THE CRUISE!!!

Based on THAT title you're thinking we went on a cruise. That would be logical.
Well, that's what we tell everyone but in reality I was too pregnant and they wouldn't let me on the boat.
So everyone in my immediate family (15 of them) plus 9 of my cousins, aunts and uncles got on the boat while Bryan and I bid them farewell. (Picture me mentally hurling a champayne bottle at the boat, using undue force.)
I had my cry about it 4 months ago when I discovered the cruise rules that state you have to be less than 24 weeks along. Woops!
There are worse things that could happen... I'm just trying to think of them. just kidding

We already had our plane tickets so we flew out there with them. Then we were on our own for 8 days which has never happened before in the history of B & M B.

What do you do when you have endless amounts of time and money (just kidding, not endless amounts of money) and no kids for 8 days? ...

...take lots of pictures of yourself, of course.

For everyone who could care less about the details and just want to see pictures...

Universal Studios

Epcot CenterFort Lauderdale River WalkFort Lauderdale Beach(never underestimate the intrigue of PEOPLE: Style Watch)


Bryan's model pose. Isn't he hot? jk. (secretly I'm not)

Some Details (not to be confused with 'all the details'):

Alamo Rental Car:
AWESOME! Recommend with full force.
Plus we got a screaming discount with our Costco membership.
Imagine a 2009 Blue Ford Focus.
Pleasure in and of itself since we've never had a car more than 10 years old.
ALSO: Syrius Radio.
Imagine Lady GaGa: Poker Face and Elliot Yamin: Some People Die for Love.
Rockin' Out.

'The Hyatt Place'.
Not to be confused with 'The Hyatt'.
Also recommend with full force.
42 inch plasma screen TV's in every room.
Modern decor (which just makes me giddy).

Universal Studios: Slightly overrated. (Except 'The Mummy' was pretty sweet)
Epcot Center: Overrated.
Florida's Spring Break: WAY overrated.
Universal's Islands of Adventure: Worth EVERY PENNY.
Recommend: Spider Man Ride - worth the hour and a half wait.
Also recommend: Jurassic Park Ride - escaping Mr. T Rex was exhilirating.
Even more exhilirating was the fact that I did not go into labor upon our sudden and unexpected plummet.
Recommend: buying the Express Pass so you can skip to the front of all the lines.
Worth the $50 if you ask me.

Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory: BEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack Daniel's Fried Shrimp at TGI Fridays: COULD NOT GET ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!

And that's basically what we did. Eat. Sleep. and sit. Perfect vacation. Every once in awhile feel slightly melancholy that we weren't on the cruise playing silly games with the rest of our fam.
For a detailed account of their vacation go here.

One thing to note: coming home from these vacations to a fabulous home and great job is ALMOST as cool as going on the vacay in the first place.
A LOT different than coming home to a little apartment and SCHOOL.
AKA: STILL getting used to the post-school life.
Can't get enough of it. Is it for real?
Takes awhile to sink in I guess.
Going on 10 months now.

Grocery Smarts

Who wants to know how cool I am?

I knew it. You're all dying to know HOW cool I am.

Have you heard of Grocery Smarts? Have you?

I just went to Albertsons and bought this...Full Price: $37.78
Sale Price: $18.08
I Paid: $10.68

That's a savings of 78%.

"How, Marie? How did you do it?" you ask.
And I say, "Grocery Smarts, my friend, Grocery Smarts".

Grocery Smarts tells you whats on sale, when, and where to find the manufacturers coupon so that you can combine the store's sale price with the manufacturer coupon.

This is almost as exhilarating as buying a fabulous dresser at the DI for $15...

such as this one...
I was so stoked when I went through the check out line at Albertson's I gave the checker a high five. He said he couldn't be happier about my success.

