Some of these are from Pinterest!

(Graphic I made, my favorite saying. ♥ )

Pinterest might prove to be bad for my wallet, lol. I'm having a lot of fun organizing my Home & Kitchen Decor Idea boards. Most of the stuff is a little out of budget for me, but these dishes... omg. I fell in love with them. I love anything black and white, and damask is so elegant! It matches the color scheme of my favorite living room chairs. (Our color scheme seems to be black, white & a pop of bright aqua or teal).

It's my Valentines gift. ♥ I'm sooo excited! I love them! It's a 16 piece set from Target.

Damask 16-pc. Dinnerware Set - Black/ White

I also bought a gorgeous hoodie on Amazon.com. But the price was right. It used to retail for $180.00 because it was Christian Audigier, but that & the Ed Hardy stuff isn't as popular anymore so it was on sale for $29.99! It is GORGEOUS in person and so well made, I love it! ♥

CRYSTAL ROCK Christian Audigier Love Faith Womens Tunic Hoodie

Soooo.... while Pinterest might be great for ideas, recipes, home decor ideas, it can be bad for your wallet! At least all our bills are paid for the month, lol! ;-)

I joined Pinterest last week. At first I was a little confused of what it was all about. But now it's getting a little addicting. It's like a giant bulletin board of your own. You can pin and share recipes, funny pictures, links of crafts or home decor you like. Pretty much anything you like. You can create categories for each of your "bulletin" boards. It's quite addicting. You can also share your posts on Facebook. :-)

Cherry eyes, carrot nose & toothpick arms! Lol!

The snowman was made as a joke. We got 3 inches of snow on Saturday & my Mom was teasing my husband saying he should make his 1st ever snowman. :-p

When I last wrote about the Kindle Fire, I was still unsure, whether it would live up my expectations. There were so many conflicting articles online about what it would do or what it couldn't do.

I've had my Kindle Fire for a little over 2 months now and I can say it has definitely lived up to my expectations. I absolutely LOVE it. The 7 inch touch screen is really vibrant. I love it's compact size. It's a bit heavier than I expected it to be, but I've gotten used to it.

I love that even if I'm waiting for my train in the freezing cold with gloves on- the touch screen responds! I don't even have to take my gloves off! That is so neat to me, considering most touch screens won't respond when you have gloves on! The keyboard is a nice size when you have your Kindle Fire in landscape mode, it's almost like typing on a real keyboard. I've heard people have had issues with the sensitivity of the touch screen, but I haven't had any.


It's true that you don't have access to the actual Android Market. You have to go through the Amazon App Store, but they have been pretty good at adding all of the apps I normally use. Plus they offer a free paid app every day for free! I've gotten a few good ones that way! (Monopoly, Drawing Pad). I also own Sim City Deluxe and the graphics are amazing on that!

My Apps

I use my Kindle Fire every day on the train and at home. I love that on the train I can use my T-mobile Sidekick 4G as a mobile router so I can browse the internet on my Kindle Fire when there are no hot spots available. (I have unlimited high speed internet from T-mobile). Plus I'm lucky that when I'm waiting for my train home, 30th Street Station has free wi-fi!

My library offers free e-books now. So I'm constantly checking out books. There's also a lot of free books & classics available in the Amazon Kindle store. And I've also purchased a few books.

Just some of my books.

The Kindle Fire only has 6GB of internal storage. I have a bunch of books, 1 movie, photos, music & apps installed, and I still have 3GB left. Plus I love the Amazon Cloud Storage. You can store unlimited music on your cloud drive. (You can only access your cloud drive when connected to the internet). The other neat thing about the cloud storage is if you remove a book or app from your Kindle Fire, it will still be in your cloud drive- to be downloaded again when you want it.

My music

Movies I've downloaded from Amazon.

I love that I have access to Netflix & Pandora. I only used the Amazon Prime for the free month Amazon gave me. (I still love my Netflix, there's more variety). With headphones the sound on the Kindle Fire is amazing! Very rich sound & bass. Without headphones... I wish they had included two more speakers on each side, because you do have to turn the volume up to it's maximum to hear shows well. (Sometimes I plug in a portable speaker when watching movies without headphones).

I've tried out a few magazine subscriptions on my Kindle from the Amazon newstand... though I still prefer paper magazines. The actual paper subscriptions are much cheaper too.


The Amazon Silk browser, isn't as fast as Firefox or Internet Explorer. But it does support flash. I have run into a few websites that weren't compatible with Silk, so they showed up a bit funny. (Wouldn't scroll right, etc). But for the most part I can browse more websites on my Kindle Fire than compared to my cell phones browser. Facebook & Twitter are viewed in the mobile Android format.


All in all, I've had no regrets on purchasing my Kindle Fire. It's an amazing little device. I take it with me everywhere. I don't regret that it doesn't have a camera or microphone- my cell phone has those anyway. The pro's definitely outweigh the few con's I've mentioned. The price was also a factor in my purchasing it. You can't go wrong for $199! It is worth every dollar!

My husband & I were at Petco last night getting some food & treats for the ratties. He talked me into buying another wheel for the rats. (9 inch wheel) I had one a long time ago and the ratties never used it, so I ended up donating it to Star's Rat Rescue.

