See? Fun stuff!

And yet again, I get back in to the swing of things, and forget to blog updates. Shame on me.

Ok, lets see. Updates, updates, updates....

LOL

So after my last post, and the dreariness, I feel it necessary to update everyone on the cool stuff!

We got our tax returns! Yay! And with that, comes splurging. Because naturally, when you have money you're not used to having, self-control goes out the window..... *le sigh*

Big stuff:

New couch! OMG! We're so happy to have gotten rid of the smoke-riddled, broken, shredded by cats, stinky, tweed, wool, old couches. Check it out:


I cannot begin to tell you how comfy this thing is! You will literally sink in to it. =) We love it, and my OCD loves playing with and constantly having to fix the pillows. I don't love it, my OCD does. Get it right. ;-) My favorite spot is the corner in the middle(top of the chaise). You literally have to mount an expedition to get out of it. I can sit back in it, cross-legged, with a cat in front of me, and still have at least a foot or two of space before the edge. So nice!

We've both slept on it already. At the same time even! lol Anyways, too much fun.

Very pleased with this purchase. Not only was it inexpensive, but we love it, and there's even an added plus. The pillows? Are full of polyester batting, not a pillow with a cover. There's a zipper, and then batting. So if the pillow gets too flat? I can add more batting or remove the old and completely replace for $4 with a bag of batting from Joann's, instead of completely having to replace the pillow! And the bottom cushions are a nice, squishy foam!!! There are material surplus places all over the city that we can get this exact foam from for super cheap! We're very pleased with this purchase. =)

And, I am already working on a new afghan for it. Niceguy picked the colors, and he did a great job! This new one will actually be the bridge between my old tan afghan and the green one I made for him. You'll see when I'm done. ;-)

Moving on. dun dun dun.....

We got a rice cooker, which we've already used. See ya later Minute Rice! Healthy, and cheaper bags o' rice for us now!

Minute Rice, giant box $8 - $11.73 depending on the store.
20lb bag of basic long grain, California long grain or Jasmine rice? $11-$18 depending on which one we want.

Believe me, we eat a lot of rice. This little $30 8-cup rice cooker will pay for itself in just a few months. w00t!

We got a bread-machine.

I was doing research of all the random crap that these food companies put in our food. The preservatives, pesticides, just random garbage that is REALLY not good for you. Bread was actually at the top of my list, because of some of the things they put in it for coloring, flavor, fake grains and seeds to make it look like whole grain. Ewwwwww.

Bam! Bread machine!

We've made three loaves of bread now. Our first loaf was white-bread, which I haven't voluntarily eaten in years, except for Subway or Jimmy John's(and it's been months for them). It was deflated, but it was our first, and it was still tasty. We read the details of the cooking cycles the next time. =)

Our second loaf, three-cheese for pasta night. OMG, so nommy! I am not a huge fan of Asiago cheese, but in bread? WOW! Warm it up with a little butter, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Our third loaf, I made yesterday. "Apple-Pie" Bread. YUM! With little bits of dried apples and raisins in it. It's like candy in a loaf of bread!

And it's friggin' huge! Look:

That's a 24 oz jar, and it's even after we've already eaten about 3 inches of the blasted thing!

The only draw back to the whole bread-making process, is it takes several hours to make one loaf, and I tend to pace and check on it constantly. That kinda sucks, but the payoff is worth it. No preservatives, no junk. Just good, wholesome, healthy, bread. AND! I know EVERY ingredient that's in it. This machine will pay for itself, in about a year. A bit longer than the rice cooker, but health-wise, we feel it was well worth it.

We also made our first batch of home-made butter. It was so easy, and only takes minutes. We've completely cut out margarine and switched 100% to butter. We used our homemade butter to mix in with shaken-potatoes(my Mom will know this one) or in our house know as Potato-Goo. Very very tasty.

I got another cabinet for my yarn. We got new sheets, a new living room table, and we got caught up on all of our bills. including a double payment to the more irritating one. No bill-collectors left wanting for at least a month. =)

If you ignore the whole wisdom teeth fiasco, all in all, it's been a fun month of purchases, experimenting, and relaxing.

Work is a whole other story. lol, but I'll save that for another post.

Time to get to cleaning. I do hope everyone enjoys the remainder of their weekend!

Love to all!
~~~