DISCLAIMERS (this may be long. Stop if you're winded or uninterested):

• Grocery Smarts is an off-shoot of Pinching Your Pennies which I've been told about before but their website is SO CONFUSING I could not figure it out and I just gave up.
• When you go to the website you need a passport to get the local grocery stores' sales. The passport for St. George is g84ctb.
  
• Grocery Smarts has representatives who do tiny little seminars. When you go to it you're wondering what the heck you're going to have to buy or what the catch is. The catch is that the representative gets a little commission from all the newspaper subscriptions they sell. In other words... I subscribe to 4 Sunday newspapers so I can get 4 of every coupon that comes each Sunday. You can only use one coupon per item so I needed 4 coupons to get my 4 boxes of Duncan Hines for .65 cents each. Get my drift? The newspapers cost me about $15/month. Coupon savings this last trip?... $7.40... and I only bought 11 items. I'm just getting started.
• The whole Grocery smarts system takes awhile to get used to. AKA there's a learning curve... just warning ya. I've been chewing my nails for 3 weeks now trying to get it down but I think I've got it and I'm REALLY excited.
  
• You buy what's on sale. In other words... you make your grocery list based on what's on sale NOT based on what you want to cook that week. AKA you basically just fill your pantry with things that you'll know you'll use eventually sometime. I pretty much don't NEED bathroom cleaner right now but when I do I'll just go to my bomb shelter and get my fabulous new bottle of Lysol that I bought for .75 cents instead of going to the store and buying it for full price ($2.99).
  
• SOME people save hundreds a month, others just spend the same amount they always did but buy a lot more food. I'm guessing I'll be somewhere in between. I'll let ya know. And you know I will since I CANNOT resist blogging about something so cool.

IN case you wanted to know every detail of my last transaction...
Kelloggs Cereal:
Regularly $4.99.
On sale for $2.29.
Used a $1.50 off coupon.
Got it for .79 cents.

Lysol Bathroom Cleaner:
Regularly $2.99.
On sale 50% off for $1.50.
Used a .75 cents off coupon.
Got it for .75 cents.

Duncan Hines Cake Mix:
Regularly $2.29.
On sale for $1.
Used a .35 cents off coupon.
Got it for .65 cents.

THIS is the woman who taught my seminar. She was fabulous AND she didn't get any commission for it. She just did it for free as a favor. How nice is that?

Easter Cookies

Seriously. Hard to resist making sugar cookies for a Holiday like Easter.
Fondant is one of my favorite toys.
I am secretly bugged, though, at how much the cookies expanded while cooking.
Cute little bunny turned into Chubby Bunny.
Maybe the Easter Bryan, I mean Bunny, will bring me "The Top Secrets of Making Sugar Cookies" book.

I also wouldn't mind THIS...

And, um, maybe even THIS...

(well, you have to pre-order that one. It's having a hard time being released.)

um....................

Pioneer Woman Favorite Ever Asparagus

I am SUCH a Pioneer Woman fan.
I thought I should voice that since I don't think that it's obvious.
I tried another one of her 5 favorite ever recipes... Roasted Asparagus.Don't you love how there's only about 5 stalks on my big huge plate?
That's because when I took them out of the oven I couldn't stop shoving them in my mouth long enough to take a picture.
But finally I decided to use some self-mastery skills and halt my devouring for the better good.
Notice the little dark brown spots on the tops (not sure what the correct verbage would be) of the asparagus'?
That is my FAVORITE part.
Little tiny crunchy roastedy pieces.
Yum. And WAY EASY!
I must note... Bryan wasn't the biggest fan but he has a thing for not liking asparagus. Something about it being stringy.
Obviously that works in our marriage because that means... more for me!

Happy Birthday, Mom

I secretly stole this chair from my mom's house last time I was up there...

And then I returned it to her like this for her birthday...

Now THAT was fun!
Happy Birthday, Mom!

Favorite Burger EVER

I tried the Pioneer Woman's Favorite Burger Ever.