Well... this time... I finally have a rattie that uses it! Daisy my curly haired blue rex girl started using it this afternoon. She loves it! She runs round and round. Then she'll stop and take a break for water or to relax, but then she's right back on there running around. (She's running as I write this, haha!) The other girls come down to take a peek at her, so maybe one of them will get the hint that's it's a toy for them!

Here's a video of Daisy running on her wheel!

I'm still having fun with my new crock pot I got for Christmas. I made beef stew last week and it was sooo good! I took a combination of a crock pot recipe/ the recipe on the back of the beef stew seasoning packet.

Here's my recipe for beef stew for 2:

• 3 cups of water
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1-2 lbs of beef stew meat
• 2 medium potatoes diced
• 5-6 small/medium carrots sliced
• 1 medium onion sliced
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 3 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of Flour
• Few shakes of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning. (Red Lid)

Put all the ingredients into the crock pot, stir. (You may need to whisk the flour into the sauce). Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

This was sooo good! The beef was so tender and the tomato paste really made a thick hearty gravy. It was perfect because the evening we had this it was only 29 degrees out. Enjoy! I know I'll be making this again sometime soon!

Happy New Year Everyone! Unfortunately I'm ending 2011 and starting 2012, with a yucky chest & head cold. I'm getting better, slowly.

F.B. & I will just be celebrating New Years quielty at home this evening. We'll have some cheese, crackers, pepperoni & Martinelli's sparkling cider at midnight! And watch the ball drop in New York on TV. New Years Day, I'll be cooking ham & sweet potatoes. And we'll get to try our chocolate chip panettone cake.

Christmas Picture of us both:


I ordered some more goodies. I ordered another one of these chairs from Walmart, because I absolutely love it and I want a matching set. The chair itself is really comfortable and even cuter in person!

Arista Arm Chair- Black and White Floral (Walmart)

Royal Opulence Satin Sheet Set: Zebra (Walmart)

Oh and I got the best deal on a 4 cup Pyrex meauring cup from Big Lot's last week! $6! (No more baking disasters now, yay! Lol!)

My husband thinks I'm crazy because I never take off my wedding band. I have a very slim 3mm titanium wedding band. I also have a "blingy" part of my wedding ring that I do take off when I come home. But the wedding band itself, never comes off.

I occasionally remove my wedding band to apply lotion. But I sleep with it, shower with it. It never comes off. (It never tarnishes either because titanium doesn't! hehe!) My husband takes his wedding band off to shower & sleep. But, I'm always afraid I would forget to put it back on if I did that, lol! I mean occasionally I forget to put the "blingy" part of my ring on when I leave the house.

So how about you? Do you take your wedding band off? Or am I the only crazy one. :-p

My sweet Iris, my "ratatouille" passed away sometime last night.... I found her this morning when I woke up. My sweet girl was getting frail, she had an abscess on her one paw and what appeared to be a tumor growing in her belly. (She had a paralyzed tail from a back injury when she was younger). Though weak & getting frail, her energy was good, she was always so very excited to see me when I opened the cage door, and her appetite was good.

I will miss my "ratatouille". That was her nickname because she was the colors of Remy in the Disney movie. She was a blue berkshire. Iris was very affectionate, like her sister Jasmine. She loved to give kisses to your hands, your face. She loved grooming your nails. She had a hearty appetite like her sister Jasmine. They even looked a lot alike when they were both younger. I will miss my blue girls... it really sucks losing them so close together.

♥ I love all of my pet rats, but blue rats are my favorite color, if I had to choose. Goodbye my sweet Iris. ♥

Jasmine on the left- Iris on the right.

Iris & Jasmine- By Ciara Kay Barsotti

I got a crock pot for Christmas from my parents. Something I've wanted for awhile. The first thing I made in it, was potato soup! :-)


Here is the original recipe. And below is the recipe altered by me to serve 2 people. Perfect soup for a cold winter evening.

Potato Soup for 2 in Crock Pot

• 3 large (or medium) potatoes, chopped
• 1 half of medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic (I use the kind in a jar).
• 1 tablespoon of honey (adds some sweetness).
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup water
• Few shakes of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning. (Red Lid).

Put all the ingredients into the crock pot, stir. Cover and cook on low for 5 or 6 hours.

After it was done cooking, I took a potato masher and mashed some of the potatoes up. So the soup had a creamy texture, but still had chunks of potatoes in it. Then I whisked the soup real good before I served it.

Top with cheese or croutons & enjoy!

Getting ready to cook for 6 hours!

Ready to eat!

I also made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Mmmm!


Chicken Noodle Soup for 2: Crock Pot Recipe

• 2 chicken thighs (fully cooked), bones removed & cut into small pieces
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Few shakes of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning. 
• 1 tablespoon of honey (Trust me!) 
  
• 3 cups of water
• 1 can of chicken broth
• 1 half of a small onion diced
• 1-1/2 cup of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, lima beans).
• Half a box of your choice of noodles, (All I had on hand were the mini shell kind).

Set aside noodles. Add all other ingredients, stir together & cook on low for 5-6 hours. One hour before it's done, add the noodles & 1 extra cup of water. Stir & let finish cooking. (I also added a potato because we had some around the house).

We still have leftovers of the chicken soup! It made a lot! And it was sooo good!

I've been fighting a nasty cold since last Thursday, which turned into a chest cold this past Monday, so hot soup was just what I needed!

Now... can't wait to make pulled barbeque pork & beef stew in my crock pot!