MoniKitchen
Pat's Favorite Sweet & Sour Meatloaf - from Lorie
Ingredients:
-1lb ground turkey
-1 egg
-1/2 C bread crumbs
-2 tblsp parsley
-1 teasp basil
-1/2 teasp oregano
-pinch salt & pepper
-1 C Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce
-3/4 C grape jelly
Directions:
-In a saucepan, heat the jelly and bbq sauce on low until bubbling
-Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together all other ingredients (use hands to mix)
-Pour about 1/4 of the jelly/bbq mixture into the meat (again, mix with hands)
-Form meat into a meatloaf pan and pour remaining sauce over the meatloaf
-Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, uncovered
*Makes four generous servings. Very good as a leftover!!
Will You Go Out With Me?
We went to see the movie Juno! We ate some random leftovers at home and then went to Jersey's http://www.jerseyspizzaandgrill.com/ for a drink and potato skins, to keep it a cheaper night. Then off to the movie!
That's Hilaaarious
SAUSAGE still kept us laughing as well as my new found obsession with the APPLEBOTTOM jeans song ;)
Good Talk
We are being very open and talking about unfortunate job situations. What needs to happen before we can sell our condo and buy a townhouse/house, what type of place we're looking for and what our "dream jobs" are, and lastly if Milwaukee is an option for us and how that could work. No decisions yet, but I think when it comes time to make decisions, we'll be ready.
The Good Life
Hmm...This is a let down! Nothing "good" has happened to us this month! We did get a new niece - Bianca Elle Simon and a new cousin on Tim's side - Robert Clemente (yes, that's the 3rd 'Bob' in our family - my uncle, Tim's 1/2 brother and now his cousin) Sheesh!
Recap
While Tim was always a little 'eh' about his job, he got slapped with a big change a couple weeks ago. The way he'd be making sales changed and while they 'say' the bonuses will be better and quicker in this new set-up, as of June 1 Tim's salary is being slashed by $10K. He's also not very confident in the success of this company as a whole, as it is relatively new and the management doesn't really seem to have a grasp on what they are doing.
For me, I should consider myself lucky that I wasn't laid off when the Qwest Retail business was lost. But now I've been moved over to Direct Mail for AT&T. The pay is good and so is the commute. But the job I signed up for - Retail Events & Promotions - I was very excited as it was what I had decided I wanted to do with my career (event promotions, management). But now I'm doing DM which isn't going to help launch me into the event world as I planned my initial job would after a few years. So now this is just another "filler" job I must endure before I can get into what I really want. And that is making it harder also because it's been nearly 3yrs of work that I don't necessarily want to be slotted in or continue in in anyway (yellow pages & DM) so I'm afraid I'm getting more and more pigeon-holed and it will be harder for me to break out.
Our predicaments sparked several more serious conversations about moving to Milwaukee. So again, many stars would need to align to make the move possible. With these current let-downs, Milwaukee holds the promise of a "fresh start"...but we realize it may not be all that easy!
Showing posts with label the good life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the good life. Show all posts
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
MONTH #3: January 17 - February 17, 2008
MoniKitchen
Enchiladas
I know Katie just posted a recipe for Enchiladas - but this was my new recipe for the month, so I gotta post it :) Maybe we can have an Enchilada-off
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1-16oz. can refried beans
1/2 C chopped onions
1-10oz. can Enchilada sauce
2 chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 C shredded cheese
1/4 C butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 T cooking oil
1/4 tsp paprika
12 tortillas
2 C milk
3/4 C ripe olives (we don't like olives, so omitted these)
Brown beef and onion; drain
Stir in beans, salt and pepper
In another pan, heat oil, quickly dip tortillas in hot oil until soft
Place 1/3 C meat mixture on each tortilla
Top with chopped tomato and roll tightly, place seam side down in 13 x 9 pan
Melt butter, stir in flour, dash of salt and paprika
Add milk and enchilada sauce
Cook and stir until boiling - boil for 1 minute
Stir in cheese and [sliced olives], pour over tortillas
Bake at 350 for 30minutes
(Serves 6)
Will You Go Out With Me?