Um... here's a much better picture. So was it good?

WAS IT GOOD?
(all sorts of inflections in that sentence to hint at the fact that um....)

IT WAS DANG GOOD!
(a swear word would've been much more effective)

It was TOTALLY and UTTERLY FANTASTIC!!!

The Top Secret:
The taste of the sweet brown sugar carmelized onions with the tart crumbled blue cheese was
OUTSTANDING!!!

You must use a Kaiser roll.
You must use 'fat' beef.
You must season the meat before you form it into patties.
You must. You must. You must.
You must try it.

Pops

Pops came into town yesterday.

(as in 'Daddy Dubs'.)

I'm thinking there's only about 2 people out there who can figure out what that really means. ( :

We stayed up till 1 am last night having a chat fest.

We covered a lot of very very important subjects such as...

bat poo

stalagmites

natural foods

But the point is... 1 am?

Did I forget I was pregnant?

Because I am Ms. 'Stay-up-late Hangover' today.

And because of such, I can think of nothing better to do with my time right now than sit on my junky trunk and...

(drumroll please)

...watch deleted scenes from Twilight in HI-DEF!

(Did I just say junky trunk?)

Mark's Favorite Quotes

I LOVE Mark's favorite quotes.
They're on his side bar on his blog.
I don't often go to people's actual blogs because I just get updates in my google reader.
But I had to go to Mark's today to comment on his very disturbing post about Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.
I'll be waiting for that book review, Mark.

Here's his favorite quotes...
Definitely worth posting...

• If I had a dollar for every brain you don't have, I'd have $1.00.
• The dodo died. Then Dodi died, Di died and Dando died... Dido must be scared to death.
• Give some people an inch, and they think they are rulers.
• Floggings will continue until morale improves.
• Everyone hates me because I'm paranoid.
• Dyslexics of the world, UNTIE!
• Constant change is here to stay.
• As long as I can remember, I've had amnesia.
• Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
• All I want is a warm bed, a kind word, and unlimited power.

Why do I get the feeling he got at least one of these quotes from Sponge Bob?

Best Ever Artichoke Dip

This is from the 'Grandma Angie Lyman Family Cookbook'.
(pg. 2 for fellow posterity)

I am CONTINUALLY impressed with the recipes that come out of this book.
SUCH good taste. SUCH foodie connoisseurs.
SO PROUD to be related!!!

I have found 2 BEST EVERS so far in this book.
THIS Artichoke Dip
and
White Chicken Chile.

There's more lurking... I know it.
If you know of one amongst these pages and you're not sharing... you're in trouble.
Double Trouble.

And don't give me that 'they're all good recipes' crap... because they're not.
They might be good... but best evers have requirements.
They can't just be filling and yummy... (like Hawaiian Haystacks)
They have to be FANTASTIC.
and FABULOUS!
and get RAVE REVIEWS every time you make them.
EVERY TIME!

I have about 20 recipes so far that I consider to be Best Evers...
Heidi's Sausage Stars
Potato Puff Rolls
Heidi's Tomato Soup
Keri's Texas Sheet Cake
Ugly Dip
Mulfuletta-Style Braciola

...just to name a few

Did you know that The Pioneer Woman just posted her top 5 favorite recipes? (3/20 post)
I'm determined to try them all.
I really can't resist when someone says it's their favorite.
CAN'T!

For your pleasure:
BEST EVER ARTICHOKE DIP

2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. mayonnaise
2 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese
8 cloves chopped fresh garlic
2 (1 lb.) jars marinated artichoke hearts, cut up

Use softened cream cheese and mix all ingredients (except artichoke hearts) with an electric mixer.
Fold in artichoke hearts.
Bake for 30 minutes at 400 in a pie plate.

Dip with cut up french bread or baguette (best) or tortilla chips (still pretty good).

They Pray

... with their eyes open, of course. Sometimes Bryson will close his eyes for a second or two. And they think if they sit on their bums that's the same as kneeling.

