Officially on the market!

We are officially listing #8030500. There is a sign in our yard and we are FOR SALE.

It is a relief to have all the work done of getting the house ready, but I can tell it will still be a little time consuming keeping it this clean all the time. I'm always saying "How do people do this?"... then we went to open houses today, and I realize - they don't. Some do, but we've seen some pretty disgusting stuff out there. Dirty clothes strung out, fingernail clippings on the counter, and more. The worst by far have been houses that smell so foul of animals that you can't even concentrate on what the house looks like. Eewww..

I certainly hope that 'grossed out' is the last thing someone feels when they walk into our house.

For now we are just going on faith that our next house will be waiting for us when we're ready.

Baked Turkey & Jack Cheese Chimichangas

I've made this recipe a few times already and Ben actually gave it a 4 out of 5 - which is incredibly high considering it's healthy. I especially like this because I can make the chimichangas as stated, but I also have used the left over meat mixture on top of salad for a quick and easy lunch.

Baked Turkey and Jack Cheese Chimichangas
POINTS: 5

2 sprays cooking spray
1/2 pound lean ground turkey
16 oz fat-free canned refried beans (I used black beans)
1 3/4 cup salsa
4 1/2 oz canned green chili peppers, mild, drained and diced
1 tsp chili powder
3 Tbsp scallion(s), thinly sliced
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
8 large burrito-size wheat flour tortilla(s)
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
** I also added about 1 cup of chopped mushrooms in here somewhere)



Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Coat a 13- X 9- X 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Add turkey to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Drain any excess liquid from pan and then add beans, 1 3/4 cups of salsa, chili peppers, chili powder and scallions. Cook until heated through, about 3 minutes; stir in cheese. (I added the sour cream here because I don't like it on top)

Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in foil; warm in oven for 10 minutes.

Assemble chimichangas by spooning about 1/2 cup of turkey mixture onto each tortilla; fold in sides and roll up.

Place chimichangas, seam-side down, in prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until tortillas are crisp and browned, about 20 minutes. Serve each topped with 2 tablespoons of salsa and 1 tablespoon of sour cream.

Craft Room

Anyone who has ever been to my craft room, knows that it has never looked quite like this. And I'm sure it never will again. I only wish I had taken a before photo! You can catch a quick glimpse of it here to give you some idea of what chaos it was. If it ever got cleaned it was only for a few seconds because I would get inspired, work on something, and mess it up all over again. We packed up almost everything so we can put our house on the market, and I've decided this is just the right amount of craft stuff that anyone should have - this photo probably only represents about 30% of what I actually own. I've left out just enough stuff for the invitations I've committed to a few friends... and that's it! I do miss all my precious paper, but it feel so good to have such a clean and organized workspace.

So anyone who can attest to the before and after... you must comment!

"You want me to do what?"

Vomit the Dog.


So we get home from work last night thinking of what we're going to do for dinner. Also, wondering what the next step is in getting the house ready to put up for sale. When we walk in, the first thing that we see is a bag that previously had been filled with approximately 15 chocolate chip cookies.



Andrea had bought them for me the night before, and I was looking forward to eating them for dessert last night. They were sitting towards the edge of the coffee table, and it seems that Payton had gotten hold of them. The story, obviously doesn't stop there.

So, knowing that chocolate is poisonous for dogs, I called the Emergency Vet number that I had programmed into my phone (this isn't the first time we've had to use it - whole packs of gum, ant traps, entire bag of HALLS Lozenges, have also mysteriously disappeared). So I'm explaining the situation to the vet and she puts me on hold a moment. Then comes back to the phone with a phrase that I've never heard before.

"Vomit the dog."

Much like "Walk the Dog" as far as sentence structure, but a dramatically different activity altogether. So she proceeds to tell me the way to do this is to give Payton 2 Tablespoons of Hydrogen Peroxide, and that should do the trick. She said it would continue working until his stomach was empty. It did. Payton and I spent about 45 minutes bonding in the bathroom.