Eve 6 Concert at Chicago City Limits in Schaumburg
It was a Friday night. We went to Chili's first for dinner, Tim had ribs and I had fajitas!
We bought the concert tickets a few weeks ahead of time, so it was awesome to have something on the calendar to look forward to.
There were a few opening bands so we were feeling really old. Not because we were surrounded by teenie-boppers like at the Panic! At the Disco concert, but because standing for 2hrs was killing us and we got super tired being a Friday night.
But all in all we had a good time. Eve 6 played some new stuff but a lot of their old stuff, so it was a big flashback to early college. Eve 6 was Tim's favorite band in college, so it was cool to sort of "share" the experience with him!
That's Hilaarious
Road Games
On our drive up to Milwaukee to see comedian Louis C.K., we started up a new sort of road game. [We typically play the alphabet game with the billboards and freeway signs]. Our new game was coming up with City, State names after job titles. I don't remember any specific ones - but for instance: Plumber, South Dakota or Veterinarian, Florida or Gynocologist (sp?), Missouri. This derived from Tim thinking the Pennsylvania town King of Prussia is hilarious!
New Quotes
Other funny moments from the past month was the onslaught of "milk, milk, lemonade", "that's what she said", and "RI ron't RIKE remonade" - to mean "snow"- on our Iowa trip.
This continued into Katie's visit which also unveiled the true meaning behind Soulja Boi's [no, i have no idea how to spell that stupid name] "Superman" song and quotes from Tracy Morgan on SNL doing Brian Fellowes, such as "that rat needs a haircut."
Throughout the month, Tim & I said "Tim (or Monica)....C'mon" from How I Met Your Mother in the stylings of Ted Mosbey.
Good Talk
By going to Zach Vogel's funeral, it got us on the death topic. We talked about how Tim has been "lucky" having such a young family, but he's also had more deaths because he's lived with more generations in his family (pretty much all of his great-grandparents were alive when he was growing up). Whereas I had lost many family members before I was even born (I only ever knew my two grandma's and one great-grandma)...and then of course I endured a series of family deaths in college.
We've only experienced two deaths close to us since we've been together - Tim's great grandmother and Tim's stepdad's mother (so, step-grandmother). It will be interesting how we will cope together when a more detrimental loss occurs.
The Good Life
I'm starting this new section to list ways Tim & I have made our lives and marriage better. Either by luck or us making it happen!
Monica's New Job
My new job at Aspen Marketing Services is an improvement in many ways!
First, my commute has been slashed from an hour or more to 20-25min. I also received a little bump in salary which will equal over $200 extra Net per month. I went from being an Account Executive at a yellow pages agency, doing something I couldn't have cared less about to being a SENIOR Account Executive at a "real" ad agency where I work on the Qwest Retail Promotions account. So, while I don't have passionate feelings about Qwest, I'm working on big projects involving direct mail, store signage, radio spots, etc. for Qwest's store Grand Opening events - which so far seems very fun!!!
Social Events
Putting things on the calendar gives us structure and something to look forward to. our condo has felt even more like a home in the past month with all of our various guests filling it :)
Tax Return
We are getting nearly $7K (joint) in a tax return this year!!! We haven't decided for certain where it will all go, but the primary objective will be to pay off my car - which I owe about $3K on still, then toss a little to our CC's, and a little to savings!
OK! Still to come...
Month Recap and Marriage Epiphany!
