Warning: Paper Liners Don't Go With Silicone

Last night we found out that using paper cupcake liners with silicone cupcake pans is not a good idea. Once I got home from a baby shower yesterday I decided to use my Xmas presents (silicone cupcake pans) and make some cupcakes for Andy; however, this is definitely after he asked me four times to make them. Anyway, I put the paper cupcake liners in the pans and Andy mentioned that he didn’t think I needed them with the silicone pans. I have always used them and like using them so I just ignored his comment. The cupcakes are suppose to bake for 18 minutes and at about 10 minutes in the kitchen filled up with smoke. It was pretty crazy. We assumed there was food crusted somewhere in the oven so we opened the doors and windows and figured that the cupcakes only had 8 more minutes and then we just won’t use the oven. Madison went running outside in the backyard and she was freaking out from the smoke. When I took the cupcakes out after their 18 minutes of smoke filled baking we both realized why the oven was smoking. The paper liners were starting on fire. They were completely black. Of course Andy had to say “I told you so.” That was not fair because he really didn’t know the paper liners would burn like that, he was just guessing. There was only enough batter left to make four cupcakes, so poor Andy didn’t get all the cupcakes like he wanted. I just wanted to share with you in case you get silicone cupcake pans and decide to use liners. I apparently learned that paper liners don’t go well with silicone.

Third Session Equals Nasty Drink

Well, I had my third acupuncture session last night and I think it went really well. I am definitely starting to notice a difference in my health. I am more awake throughout the day and I don’t get as cold as I normally do. I also was instructed to start on another herbal beverage today and continue it for another couple weeks. The herbal drink will jumpstart my immune system; however, my acupuncturist informed me that it will taste nasty. I am thinking how much worse can it taste than the astragalus water? Well, I found out this morning. I filled my Styrofoam coffee cup with hot water and put the H13 (aka nasty herbs) in it and watched them quickly dissolve. Once the water cooled off a bit I tried to chug it down as fast as I could. I didn’t get far in my chugging because I instantly started to gag and came close to puking in my office. I immediately stopped my herbal chugging and was frustrated with the smell and gagging taste so I dumped it out. After the nasty taste finally disappeared from my mouth an hour later I decided that I would take my second drink after lunch and this time I would man-up and just take the drink…with my nose plugged shut of course. It was now time to drink the second drink of the day and my goal was to drink at least half of it, so I only put half of the contents in half a glass of hot water. This time I had two supporters from my office that would not let me quite. It was like they were rooting for me to finish a marathon, or something, but nope it was a nasty drink. I am facing my Styrofoam cup and ready to go in and take it like a man, but instead I came out whining like a pansy. I did accomplish a big gulp and was ready to throw in the towel, but my supporters wouldn’t let me give up. Geez, they wouldn’t leave my dam office until I drank the cup of puke. I figured the only way to get rid of them was to drink my H13 so they could leave me alone to wallow in my nasty after taste. About 20 minutes later I had it all sitting quietly in my belly. Now, all that work for a half a cup of liquid…geez…what is a whole cup going to take to get down?

We Got It Right The Second Time Around

Andy and I spent our weekend repainting the living room and hallway of our house. For those of you that may not know, but we painted our house before we moved in and realized the colors were hideous. They were a caramel color in the living room and down the hallway with one of the living room walls being a dark brown with a tint of green. This was awful and way too dark for such a small house. We figured that we went crazy with the colors because we lived in apartments for way too long where all the walls are stark white and completely boring. We didn’t know what we wanted to repaint it, but it had to be repainted. We have acquired paint samples for the past six months and they have piled up. We finally agreed that we would just pick the colors and go with it this weekend. We chose to go with Parchment Paper and Gobi Desert. Parchment Paper would be for two of the walls in the living room and down the hallway while Gobi Desert would be for two of the living room walls. The names of the colors probably don’t mean much so Parchment Paper is light white with a hint of brown in it and Gobi Desert is a khaki color. Prior to starting Andy and I had a discussion on how much labor this would be and that neither of us were thrilled to do it, so I suggested hiring someone to paint for us. I mean, Andy’s mom was here to help the first time around and this time we don’t have anyone to help us. Andy thought that was a crazy idea for such a small house. Hey, at least I tried to get out of it. We went full speed ahead on Friday night with the primer and then on Saturday morning we started painting and finally finished with the second coat on Sunday morning. I do have to admit that Andy did majority of the work, but I did my fair share of the priming and I did help with the first coat; however, I was a little MIA during the second coat. I was just kind of over it. Andy did such a great job with painting and now our living room and hallway are so much brighter and look so much bigger. We definitely picked the right colors the second time around.

