Toni's Mac and Cheese

Ingredients 1 pound macaroni pasta such as shells or cavatappi 4 cups water 4 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon ground mustard (optional) 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1 5- ounce can evaporated milk 4 cups shredded medium or sharp cheddar cheese 2 cups soft white cheese such as gouda Swiss, fontina, or provolone (or whatever you have - I usually do a combo of cheddar and parmesan) Instructions In the insert of an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, add the macaroni, water, butter, kosher salt, ground mustard and garlic salt. Cook in the pressure cooker for 1 minute on high, then quick release. Add the evaporated milk and half of the cheeses and use a wooden spoon to vigorously stir until the cheeses have melted then repeat with the rest of the cheese, stirring until the sauce is creamy. Add any additional toppings or mix-ins below at this time. Serve warm.

Ranch Chicken and Rice

This was literally one of the easiest things I've ever made.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of water
Dry ranch mix

Add these all to instant pot and cook for 15 minutes. Natural pressure release for 10.

Pull the chicken out and shred. Switch instant pot to saute and melt 1 block cream cheese in sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in shredded chicken.

Serve over rice.

Lamp

Our first apartment as a couple was a dark little one bedroom basement apartment. Our windows were so little that I'm sure it was a fire hazard because the only thing that was getting through there was maybe a cat. It was rather dark and gloomy so I ended up acquiring a few free lamps to brighten the place up. One was an intricate brown one, and while I wasn't particularly attached to the shade, the base of it was quite pretty.
Allen hated it. He thought it was an ugly lamp and has wanted me to get rid of it since we got it. I haven't caved, so it sits on top of our dresser with our bluray.

One day, as he almost knocked it over, he exclaimed 

"that's it! I'm getting rid of this dumb lamp!"

I looked at him in horror and said 

"I love lamp."

Canned Pumpkin and Other Fun Facts

I have just finished my time at SLCC and I feel so free! 

I had plans to clean out my closet and do all of the tasks that I had been neglecting with my few weeks of free time between finishing up at SLCC and starting at Weber. What I failed to account for was the fact that I had the rest of my life to live. While I do have a lot less to stress about, I am also still working full time and I have a whole slew of family events to catch up on. Weddings and baby blessings and mission farewells fill all of my weekends from here until I start back at school, so the next time I will see a free Saturday will be in December. Ha! As if anyone ever has free time on a Saturday in December. 

I did do the dishes! All of the dishes in our house are done. Also, thanks to my husband, the last load of laundry is in the washer. I am not entirely sure that we have EVER had all the dishes done AND all the laundry done at the same time ever in our lives, so this is an excellent accomplishment for us. Gold Stars. 

Some fun facts for you. 

- I just finished all of my courses for my associate's degree, and I have to use spell check every single time because I strongly believe that associate's degree should be spelled differently than it is. I am waiting for a grade from my Marketing teacher and then everything will be DONE! Even though I didn't actually have to take a marketing class.. I just took it because I wanted to see if I'd like it. Who takes courses for fun in college? 

- I am now scuba certified. As long as I remember to send in my certification paperwork!

- I just wrote part of a blog post. As long as we're following the trend, this will stay in my drafts for years to come and never actually be published. 

- canned 100% pumpkin settles upset puppy tummies. 

And that's it! Hope you weren't hoping for a funny story today! 

that's not my trailer

We've been looking at houses. After we finished with our realtor the other day, he left and we stood next to our car discussing options for a few minutes. A man across the street waved at us and smiled before crossing the street to talk to us. 

"Was that your trailer parked here?" he asked.

"No," we responded. We were a bit concerned at this point. We've had our fair share of cranky neighbors when it concerns parking, so we were hoping that we weren't about to get blamed for something that we didn't do, yet again. 

"Oh, well do you know who it belongs to?"

Long story short, the man didn't live in the neighborhood, but his Dad did. The man's poor elderly father had mistaken the trailer for his son's trailer and had filled it up with tree branches and other yard clippings. When the son arrived and asked him whose trailer he was filling up his father said, "Yours!"

The poor man had filled up some random person's trailer with trash. 

jay-fizzle

This is Jazmyn Koko Beans. She has somewhere near a million names.

Jazzy
Beans
Jazz-beans
Jay-Fizzle
Tato (like Puh-tato, but without the Puh)

She's amazing and I adore her.

She's one of those pocket size dogs that has no purpose in life except to warm your heart. I love her. 

The Dog Park

Today we took our little Leia Bear to the dog park. Tymbur Wolf stayed behind because he tends to get grumpy about meeting other dogs, but Leia was pretty excited about the whole thing. 

As soon as we got there she practically jumped out the window. She'd never been there before, but I guess she could smell the excitement or something. We quickly got out and let her into the play area. 

She was immediately befriended by an adorable horse of a dog. He was a great dane and he was at least twice her size. When he approached her you could tell that she was a bit scared by his size. She took off running as fast as she could and he easily galloped behind her. She quickly tried to make friends with a tiny little corgi. Much less scary. 

We laughed as the great dane followed her around as she made sure to smile and greet every human in the dog park. Apparently we need to take her to a regular park since it was the people that she enjoyed the most! It's probably best that we teach her to be a little less free with her kisses though. There was a little girl whose face happened to be Leia's height who was pretty surprised at the quick run-by kiss that she recieved. 

We didn't stay long but she had a lovely time. It was nice to get out and enjoy the pretty weather.