The Epiphany is a long one this month...so I had to break it up ;)
Enchiladas
I know Katie just posted a recipe for Enchiladas - but this was my new recipe for the month, so I gotta post it :) Maybe we can have an Enchilada-off
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1-16oz. can refried beans
1/2 C chopped onions
1-10oz. can Enchilada sauce
2 chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 C shredded cheese
1/4 C butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 T cooking oil
1/4 tsp paprika
12 tortillas
2 C milk
3/4 C ripe olives (we don't like olives, so omitted these)
Brown beef and onion; drain
Stir in beans, salt and pepper
In another pan, heat oil, quickly dip tortillas in hot oil until soft
Place 1/3 C meat mixture on each tortilla
Top with chopped tomato and roll tightly, place seam side down in 13 x 9 pan
Melt butter, stir in flour, dash of salt and paprika
Add milk and enchilada sauce
Cook and stir until boiling - boil for 1 minute
Stir in cheese and [sliced olives], pour over tortillas
Bake at 350 for 30minutes
(Serves 6)
Will You Go Out With Me?
Eve 6 Concert at Chicago City Limits in Schaumburg
It was a Friday night. We went to Chili's first for dinner, Tim had ribs and I had fajitas!
We bought the concert tickets a few weeks ahead of time, so it was awesome to have something on the calendar to look forward to.
There were a few opening bands so we were feeling really old. Not because we were surrounded by teenie-boppers like at the Panic! At the Disco concert, but because standing for 2hrs was killing us and we got super tired being a Friday night.
But all in all we had a good time. Eve 6 played some new stuff but a lot of their old stuff, so it was a big flashback to early college. Eve 6 was Tim's favorite band in college, so it was cool to sort of "share" the experience with him!
That's Hilaarious
Road Games
On our drive up to Milwaukee to see comedian Louis C.K., we started up a new sort of road game. [We typically play the alphabet game with the billboards and freeway signs]. Our new game was coming up with City, State names after job titles. I don't remember any specific ones - but for instance: Plumber, South Dakota or Veterinarian, Florida or Gynocologist (sp?), Missouri. This derived from Tim thinking the Pennsylvania town King of Prussia is hilarious!
New Quotes
Other funny moments from the past month was the onslaught of "milk, milk, lemonade", "that's what she said", and "RI ron't RIKE remonade" - to mean "snow"- on our Iowa trip.
This continued into Katie's visit which also unveiled the true meaning behind Soulja Boi's [no, i have no idea how to spell that stupid name] "Superman" song and quotes from Tracy Morgan on SNL doing Brian Fellowes, such as "that rat needs a haircut."
Throughout the month, Tim & I said "Tim (or Monica)....C'mon" from How I Met Your Mother in the stylings of Ted Mosbey.
Good Talk
By going to Zach Vogel's funeral, it got us on the death topic. We talked about how Tim has been "lucky" having such a young family, but he's also had more deaths because he's lived with more generations in his family (pretty much all of his great-grandparents were alive when he was growing up). Whereas I had lost many family members before I was even born (I only ever knew my two grandma's and one great-grandma)...and then of course I endured a series of family deaths in college.
We've only experienced two deaths close to us since we've been together - Tim's great grandmother and Tim's stepdad's mother (so, step-grandmother). It will be interesting how we will cope together when a more detrimental loss occurs.
The Good Life
I'm starting this new section to list ways Tim & I have made our lives and marriage better. Either by luck or us making it happen!
Monica's New Job
My new job at Aspen Marketing Services is an improvement in many ways!
First, my commute has been slashed from an hour or more to 20-25min. I also received a little bump in salary which will equal over $200 extra Net per month. I went from being an Account Executive at a yellow pages agency, doing something I couldn't have cared less about to being a SENIOR Account Executive at a "real" ad agency where I work on the Qwest Retail Promotions account. So, while I don't have passionate feelings about Qwest, I'm working on big projects involving direct mail, store signage, radio spots, etc. for Qwest's store Grand Opening events - which so far seems very fun!!!
Social Events
Putting things on the calendar gives us structure and something to look forward to. our condo has felt even more like a home in the past month with all of our various guests filling it :)
Tax Return
We are getting nearly $7K (joint) in a tax return this year!!! We haven't decided for certain where it will all go, but the primary objective will be to pay off my car - which I owe about $3K on still, then toss a little to our CC's, and a little to savings!
OK! Still to come...
Month Recap and Marriage Epiphany!
The Epiphany is a long one this month...so I had to break it up ;)
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