Mmmm...Acupuncture To Improve My Immune System

Everyone who knows me knows how I have a horrible immune system because I am always sick. A perfect example is that I am sitting here with another cold when I just had a cold only three weeks ago. I have had this struggle with my immune system as long as I can remember so it was time that I looked into doing something about it. A co-worker suggested I see an acupuncturist/herbal medicine and at first I was not interested, but as she continued informing me of the positive’s I said “Sign me up.” I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? So, I got a referral from my co-worker and called the acupuncture lady and nervously made my appointment. I had my first appointment last week and I was extremely nervous because I am completely afraid of needles and now I am willingly going to see someone to stick needles all over my body. On top of it I am going to pay someone to stick needles in me and put me on an herbal diet. Wow, was I freaking out. The acupuncture lady agreed that I do have a horrible immune system and she is completely positive that we can turn this around with herbal medicine and acupuncture. Since last week I have been drinking hot water with astragalus in it, which by the way tastes like hay and leaves an awful taste in my mouth. I have to have two glasses of this by 3pm each day and it’s a struggle, but since I want to improve my immune system I am following instructions. Another thing she told me is that I am not allowed to eat anymore bagels nor am I allowed to have ice in any of my drinks. All drinks have to be at room temperature, or hotter, from now on and no more soda. The soda rule didn’t bother me because I never cared for soda anyway. I also have to start every day off with a hot breakfast. This is tough on days when I am running late for work, so I have bought the packets of oatmeal and I choke that down at my desk every morning. I am not a fan of oatmeal and I think it tastes just as awful as astragalus water. I am seeing this lady once a week and I have been stuck with needles twice now. The actual acupuncture didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I realized I was freaking out for nothing because I barely noticed the needles. Plus, the lady was really good and what she was doing and very knowledgeable so I trusted her. I am not sure if this will improve my immune system or not, but I am willing to give it a shot. It’s been two visits now and I will continue this alternative medicine to find out if I improve or not. Next week she is putting me on more herbs, so I am super excited to drink more stuff that tastes like crap!

Goodbye Focus

Well, last night it was time to say goodbye ye to the Focus. A car that has been with me for the past 3 and a half years and took me from WI to AZ. It was time to upgrade and trade in the Focus for a more adult and classy car. I have been looking at cars online for the past six months; however, I just hate buying cars so I have been putting this off for so long and coming up with excuses. My main excuse six months ago was to wait until after the holidays. Let’s just say the holidays came up way too fast. Then I was thinking well let’s just wait until February for some reason…mainly because I was dreading actually dealing with the sales people. My dad always did this for me so I was not prepared to do this on my own. Andy is there to help, but he is not the most vocal person I know. Plus, he is the type of person who says “Well, if you want to then go ahead,” or he will encourage me to get an absolutely beautiful car that might be out of my reach. Well, the other day I came across a beauty online that was an awesome deal and I couldn’t just let this one get away by coming up with another excuse. I inquired about it online and setup an appointment to see this metal of beauty. For the next 24 hours I spent just dreading the actual appointment time as I just don’t have much of a backbone when it comes to stuff like this. Let’s just say m experience started out stressful, because I made it stressful by stressing myself out, and it ended up painless. We got to the Audit of North Scottsdale dealership and there she was…a 2007 Audi A4, black with black leather interior and tinted windows. It was screaming my name. We took her for a test drive and man does this car have balls. I love a car with a good set of balls. There’s nothing better than driving a fast car…a car that can get up and go in 2 seconds. It was such an awesome feeling and so different from the Focus that I was sold in 2.5 seconds. It was time to talk price and we got a good deal. I got what I wanted and everyone is happy. Andy is just so happy that the Focus is gone and he can fit into my new car. I am in love! I hope Andy doesn’t get jealous. :)

All's Quiet Again

All’s quiet in the house as Mike and Ross left yesterday morning on their way back to L.A. and Chicago. Those two guys are a riot. When they are around all they ever do is make you laugh. I do love having them for company because they are always a ton of fun. They are welcome in our house anytime. Friday night we took them out in Old Town Scottsdale at a local Mexican restaurant called Frank and Lupe’s that Andy and I just love. They have the best sopapia’s and the best margaritas in town, so we started off our night with two pitchers of margaritas before we headed to the bars. Then we took them to a bar called Saddle Ranch where there is a bull in the middle of the bar that people can ride. This can be very entertaining so it’s always a good place to take out-of-towners for fun. I tried hard to get the guys to ride the bull, but they just were not that into it as they would rather watch everyone else on the bull. Either way it was a good time. Then about one in the morning we stopped by our friend Tom’s house on the way home to say hi and have a drink on his patio before we called it a night. They both left town on Saturday morning and I pretty much spent the rest of the weekend sitting on my butt and it’s been great.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a good New Year’s Eve last night. I know we had a good time. Andy had two of his good friends in town, Mike and Ross, so we spent New Year’s with them. We started off the night with fondue at our house. I was able to use my two new pots that I got for Christmas so I was pretty excited for that. I did a cheese fondue for an appetizer and a chocolate fondue for desert and then the boys grilled us dinner. Once we got our bellies filled we all headed to a nightclub in Scottsdale called Myst. Normally, Andy and I are not nightclub people and I can’t even remember the last time we went to a nightclub, but we chose this place to party at this year for New Year’s. They had a Mardi Gras theme and the first hour of the party was cocktail hour so all drinks were free. Let’s just say the boys definitely took advantage of that first hour. After that we all had a good time ringing in the New Year. We were good responsible adults and took a cab home. It only took us about an hour, or so, to get a cab. For such a big city I do have to say that Phoenix does not have a very good transportation system and they are definitely lacking cabs. The boys eventually did get us a cab, even though they basically stole it from another group of people, and we were able to get home safely. Here is a picture of the four of us at the beginning of the night last night.