On Tuesday we got to visit my Father in law here in Philadelphia. My Father in law is a ship captain and gets to travel the world. (He goes back home to the Philippines for around 6 months every year). The ship he is on right now is trading between Costa Rica, Columbia and Philadelphia.

So on Tuesday my husband and I drove down to Pier 82 at Coloumbus Blvd, on the Delaware River to meet up with my Father in law. (The last time I saw my Father in law was January 2010, and F.B. hasn't seen his Dad since he came to the USA in 2011).

The ship was docked until the next morning. They were unloading lots and lots of bananas, (that are probably in almost every supermarket in Philadelphia right now.) My Father in law gave us a tour of the ship and we got to visit for about 2 hours. I should have worn my sneakers, instead of flip flops though! Lot's of stairs in the ship!

I mentioned the other day how the keyboard went in my laptop. (I have a Dell Inspiron 1545- it's about 3 years old now). It started Friday evening with just N and M not working. I used a dry toothbrush to clean the keyboard lightly, I even popped the keys off to clean underneath the ones that weren't working. Nope, didn't fix my issue. By Sunday it had spread to H, J, Y, U, 6 and 7. Arrgh. I ordered a new keyboard on ebay for $15 and free shipping Friday evening and it arrived today! Talk about fast shipping! (Seller I bought from is: hiparts).

All I had to do was take the battery out, remove 4 screws, pop the front panel off, remove the old keyboard, then pop in the new ribbon and keyboard. Took less than 10 minutes. Whoo hoo for a working keyboard again!

Each computer company has service manuals available online. (You can also just Google your computers make & model plus the search term 'Service Manual'). The service manuals show you step by step with pictures how to repair anything in/on your laptop. I've replaced (In my own laptop, my husbands & cousin's), LCD screens, touch pads, hinges, casing, keyboards, RAM. Much much cheaper than taking it somewhere to be repaired.
 
Dell Inspiron 1545 Service Manual

 

Feeling a bit under the weather today. Also... the keyboard in my laptop decided to go... so I am left without N, M, H, J, Y, U, 6 & 7... ordered a new keyboard. (They are not difficult to install. I have a Dell Inspiron 1545. It's about 3 years old now. I've done laptop repairs before). For the meantime, I have to either use my Kindle Fire HD 8.9", or the on-screen keyboard in Windows 7 (under accessibility) to fill in the missing letters when I use my laptop... not fun...

I decided to do a gradient with Essence Hello Marshmallow & OPI You're such a Budapest. I used Konad animal print stamp M57. My stamping wasn't the best, because I was feeling dizzy... I smeared them a little bit. The colors are pretty though!


Right before I stamped my nails. (And my awesome Lush Lemony Flutter cuticle butter!)  

I get a lot of hits on this post! Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, if you've tried this recipe!

These are the most amazing pork chops ever! I've made bone in pork chops using this recipe (my own) three times already... and they are out of this world. Every time we have them, I feel like I'm eating restaurant pork chops or something. They are that good! I wanted to share my simple recipe with everyone.

• 4 Bone-in Pork Chops
• 1 Large Onion
• McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning
• Goya Adobo All Purpose Seasoning
• Dark Brown Sugar
• Soy Sauce
• *Optional: 1 can of mushrooms (or a package of fresh sliced mushrooms).

I recently got another Layla Hologram polish I've been wanting. Coffee Love. (I still want Emerald Divine!) I don't usually buy brown nail polish but this one is too pretty. I own 7 of the Layla Hologram polishes. They are my favorite holographic polish brand. They dry incredibly fast. So even though you usually need 2-3 coats you will be amazed how fast each coat dries.


I did some owl themed nails with my Winstonia Store stamping plates. I used 3 different stamps from plates: W115, W110, W119. I used Konad Special polish in white to stamp. And I covered everything with Seche Vite topcoat.
 

I call these my peacock nails. I used Zoya Aurora, LA Girl 3D Effects: Teal Dimension, Revlon Celestial FX (for the diamonds which I applied with a toothpick), Konad White stamping polish and Winstonia Store plate W108 for the feathers & peacock. I used Seche Vite top coat when I was finished.

