What's for dinner?

Christy's meatloaf, that's what! I'm one of those weird people that cannot stand the all American meatloaf with tomato sauce or ketchup all over it... Yucky, yucky, yucky to me :P

So, I figured out a meatloaf with flavors that I like... Here's the recipe... We'll start with all the ingredients:

• One lb. ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/2 package of croutons (whichever are your favorite, mine are multi-grain parmesan caesar)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk

Ok... First, mix all the ingredients except the turkey and croutons.

Then add the thawed turkey and blend with your hands if you're a macho woman who doesn't mind getting raw turkey under your finger nails... I happen to not like that so much, so I use my kitchen-aide. I won't show you this step as it looks pretty grossa, but next, crunch up your croutons. Not too much, I like big pieces in there, too. They should look like this.

Pour 'em in the mixer and whirl for about 10 seconds. When it's all ready to pop in the pan, it should look like this.

Oh, and don't forget the salt and pepper, just a few shakes...

Then use an ice-cream scoop (the kind with the little mechanism that helps you get it all out) and put 2 scoops per spot in your muffin tin. This makes 6 perfect little meatloafs... I like using the muffin tin because they're the perfect portions.

Bake in a 375 degree pre-heated oven for 25-35 minutes, until they reach an internal temp of atleast 160 degrees. Add some rice and a salad, and it's dinner time!

What do you guys think?

Recently, I bought 7 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick (I think the color is Paprika) that was on clearance at JoAnn's for only .97 cents! I thought 7 skeins would be plenty for a throw for Hubby's friend and girlfriend for Christmas. Well, I made one square from the 200 Blocks book (Queen Ann's Lace Square), and it used almost a full skein! It was only about 10" square, so I didn't think that would be enough for a full blanket. To my surprise, a regular price skein is $6.99!!! Oh... my... goodness!!! As a girl on a budget, that's a bit too pricey for me, so I decided to improvise.

Today I bought a skein of the Homespun (in Golden) and made another square. I think it's a tiny bit smaller, but I think when I join them they'll even out... Do you guys think they go together ok?

Here's a close up of both of them...

The Homespun (which the color is much better in the first pic) was only $4.50 a skein and I think I can get 2 squares out of each skein. So that's much more budget friendly than the chenille... I think I'll make it 3 squares by 4 squares and then border it with whatever I have left. Sound good?

My Favorite Spaces At Home

Karla invited blogland to a Romantic Country Party. I was so excited to make it my first :) She asked that we post what is pretty and what we love in our home... Here are a few :)



And something that's not so pretty, but will be pretty very soon... My at home office, in the perfect pink! There will soon be pretty IKEA furniture and an enlargement of a wedding picture.

Just a few more little things that I love at home...

School Carnival

Well, this is something crafty I've been working on. Hubby's class needed to make something to auction off at their annual carnival. I found this cute project online and hubby agreed that it was pretty cool.

The blurred part has hubby's name, class, grade and year. It's basically a hugo circle cut from 72" red felt. I glued on the gold rick-rack and the hand-prints were done in gold acrylic paint. But when it dried it looked kinda murky brown, so I painted the gold glitter puff-paint over them yesterday, and now they're all sparkly gold! I'll let you guys know how much we raise for the school...

A Few More...

Well, I've been trying to get our honeymoon scrapbook done because Winkflash has their classic photo books on sale for $19.95. And they're only that price until Sept. 28th, so, I've been pluggin' away. I should get more done today while hubby and I are at school. Here's a coupla new sets.

New Job!

First, just a prayer for all of those lost and left behind on September 11, 2001. I will never forget that day, I was still in highschool, in the music room and remember just sitting in a group, all holding hands, watching the television in the corner as the towers came down. I can't believe it's been 6 years. God bless every one of the people hurt by the worst tragedy of my lifetime.

Well, I know there's really no excuse for not posting for 10 whole days, but last week was sooooo crazy, stressful, emotionally draining... But it all ended in a good way! I have a new job! The whole reason I started going to school to become a health information coding specialist was because my best friend's mom showed me a picture of one of her AHIMA magazines of a young woman sitting on her bed in her pajamas with a coffee cup in her hand and a laptop in front of her. She told me, "Girly! If you're interested, there will be a multitude of opportunities waiting for you!" And boy, was she right!

I was certified in April, and it only took me 4 months to have 3 job offers that I didn't even go looking for. It was a hard ordeal, just because I really love the small hospital that I work for, but the opportunities are as small as the hospital. I will now be working for a national outsourcing company that has over 650 hospitals all around the US as clients. They send me my work through the internet every morning and I have until mid-night to finish it. How cool is that??? I am totally excited, and am already thinking of how I will decorate my new home-office!

This is a pic of Heather Bailey's studio and I love the colors and vibe. I think instead of the aqua, tho, I'm leaning towards brown in it's place. Yes, pinks and creams and browns... Like a big neopolitan ice-cream sandwich.

I've been playing with some of the sheet music from the New york Public Library's Digital Gallery... My favorite one is below. I have about 8 different ones so far. I think I'd blow them up to 8 x 10 and frame them all in the same frame and hang them over my desk, which I think I might get from IKEA on the 29th of this month. Now to find just the right color of pink for the walls!

Another Tag

Amy, at Abundant Curiosities, tagged me for another meme of sorts. Here's how it goes, tell your middle name and then associate something with each letter of your name with something about your life. I'm going to have lots to say, since my name is Christy Ann (thank goodness momma didn't decide on something like Elizabeth!). So, here goes...

C - Cambria, CA. My wedding photographer was awesome. As part of our package, we took our engagement pics on the beach in Cambria. Eventually, we can also go back and take more in my wedding dress... But we've been so busy, so I think it won't be til next year. It was such an awesome experience!
H - Home. I have a new one, and I've always loved being home, where ever that may be.
R - Red. Hubby and I both really love the color. Our house reflects that, I think almost every room has red in it.
I - Ice Cream. Blame my BF for this one. When we were in high-school, we would go to Von's (grocery store) just to buy ben 'n jerrys, and once in a while, when there were a few more of us, we'd all pick out a different gallon and then we'd sit around with spoons and share them all, trading every once in a while. Mmmm... I want some now!
S - Sissy. My brothers have always called me sissy. It doesn't even matter that they are now 21 and 15, they still do, and probably always will :)
T - Well, that's an easy one! It's the first letter of my new last name... But I can't tell you that, silly! The pic is of the cake topper I made for the cake with our monogram on it. Pretty and much less expensive than the one from here. Thanks for the $200 inspiration!
Y - Yippee!!! I say that all the time. And today, I'm saying it cause I finished "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows"! It was so, so good... But now, I'm kinda sad. No more Harry and Ron and Hermione and Ginny???

A - Aunty! I've only been an Aunty for 7 months now, but my nephews may be the cutest babies I've ever seen!
N - Nora Roberts. My favorite author. I read her books like water. Which reminds me... Isn't a new one due out! I've been waiting too long!
N - Not one day (ok, maybe one in a great while) goes by that I don't have coffee. And, I get quite cranky if I don't have any... It's still my theory as to why I'm so short... Doesn't caffeine stunt your growth, or something like that?