More Projects

BEFORE

This is called 'the slatboard'... aka: why not be a headboard?And these are called the file drawers... aka: why not be nightstands?

Ta Da!

The headboard: $10 buckaroonigans + $15 for the fabric ($2.50/yd at Wallyworld - lowest I've ever seen it)
Would've liked a nice damask print like the exact one on the background of my blog... or this one...but could only find it for $25/yd.... until today.
Found it here for $6.98/yd.
Good thing I didn't find that last week or I might have succumbed to the purchase.
Let's see... 6 yards x $6.98 = $41.88. Hmmmmmmmm!


The 'nightstands' were $5 each plus $5 for each totally sweet, chunky nob.
I'm not totally in love with the file drawers as night stands.
I think their going to be moved back to their original purpose in life and go in the office.
I'm sure the DI will have another fabulous set of nightstands waiting for me soon.

Another project...
The Bookshelf
$10

Before....
And after...

Who knew molding cost so much?
But so worth it.

The Chest of Drawers

BEFORE

AFTER

The satisfaction I get out of completing these projects is unmeasurable.
I CANNOT stop.
It is way too much fun.
Bought a headboard today. ($10 smackaroonies)
Well, it's actually a base board thingy that goes under a mattress but I thought it looked like it could be a headboard and it happens to be the right size.
I'm going to cover it with fabric and screw it to the bed frame.
HAHA. It's going to be fabulous.
Now I just have to pick out some fabric...
... and strive to get something that's not black and white.
Doubt it.

DI Spice

CANNOT get enough of the DI.
$5 buckaroonies for the sandbox below.I go there almost every day in search of nightstands and headboards...
...Inevitably always coming home with something else. ( :

Cake Pops

They turned out SO CUTE!!!!!!!!
From The Pioneer Woman who got it from Bakerella.
MY TIP: DO NOT put the whole container of frosting in... it makes them too gooey.
PW said that's the way Bakerella does it but in the original recipe it says not to. Don't.
I'm thinking about Rice Krispy Treat pops?!? Hm!
I feel like I want to put a stick in everything now. Can't get enough of the POPS.

Can I Just......

... say a few things here.

I tried this... as suggested by my friend, Lauren, as her favorite product EVER!

EVER? Well, of course I HAD to get in on THAT.

My analysis...
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!
You just spray it on (and may I say, it sprays on in a very desirable mist-like fashion), tug and smooth a little at the wrinkles and WALLAH!... wrinkles released!

And while I'm at it.... I've tried this...and have since determined that it works much better than this...
Just my opinion.

Another thing I would like to say:
For an utterly fabulous peanut butter frosting recipe just.... continue reading...

Peanut Butter Frosting:
2 ( 8 oz. each) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
1-1/2 c. peanut butter

This is from the 'Peanut Butter Lovers Cake' recipe by Taste of Home.
Couldn't find a link to it and too lazy to type the recipe.
Besides, I never got to taste it because it went to the 'Blue & Gold Banquet' Auction.
Like to support our local cub scouts. ( :
(or maybe I just like an excuse to make a fabulous cake)
But REALLY, all it was was a chocolate cake layered and slathered in this FABULOUS peanut butter frosting (and then tackily decorated by myself)!
One more thing...
Jack Bauer WILL save the day.
And it WILL be spectacular.
(Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself.)
He must. He must.
Our very lives depend on it.
I would like to ask President Obama one question...
Would you put your life in the hands of Jack Bauer?
I hope he comments on my blog with his answer.
Going to watch AI now.
I predict an hour of delightful entertainment.

WAIT! Don't leave. I have one more thing to say...

The Snickers Cookie!

YUM!
Can you see that?
Can you see the mini snickers bar baked into the middle of this chocolate chip cookie?
You will need two items for this project...
a bag of mini snickers bars
a package of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

ENJOY!