Birthday Surprise Guest

Welp, I have had an uninvited guest make its way onto my birthday wish list. I started the week thinking I had dry skin. Then the next day I thought I had hives. Then for a couple days poison ivy. And on Friday, after a fun visit to the doctor, I have been diagnosed with shingles. Yes, shingles. And no, I'm not 60 years old. (And for those of you who are not familiar with shingles, it's like chicken pox's evil cousin. Pretty painful and itchy, and I can spread chicken pox to someone if they haven't had them. People usually get them after 50 years of age if they have had chicken pox.)

So, having my birthday dinner with my friends tonight?!? Nope. Getting a pedi and shopping this afternoon?!? Nope. My friend happens to be 7.5 months prego and never had chicken pox. Awesome. I can't be around small children, elderly, or anyone who a weakened immune system, which is pretty much everyone I know. I'm requesting a birthday re-do :)

My brother actually got shingles a few months back, which I think is the only thing that helped the doctor confirm that is in fact what I had. Her first comment was "Um...this is really weird, but it looks like shingles, but you are really young for that." Why, thank you ma'am, but in fact my younger brother has already had them. And, in the beginning, he thought he had poison ivy as well, strangely enough.

So, here I sit. I have almost cleaned the entire house while Jay had been at work. Finished up some baby gift projects. I think we are still planning on going out to eat tonight, but it will just be us two, depending on how I feel.

One bonus is that I haven't had much pain. Itchy, but not a lot of pain. I'm hoping I got started on medication early enough that I won't have any (here's to hoping!) My brother ended up in the ER because of his pain with them, and that would be one experience I'm okay with not mirroring.

Here is a picture of my unwanted gift :)

Happy Saturday!
Jenna

Holy Guacamole!

So here is the deal... I used to hate guacamole.  HATE it.  I didn't really like avocados, either. Couldn't understand what all the hype was about.  They  tasted bland.  I might have even referred to it as baby poo. The list goes on...

So a few months back, our HR lady at work made guacamole for a quarterly sales meeting.  I tried some because I was starving and, honestly, I will eat things I don't like just to solidify the fact that I still don't like them (hey, taste buds can change, right?!?!). Oh, and then everyone wouldn't stop talking about how amazing it was.  Curiosity set in my friends, and there was no looking back.  

So this is when my world changed for the better.  Something amazing happened.  Either it was laced with crack, or this woman really knew what she is doing when it came to guacamole, but I LOVED it.  Like.... went back 4 trips... loved it.  And, it didn't stop there.  I have been randomly making subtle suggestions for her to bring it again (well I guess "you should make us guacamole" isn't really all that subtle).

I think she finally got tired of me asking for her to bring it, or asking for a cooking lesson over lunch.  So Tuesday.....Drumroll please......she gave me her recipe. 

It was like a 'Warren Buffet sharing his magical investment formula' kind of moment.  And, now I will share it with you.   But here is my warning.... this isn't really an exact science.  There are a few 'little of this, little of that'. You may need to be a little adventurous.  Here goes nothing:

Salsa part:
3 roasted Roma tomatoes
1 roasted jalapeño
( Like roll them around in a pan until the outsides start to turn black)
Fresh cilantro
1/4-1/8 onion
Clove of garlic
Salt and pepper

Place that in a food processor/blender and let it work its magic. Leave it a bit chunky.

Step 2: 
2 avacados
Juice from half a lime
Garlic powder (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
Onion powder (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
Some salsa
Salt

Mash peeled avocados with a fork, and stir the rest of the items in. That's it.  I played around with the seasoning until I got it just right (mostly salt and garlic powder), but it was so easy (and did I mention wonderful?!?). That's all I had for dinner tonight.  And in case you are a visual recipe hunter....a photo:

Project Backsplash....Check!

Tonight, we finished up our last few tasks to complete our kitchen backsplash. For your viewing pleasure, our big kid kitchen.....completed :)

The Great Wall of Corbett

Made a lot of progress today! All we have left is to buy 1 sheet of tile to finish up a few pieces and then grout! Glad this is almost project is almost over so my kitchen will be removed of all the current chaos. :)

Project Progress

Next up, Tile.

Weekend Project Warriors

All too often (by Jay's standards) I get set on these little projects for our house. I usually give Jay about 30 seconds to object, before I have everything lined up and purchased. After being questioned by my 9 year old cousin as to why "adults always spend so much money fixing their house", the only answer I had for him was "wait until you have your own house and you will completely understand." And so began the Backsplash Update Project of 2013.

Now, to my defense, I have been wanting to replace the kitchen backsplash for quite some time. It's white, boring, and just not my style. I appreciate the fact that the individual who arranged for this house to be built didn't want to creat the Taj Mahal, however, a little character is appreciated. So anyways, this is not something out of the blue and I am sure that Jay knew it was coming sooner or later. So, on Friday, I made my way to Lowes and found some new tiles.

So, here is where the fun starts. We started to break out the existing tile....and...uh....the tiles took the sheetrock with it. Typical. Apparently when I served the tile their eviction notice, the sheetrock thought it was being evicted, as well. My quick weekend project... is now not going to be so quick after all. I am guessing a week+ to complete. And while I shouldn't have expected any less, I was really not looking to sheetrock with this "quick" project. I think the words "if I ever have to sand mud ever again, it will be to soon" have left my mouth on multiple occasions.

And so, photos to show where we are at. Hopefully by Friday, we will be done with this, but I'm not holding my breath.