin quit when he was $3 ahead so he didn't wind up a loser] we played slaps, but Kevin slaps WAYY too hard! My hand looked like someone gave it a rasberry and it hurt. Then we went on to THUMB WRESTLING! And I won!! And, as you can see from the picture, Kevin LOOOSSSTT!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

P*A*D*-Day 2 Food, Glorious Food!

I'm not really sure what made me think of taking a picture of this, but today's picture(s) are of most of the food I've eaten today. Well, at least breakfast and lunch, cause then I left the house and went to Target.

So this is my breakfast. A chocolate chip muffin and coffee in my favorite coffee mug. Speaking of coffee, I have not made one bad pot of coffee since living here! I'm so proud of myself. I have started to make more and more coffee and drink it all. About 6 cups a day. I asked my mom if that was too much. She said it shouldn't be too bad. I drink it hot in the a.m. and then leave the leftovers to get cool and put it over ice and make my self an iced coffee. DELICIOUS! I don't need no stinking Starbucks!


This is the best coffee EVER!! My mom says that coffee in a bag almost always tastes batter than canned coffee. This stuff is oh so wonderful. It makes me want to go get some whole beans and grind them myself just to see what that tastes like. I just know that I will never be able to go back to canned crap again, I have been spoiled.




And then I made lunch for Kevin. We had some ground beef, so I decided to make him sloppy joes.I accidently put in too much brown sugar, so it kinda tasted like candied beef. Weird, but it still tasted pretty good. I took pictures of all the makings of my sloppy joes, but that's too much work to post all that junk, and it isn't that big of a deal. If you need a good sloppy joe recipe, let me know, I will share!