The Little Boss Lady

Wedding Boots

2010-07-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

Alright alright, so I slack big time when it comes to updating my blog.
The reason isn't because I'm super busy (which I am); it's because I get to the keyboard and draw a blank.
Do I write about my chickens? They have feathers now. So pretty. Silver-laced Wyandottes.
They frustrate me to no end because they are constantly clogging up their waterer with grass.
Do I write about my puppy? She rolling around outside with a stick in her mouth. The stick just so happens to be the length of her body.
Do I write about my son? He just came downstairs and still has sleep in his eye. He called me "momma" and "my mom" all day at the pool yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit elated. Not one did he call me "Angela" or "my step mom". Score!
Should I talk about my success in iphotoing one of my non-professional-photographer pictures from my wedding? Nah, I'll just show you.

So I'm off to scrounge up some victuals for my munchkin.
Ta.

Happenings and Goings-On

2010-07-09T05:55:00.000-07:00

At this precise moment, my munchkin and I are sprawled across the couch watching morning cartoons.
We won't have TV again for a while, but he doesn't know that.
We bought a mobile home.
The park that we're staying at isn't so bad, either.
I had my doubts at first.
Down south, mobile home parks are.. well.. -cue banjo music-
Perhaps, though, that's because I've never seen the decent ones.
Until now.
I digress.
We bought a mobile home because we needed some place to live while the house on our property is being fixed.
The hubs actually told me that we could move the mobile home onto the property and he would let me completely rebuild our house.
Yes!
As for now, we're moving into a mobile home. We have no real furniture to speak of. Or dishes (one plate, bowl, and cup for each of us). I digress. It's our first place. We'll slowly build.
I'm pretty excited! Diana is excited too. She lets me know by wagging her tail so hard her butt wags too. :)
My chickens are not as excited; they're gonna stay here for now.
Oh yes, we have chickens.
9 silver-laced wyandottes.
I love my fuzz-butts.
This entry is finished now. You're welcome.

Oh Blog

2010-05-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my blog again.
I didn't mean to; I've just been busy.
5 year old, new puppy... that kind of stuff keeps one busy.
Speaking up puppy, would you like an update right now?
We're going to the vet today for her checkup and second set of shots.
In order to spare her the unpleasant swab, we bagged a sample.
Know what that means?
It means I have a quadruple bagged piece of poo sitting on the counter.
The things I do for love.
She's getting so big too!
We'll find out exactly how much she weighs today, but she's already so much bigger than she was just 2 weeks ago.
P.S. Apparently, my new child invented the pouty lip.
Cute, huh?

Hot dog!

2010-05-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

So the hubs and I have a new schedule;
I get up when he gets up.
While he's getting ready, I make breakfast.
Good deal, huh?
I like it.
After he went to work, I felt all good about myself because I got the munchkin ready for school, gave him breakfast, and got him to brush his teeth.
I even got him to put his shoes on 15 minutes before the bus (which takes him to his preschool) was supposed to come.
And then?
And then?
We missed the bus.
How, you ask?
Scooby Doo is how.
Anyway..
So I loaded him up in my car and drove him down to the preschool and signed him in.
This is when I realized...
I haven't practiced signing my new name.
Ah well, I've started practicing.

While I was already out, I figured I would stop by the store and get a few things that would make my life a little easier:

A baby gate (for the puppy)

More cereal (for the munchkin)

Some fruit cups and graham crackers (for the same munchkin)

Stubbornly, I didn't get a cart on the way in, so it was quite a juggling act getting everything to the checkout.
While I was getting the baby gate, I got the baby fever again really bad. You have to go in the baby section to get baby gates. This put me behind on my to-do list because I spent who knows how long in there feeling the soft baby clothes and breathing in the baby shampoo. *sigh*

Anyway, I got back in time to do numero uno on my list: Clean out the fridge.
While I was cleaning it out, my sister-in-law skyped me with my darling 19mos old niece (who has little blond pigtails now) and the baby fever got worse.
Then my love called and told me he was coming home for lunch and when he got in, I bombarded him with baby talk and nursery plans. (We have an accepted offer on that house; we just have to wait for the paperwork to make it final.)