We felt so bad for him because one minute he's happy and full of Chocolate Chip cookies, and the next minute, well, not so full anymore - and not so happy.

Anyway, he's fine now and back to his old self. We're not sure what's gotten into him. He is still a very well behaved dog, but he has his moments of rebellion where he randomly gets into something.

I think God may be giving us a very mild "Kid Test".

A new purse!

Today I scored a great deal on a brand new Coach purse for myself! It is frivolous, but I sure look good carrying it around.

I'm too lazy to get the camera and photograph it, but it looks a little something like this... but it's all black. Yay for me and my fancy purse.

Cooking in the Burbs Vol 2

I found this recipe in FoodDay last week. It is actually a repeat of a recipe I tried a few years ago from FoodDay and they re-printed it. Once I saw it, I immediately went to the store to buy everything to make it. Ben only gave it a 3, but I think it's really good.



Pot Sticker Spinach Chicken Soup



2 14 1/2-ounce cans reduced-sodium fat-free chicken broth or one 32-ounce box
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh green or red jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
16 to 18 frozen pork pot stickers (or substitute other pot stickers; see note)
11/2 cups fresh baby spinach or regular spinach, torn (about 1 ounce) or 1/3 cup frozen leaf spinach (one-fourth of a 10-ounce box), thawed, drained and squeezed to remove excess liquid

Hot chili oil (optional)



In a medium saucepan, simmer chicken broth with garlic and jalapeno over low heat for 5 minutes. Add frozen pot stickers and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Add spinach and simmer just until wilted but still bright green.
Serve hot, with chili oil on the table for those who prefer it. Note: Pot stickers come in various sizes and packages. We used Trader Joe's frozen Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers (also labeled Pork and Vegetable Dumplings); there are 24 to 26 per 1-pound package

What's been going on

I'm finally back to good health after battling the nasty virus going around. Sorry it's kept me from keeping up on our blog. It is good to be amongst the living again, and thank you for all of the well-wishes!


This week Ben and I have been toying with the idea of selling our house and upgrading. The entire week we've been on a roller coaster of should we or shouldn't we. We went to look at a house in Tualatin on Monday which turned out to not exactly be our dream house, but it served as the catalyst for the rest of the week. We drove around neighborhoods in Sherwood and Tualatin to try to figure out which end of town we really want to call home (and we're still not sure). Now we're making a list of the things we need to do to get our house market ready, and we're still not sure we're ready to do it. Decisions, decisions.


One of the repairs we have to make is our kitchen sink. (And the only reason I mention it is because I have a photo of it, and like others I hate the idea of blogging without photos.)

So this is what happens when you put a hot pan in a sink that is not made of cast iron. Looks like we need to buy a whole new sink. The good news is, we went to Home Depot and sinks are not as expensive as we thought. If any of our fellow bloggers have any secret plumbing skills, maybe we can talk before we take this on.

Ben's Blurb - What's New...

So, it's been quite a while since we've blogged anything. As you have probably noticed. Andrea has been awfully sick lately - so I figured I would step in and just give a quick "blurb" on what we've been up to lately.

Since Andrea's been so sick - there hasn't been a whole lot going on. She had to miss an entire week's worth of work because she's been down for the count. I've never seen her so sick. But the good news is that it seems like the worst is over and she's getting better by the day. She'll be back to her regular self in no time.

We are going to Honda today to get the oil changed in the Civic (exciting isn't it?). I think we'll test drive some kid movers while we're there. It should be a good time.

Oh, and if you remember my entry about the squeaky dryer....we're having someone come out today who actually knows what they're doing. The dryer makes such a racket - our neighbor who is trying to sell his house asked me if we could not do laundry on the weekends because potential buyers will be coming by to look at their house! He and I are really good friends - I've known him for about 10 years - so I didn't take offense. But hopefully we can start doing laundry in peace after today.

That's all I got, I'm sure once Andrea is back to 100% she'll be updating this thing like crazy.