Sweet Pea came down with a bad respiratory infection a few day ago... she was on antibiotics but by Saturday was having a hard time breathing. She was making awful wheezing sounds, struggling to breathe. We had her in a towel and I was petting her to comfort her and calm her down. She ended up messing herself really bad in the towel, (side effect of the antibiotics) and I wanted to rinse her off a little to clean her up. She passed away while I was rinsing her off in the sink....

Back in March, Sweet Pea had a really bad inner ear infection. She was left with a permanent left tilt to her head afterwards. But she still had a lot of energy and was still running to hoard food or treats even with her tilt. ♥

My husband picked Buttercup & Sweet Pea out back in December 2011. Sweet Pea was really shy at first and it took her a really long time to finally show her personality. She could be very mischievous sometimes, sneaking up beside one of her sisters and then nipping one of her sisters on the ears or face & running away. ♥

Sweet Pea had really interesting coloring. She was a beige hooded rat, but her beige color was so light it was almost gray, and with the camera flash she would sometimes just look all white. ♥

Here are my festive 4th of July nails! With Zoya Liberty & Blaze. Konad special stamping polish in white & Winstonia Store stamping plate W107. And Revlon Celestial FX stars!

It's been awhile since my last blog. I've gotten 7 new polishes since then. :-) But... I only actually paid for one!

My long time blogging & twitter friend Lynn sent me a package a few weeks ago. She sent me a DelSol color changing polish! (I also love the mouse card she sent!)


I've never owned a color changing polish. It's so cool! It changes from a super sparkly purple to a deep magenta in the sun. And as soon as you go back in the shade it goes back to purple. The color Lynn sent me is called 'After Party' I only have mobile photos, but the color change is significant! It's a super sparkly polish in person, I love it!



Then I got another lovely surprise. My Instagram friend Maaike (Mee-ka) in The Netherlands sent me some more goodies! (This was the 1st package she sent). She felt bad it cost me so much to send her package, and that I included more than I said I would. She is so nice! She sent me so much stuff! I have to send her back something in a few months, because now I feel bad! lol. :-)




The only nail polish I've actually purchased myself was Essie DJ Play That Song. I've been wanting it forever. It's a pretty neon purple. Of course being Essie, the formula was thin and watery, so it took 3 coats, and even then I still had some bubbles. But it's a really gorgeous color regardless.

These turned out really pretty! I used Zoya Pixie Dust in Destiny, then put a clear coat of Seche Vite over it, (because it's texture polish) and then I stamped the animal print (cheetah?) with my Konad stamper plate M57, (and 1 more coat of Seche Vite). I love the way Destiny sparkles in the sun! I'm getting much more used to stamping now and my shorter stamper I bought from Winstonia Store helps a lot too! :-)



(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

This beef stew was made with Dollar Tree grocery ingredients. (Some Dollar Tree locations now have freezer aisles & canned/dry goods.) My paycheck has been a over $100.00 short lately because of the US Government Sequestration. So, I've had to come up with some cheap but filling dinner ideas.

• Egg Noodles from Dollar Tree 12oz bag. (Only use half the bag & don't add them until the last hour).
• 1 Package of frozen mixed veggies Steam'ables 10oz from Dollar Tree
• 3 packages of frozen Rib Eye steak meat from Dollar Tree 3oz each. Cut into small pieces.
• 1-2 medium sliced, diced or whole onions- your preference (The onions are not from Dollar Tree)

Sauce:

I mix my sauce first and whisk it together in a large bowl, then I pour it over the meat & veggies in the crock pot. Stir everything together.

• 2 cups of Water 
• 1 cup of Ketchup
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce 
• 3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoons of salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper 
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning. (Red lid)
• 3 tablespoons of Flour (Whisk into sauce).

Directions: Cook for 7 hours on low in the crock pot. During the last hour of cooking- add the egg noodles and stir well. (This makes around 5 servings.)

You can add whatever veggies you have laying around, I had half a bag of baby carrots left over, so I put those into the stew as well.


Other Dollar Tree related blogs: 

My Dollar Tree is Freaking Amazing!

* Everything was purchased by myself, I am not affiliated with Dollar Tree.