Now he's gone back to work and I really should get back to my to-do list before the boy-o comes home from his mom's (clean the living room, family room, sort laundry, do dishes, and clean out the car), but first I'm going to post my menu for the next two weeks because my best friend Keely asked me to.
So, here it is in no particular order:

Black Bean Nacho Bake
Pork Noodle Casserole
Crispy Chicken Salsa
Quick and Cheesy Sausage Rotini
Quick and Easy Sausage on a Bun
Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir-fry
Broccoli-cheddar Chicken Bundles
Cheesy Shrimp and Rice
Toasted Tuna Melts
Creamy Chicken Pasta Toss

Almost all of these recipes are courtesy of Kraft Foods. (Give credit where credit is due. Lol)

Day Three

2010-05-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the third day of my life as a Mrs. and a mommy.
It's my husband's first day back at work since he returned from deployment (marine reservist), so he was up pretty early to get ready.
The 5 year old I've accumulated and I were supposed to sleep in a good 2.5 hours after daddy left.
What bliss. Sleeping in.
We didn't even do that on vacation.
Didn't do that the morning after our wedding.
To put it simply, we just don't do that.
I was really looking forward to doing that this morning.
My 5 year old had other ideas.
He was getting up with daddy.
So I was getting up too.
Ah well, life goes on.
So I put on some cartoons for him, got him some cereal with "pretend milk", set out his clothes, and let him be.
While I can't go back to sleep, I don't need to watch him like a hawk.
He's pretty self-sufficient.
Our new puppy, on the other hand, is not.
She's a secret pooper.
She'll skulk around corners and potty.
Our fix for this?
Barricade off the carpeted area so if she decides to secretly poop, it'll be on a hard (translation= easily cleaned) surface.
The flaw is this fix?
We don't have a baby gate yet; we are using her kennel.
Being that our puppy is a mastiff, the kennel doesn't stay where it is for long.
And when it does?
Well... it doesn't.
We need something sturdier.
Also.. when she's mad at me for blocking her out of the carpeted area, she'll look straight at me, and squat down and pee on the ONE rug we have in the non carpeted area.

On another note, the hubs and I found out last night that we're getting the house we want. It's definitely a fixer upper, but it's inexpensive and we're more than happy to put in the labor it takes.

Okie doke, well... gotta get the boy-o out the door before his bus comes.
Bya!

Dum Dum DaDum

2010-05-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

I got married May 14th.
Today is day two of my being a wife.
I love it so far.
I don't have much to write about today..
or rather, I do, but I'm still pretty busy.
But I plan on actually using this blog now.
My life is interesting now..
I now have a husband, a 5 year old, and a puppy.
We're also trying to get a house.
And I'm going to be starting nursing school.
See what I mean?
Interesting.
I'll blog more another time, when I have more time.
No worries though, my non-existent readers;
I WILL blog again!

I promise to be Semper Fidelis.

2010-04-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

At this moment, I'm in the process of trying to write my vows.
I was going to do just the regular vows, but..
Something just seems to be missing with them.
Of course I promise to be his lawfully wedded wife.
Of course I promise to have and hold him,
in sickness and in health,
for richer or poorer,
as long as I live.
But where is the part where I promise to respect his wishes when he's deployed?
Where's the part where I'm faithful when he's deployed?
Where's the part where I promise to raise all of his children equally; the ones I've birthed and the ones I haven't?
Where are the words to fill the gaps with what I really want to promise him?

Abounding Happiness

2010-04-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

He's on his way home!!!

