and then there were four…

These are going to be all over the place, because I’m crushing on all sorts of crap these days.

Dexter: At first, I didn’t think I would like it, I was afraid it would be too gory. I do not like gore. But, I am pleased to tell you, it’s no worse than CSI (so far) and it’s a great show.

Slide & Store Frames: I picked up two of these on clearance today at Target. Regularly priced $24.99, my price: $6.24. That’s badass. I do not have to open up the whole damn back of the frame if I want to change a picture, which rocks. I’m going to go back and see if they have any more tomorrow, methinks.

Cholula: One night, eating tacos, I decided I needed a little more kick. There was some leftover Cholula from when my Brother-in-law, Bob, was over, so I tried it. It was good. At Christmas, Bill and I had jokingly said we were going to buy Bob the big huge bottles of Cholula from Costco as a gag gift since he loved it so much. Not such a joke anymore: we have two huge ass bottles in our house right now. I’ve tried it on Apples (not bad), salad (too hot), taco salad (yum), popcorn (yum), all sorts of Mexican food (obviously), and pretty much anything else that didn’t seem too weird. