After seeing these pretties on another nail blog I had to get them! :-)

5 years ago today.... (yes on St. Patrick's Day)... I started blogging...


I've recorded and documented so many things here on my blog. It's my space to just be me. To blog about whatever is going on in my life. It's been a space to blog about our long distance relationship, our marriage, our immigration process. My Pets, my nail polish obsession, sharing recipes, trips I've taken in the Philippines, Philadelphia trips, etc...

I've also made a lot of friends blogging. Like Shannon, and Patty, Karen, Jacki, Stephanie, Georgia, Shawna, (and other friends). New blogging friends like Kelly & Faith. I get to keep up with family & friends by reading their blogs, like my SIL, My cousin Katie, my childhood friend Leah. Thank you for letting me read about your lives too.

As everyone has probably heard, this week Google announced, Google Reader will be shutting down in July of this year. I use Google Reader to follow so many blogs I read, because it's a simple format and easy to use on my cell phone, tablet or computer.

There's a petition that has currently reached over 122,000+ signatures and counting on Change.org. 


It's been covered hundreds of times in media around the world. Google will be watching closely over the next few days to see if the story dies out or if it keeps growing -- and that's up to you. Sign the petition and please share it on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully Google will see we don't want Google Reader to go anywhere!

But... if they still retire Google Reader, you can still follow my blog through BlogLovin. And you can import all your blog feeds from Google Reader to BlogLovin by clicking here.



P.S. I've started using The Old Reader. I think I like it better than Bloglovin because it's a very simple reader, like Google Reader. You can import all the blogs you follow too. :-)

I've made vegetable lasagna in the oven before many times. I just started making it in the crock pot last year. My recipe is loosely based on this awesome recipe.

Ingredients:

• Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles *(make sure the box says 'Oven Ready' noodles, these are noodles that are already slightly pre-cooked so you don't have to boil them).
• 1 jar of Tomato Sauce (I use Prego)
• Ricotta Cheese
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Spinach (Fresh or Frozen)
• 2 medium onions or 1 large onion
• 2 Yellow Squash
• 2 Zucchini
• Mushrooms (Fresh or Canned) 

Spices:

• Italian Seasoning
• Salt
• Goya Adobo All Purpose Seasoning
• Garlic (I use the diced kind in a jar)
  

Note: You can use whatever veggies you like. Sometimes I add Eggplant, you can add carrots, etc. (My husband isn't fond of carrots).

Directions:

I season my Ricotta cheese with the above spices. (I don't really measure, it's just to taste). Then I put a little tomato sauce in the bottom of the crock pot. Break your lasagna noodles to fit your crock pot, (it won't be perfect). Then some ricotta cheese, a little sauce and a layer of all your chopped vegetables in whatever order you choose. Then more sauce, ricotta cheese, sprinkle a little mozzarella cheese, then noodles again. Repeat until you reach the top. Noodles, sauce & the rest of the mozzarella cheese should cover the very top. Cook for 6-7 hours on low. Enjoy!

Note: This will be more like a lasagna casserole, that you can serve in a bowl. The noodles won't come out in perfect slices, but it still tastes amazing!

P.S. Someone buy me this Damask Crockpot, lol!

Friday afternoon my husband noticed Sweet Pea was off balance. When I got home from work, she was tilting to the left. When you would pick her up she would panic and start rolling over in my hands. Her balance was way off and she would even roll over on the bed. This really came on suddenly, as Thursday she seemed fine. Sweet Pea is a few months past 1 year.

We've got her in a little cage at the moment, which we call the "hospital cage" so she can't fall and hurt herself. Praying it's just an inner ear infection or some other infection and not a pituitary tumor... (which cannot be cured...) she's on antibiotics right now and praying we see an improvement by this coming Friday.

She can still hold food in her paws and is still eating & drinking. Today she was much calmer. She's still tilting to the left and when she walks tends to circle to the left. She really wanted to explore today but the tilting was getting in the way. Poor girl...


Updated: 3/16/13:

Sweet Pea has been on antibiotics & resting in a hospital cage for a week. Friday night she got to join her sisters back in the big cage. (Buttercup my territorial girl, gave her a hard time, after being gone a week). Her head tilt is extremley slight now. She's no longer dizzy or lethargic.She will still be on antibiotics for another week. She's really improved so much, compared to last weekend, when she could barely walk and kept walking in circles.

Here's an updated video from last night:


 

These are so much fun! I love them even more than the Zoya Pixie Dust texture polish because these are more pigmented. I got Aqua Splash, Purple Streak, Spoiled in Fuchsia & Yellow Mark. I ordered them from the Milani Website. Though I do believe they will be in a few select stores soon. They also have red & gray, but I didn't like those colors as much.

These have a rougher texture than the Zoya Pixie Dust. You only need about 2 coats each though. And they dry rather fast. They also remove easy with polish remover. I didn't need to do my foil trick with these.

It's been a little while since I posted pictures of the fur kids. Everyone is doing okay. Aspen turned 3 years old this month. He's my little frail old man. His back legs don't work well anymore but he still gets around pretty well.

Teddy bear turned 1 year last month, and he started with a preputial abscess.... blah. I hate abscesses. He's been on antibiotics and a scab is just starting, so it will have to be cleaned & drained soon. He takes his meds in Strawberry Ensure because he screams when I try to give him the meds in an oral syringe, lol. 

Belle, one of my dumbo girls, is getting a mammary tumor. It's in a bad spot too, right near her shoulder, so it's kind of under her neck. :-(

Some recent pictures of everyone, from my camera & Instagram:










 

I've wanted to try nail stamping for awhile. :-) After reading this blogging post on Nailed It, I decided to order the stamping plates from Winstonia Store. You get 20 plates for $15, though you have to also order a stamper/scraper separately for about $3.95.

Stamping is... um... tedious at first... LOL. You need a lot of polish remover and a lot of cotton balls when you're practicing. I'm still not so good at the full nail designs yet, I need to practice more. I'm better at the smaller individual designs. It does work best when you're at the table. There's a great Stamping Tutorial on Swatch And Learn that really helped me.






Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I purchased the Winstonia Stamping Plates with my own money. 

With our meager little tax refund, (after I paid Citibank back a good chunk of our refund... to thank them for letting us live while unemployment took it's good ol' time to get set up- while I was furloughed from work for 2 1/2 weeks earlier this year)... I had a little extra cash to spend. This isn't all we spent it on of course! But it was nice to get a few new things

I was able to get a new shower mat for our bath/shower and a new fabric Damask shower curtain. Yay! If you've looked at my other Home Improvement posts, you'll notice Damask plays a key role. Our decor theme around our apartment is Black, White and Aqua.

I also got a new purse for myself! In... Damask... lol. I really love it. It has little metal feet on the bottom, and the handles are sturdy, yet it's light weight. Now... if it will hold up to all the crap I carry in my purse, remains to be seen... lol. I've gotten a bunch of compliments on it already. The brand is Belvah.



And as you know I'm having a Zoya Spring Giveaway! The giveaway ends March 8th, so enter while you can! I'm giving away Zoya Neely & Zoya Blu from the new Spring 2013 collection and I'm throwing in a travel sized L'Occitane Verbena lotion too!

I got to try Zoya Blu out tonight. (I bought extras for the giveaway!) Here is Zoya Blu, with Zoya Pixie Dust NYX on my ring finger. Blu only needed 2 coats and 1 top coat of Seche Vite. NYX I did 3 coats.


(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!)