Volcanic

2010-04-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

My love is stuck in another country right now.
He's, thankfully, not in Afghanistan anymore, but...
On his way home, that volcano erupted in Iceland..
Which, in turn, grounded all flights in Europe and Northern Africa.
Which, in turn, means Michael is not on his way home right now.
He's stuck.. and we're supposed to be getting married on May 14th.
If you're reading this and you pray, can you pray?

A Slacker's Excuse

2010-04-07T03:14:00.001-07:00

Alright.. so..

I'm going to become wife and mother in the same day 5 weeks from Friday.

I have a lot on my mind right now, so I haven't been on here really at all.

I know ordinary people blog when they have a lot on their minds, but..

Yeah.

I'm really excited that my dress will be ready for me to pick up on the 28th, I'm making my own cake, and I've finally figured out my makeup and which hairstyle I want.

Things that make me excited and nervous at the same time:

Becoming a stepmom

Spending the rest of my life with my best friend

The fact that I am making my own cake

I need to work out my "game plan."

Read the Manual!

2010-02-02T04:24:00.000-08:00

My hunny bought me a sewing machine as an early Valentine's Day present.

A Brother CS-6000i computerized sewing machine.

Oh baby.

Daring Cook

2009-12-28T05:32:00.000-08:00

As you know, I had plans to join the Daring Cooks and the Daring Bakers.
I've joined them both and my first challenge has begun.
As per the rules, I can't let it be known to my (non-existent) readers what the challenge is yet, but I am VERY excited.
At first there was some confusion. I thought last month's challenge reveal was the recipe I was supposed to be making for this month (a yummy salmon version of a beef wellington), but when I went on to the website to get my ingredients list, the confusion was cleared up. Good thing I hadn't already bought the salmon!
On that note, my stomach is protesting in all it's force at my having slept through dinner, so I bid you adieu.

I should be sleeping.

2009-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Okay... so..

Chapel - booked
Caterer- found something promising
Photographer - unofficially booked (no website yet)
Dress - found and bought a pattern...

Also... The December challenge for The Daring Kitchen looks delicious.

I'm prepared to admit I have an addiction.

2009-12-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

Sur la Table?
Williams Sonoma?
Heck, even JoAnns and Michaels!

If I see something food related... a new gadget or a novelty cupcake liner, I have the hardest time in the world not buying it.

I spend my procrastinating time listlessly going from site to site, looking at all the food stuff I wish I could get. Silly, huh?

As I said.. I have an addiction.

My very close friend Keely is trying to talk me into pursuing my life-long dream of owning a bakery. It would give me an excuse to buy the cute cupcake wrappers and new flavor extracts, huh?

I will leave you with a picture that I took at work last night:

Christmas is coming!!

The Endearing Ways of Boys and Girls

2009-11-26T01:11:00.000-08:00

As I was looking through my pictures, I came across this picture that I took this last spring of my nephew and the girl who lives behind us. I hope this picture warms your heart as the weather gets a little colder outside.

Can we do it?!

2009-11-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

So... wedding budget = $2000 (excluding dress)
Can we do it?
I think so.
Our guest list is immediate family only and the reception hall and chapel are one and the same.
If worse comes to worst, we can just serve our families pasta during the reception and leave disposable cameras on the tables.
:-)
Time to get creative.
Any suggestions?

Cheesy Bacon Wild Rice Soup

2009-11-22T02:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight (today? 3am), I made a soup to divide up into containers and take with me to work this week. I work nights and so cooking all of the time drains me a little. Besides, it's just me. If I cook a big meal for myself, I'm bound to have leftovers for work. :-)

I'd type out the recipe on here, but I'm not sure if I'd be going against a copy-write law. It's from the book A Taste of Autumn, a Gooseberry Patch cookbook... Gooseberry Patch makes my favorite cookbooks!

It has onions, bacon, wild rice, half and half, cream of potato soup, and shredded cheese in it. Yum yum!

Here are a couple of pictures:

How it Happened

2009-11-18T03:17:00.000-08:00

The proposal story

I have been dating Michael since the end of February/beginning of March time frame. We don't have an exact date or so of when we started dating, but we were pretty exclusive from the very beginning.

Michael deployed last month, but thankfully we've been able to talk almost every day on the webchat thing. Well, the week before last we were talking and he was buying Christmas presents for his son, Gabe, online. He told me that he was sending my Christmas present too, so if a box came, not to open it. Pretty ordinary, right?

Last Wednesday a box came and, as promised, I didn't open it. I left it unopened on my bed and went to work Wednesday night. Thursday morning, when I came home from work, Michael and I got on the webchat and were having a very normal conversation. A little bit through the conversation, I remembered that there was a box on my bed, so I showed him the box while saying "look what came today."

Michael- "Aren't you going to open it?"
Me- "You told me not to."
Michael- "It's okay, because I'm watching."

That is not an unusual response to me. If anyone has ever received a present early from me, they know that I made them open it early too. Because of that, his wanting me to open the box didn't raise any suspicion.

So.. I opened the box. Inside the box was a bubble wrap bag. Inside the bubble wrap bag was something wrapped in gold striped tissue paper. Holding the ends of the tissue paper together was a seal... a jewelry store seal. As soon as I saw the seal, I put it down and just looked at Michael.

Michael- "Aren't you going to finish opening it?"
Me- "A-a-are you suure?"
Michael- "Oh yes"
To which Michael proceeded to encourage me throughout opening it. I'm one of those meticulous present-openers, so I'm sure I drove him crazy with my neatly pulling up all the tape and unwrapping without tearing. Not to mention, I was a bundle of nerves so I was going even slower...

Inside of the gold striped tissue paper was something wrapped in really pretty dark purple marbled wrapping paper with a red gossamer ribbon tied in a bow. Inside that was a red box with a lid. Inside the box with the lid was a jeweler's box. And inside the jeweler's box... well... you've seen the picture.

So I sat there, staring at the ring. Without looking up at him I asked (of all things) "Can I try it on?"
Michael- "No"
Me (looking at him now)- "What?"
Michael- "Well, I want to be able to ask you first."

The way he said that made it seem like he was telling me I would be holding on to the ring, without trying it on or anything, until he gets home from deployment and asks me himself. Disappointing, yes, but understandable.
"Oh, okay" I say as I look back at the ring.

Michael- "Will you look at me"
So I look at him.
"Angela Christine Drouin.."
My breathing stops.
"Will you marry me?"

I thought I said yes. I was screaming yes in my head. Apparently, though, I wasn't saying anything intelligible. Just smiling a crazy wide smile while my eyes were welling up with tears.

Eventually I got the yes out and put the ring on my finger and, from what I remember, asked him if this means we're engaged. "Yes" he laughed.

So I was proposed to, via Skype video chat and the UPS, from Iraq at 3:31am on Thursday, November 12th. And you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. Other than, of course, I'd like him home. I can wait, though. He's got a lot of built-up excitement and joy waiting for him.

And no, we don't have a date. We just got to the point where we absolutely know, without a doubt, that we are going to marry each other. "When" will have to wait. For now.

:-)

Chicken Fricassi

2009-11-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

Or, as referred to by my mom, Chicken Frick-n-Frack! I think my mom got this from one of her many cookbooks, but I really can't recall which one and so I'm not going to be able to give credit. This is really good for a lot of food with little money. My mom was the only one with a stable job while I was growing up and she had 6 mouths to feed. This recipe is simple, inexpensive, and my mom fed all 6 of our mouths with some left over! (Ingredients are in bold. This is a slow cooker meal.)

4 bone-in chicken thighs
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp paprika (or until flour looks pink)
dash white pepper (optional.. i always forget it)
at least 1 tsp salt

Mix up in gallon sized ziplock (or whatever is handy) and shake chicken in it to coat.

1 tbsp light oil
1/2 cup an onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped

Heat pan to medium-low heat. Add oil to coat pan. Add onion and celery and cook until semi-tender. Scoop out and set aside. Add more oil to recoat pan. Lightly crisp chicken in pan; DO NOT COOK THROUGH.

2 small cans (10 3/4 oz each) cream of chicken soup

In a crockpot, add 1 can cream of chicken soup.. Lay chicken on top. Lay onions and celery on top of that.
In a bowl or measuring cup, add second can of soup and 1 can's worth of water. Mix up and pour in crockpot to cover everything.
Cook on high for 1 hour.
Reduce to low and cook for 6 hours.
Do not remove lid while cooking.

When time is up, use tong to grab chicken bones. If meat does not fall off the bone, recover and cook on high for 1 more hour.

Stir up contents of crock pot and serve over wide egg noodles (or preferred choice of base, i.e. potatoes, rice, ect.)

Sorry about the lack of pictures for this. I was going to wait until I made it and post it with pictures, but a very good friend of mine wanted to use it and link back to this recipe for anyone who read her blog. So... perhaps I'll post pictures another day and link back to this recipe in the post.

Ooo Daring

2009-11-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

So... I've been reading everything on The Daring Kitchen website and have decided that eventually, I want to become a member. I don't want to do it now because I'm not sure about certain financial things yet. Perhaps I will join for New Year's. :) Won't it be great to start the year off with a food challenge that I have to do every month? This would mean that I'd have to join in December so that I can start of the challenge in January.

Anyway... so it's official; Michael and I are engaged. I will write the story out on another entry, but I've got a lot going on right now.

Bye for now!

OH MY

2009-11-12T01:43:00.000-08:00

This morning, at 3:31am CST, something amazing happened to me...

2009-11-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

This is my mom and my sweet niece, Abigail. I just thieved these from my sister-in-law's facebook. This is the happiest I've seen my mom in a photograph in.. well... forever. I just thought I'd share because it's one of the most darling things to me.

This picture was taken down in Florida, where the majority of my family is. I will probably not make it down to Florida for a long while.

Abigail in Mississippi with my grandfather.

2009-11-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

New car! Well.... first car, too.

Oh the joys of rent-a-car aka leasing.

2010 Toyota Corolla

My nephew got in it, took a big whiff, and said "It smells like new, Auntie Angie."

Yes. It smells like "new". :-)

It'd be nice if I could actually afford to buy a car, but I'm pretty thankful that I was able to lease something. No, I don't feel I'm throwing my money away; I get to use it for 3 years, don't I?

The Box

2009-11-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

This, my friends, is the box..

The box that holds a symbol of my future in it. I don't even want to open it yet. I'll get over-excited.

That is all for now. I have a box.

Oh yes... and I just found buttercream in my hair...

Getting to Hope You Like Me

2009-11-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

This is my first blog post of, hopefully, many. I do seem to have a problem keeping track of blogs I start, but perhaps this one will be different!

Let's start with a little about where I am in my life right now:

I recently moved up to Minnesota from warm and sunny Florida. Quite a drastic change in temperature and in the locals. Ya know?

My boyfriend/unofficial fiance (he wants to do things right, with rings and all) is currently deployed overseas with the United States Marines (Oorah!).

I'm currently- trying to buy my first car (why did I wait so long?!); looking at houses, via the internet, with my man; working full time as the baker at a wonderful little wedding cake shop in Edina, MN; feeding my addiction to hair/makeup/food magazines; figuring out how to tweet; and daydreaming about the future.

My interests include (but are not limited to):
Talking to/about the love of my life
Being the first one to use a new bottle of shampoo
Babies
Homemade candies
Homemade cakes
Homemade cheese
Homemade bread
Homemade clothes
Homemade anything, really
Baking
Cooking
Crafting
WW2 era things
Prohibition stories
The sociological side of history
Farms
Beekeepers
Honey
Holidays
Hospitality

There is a lot more, but you get the gist. I look forward to blogging about tips, fun stuff, and the general goings-on! Happy 5th of November!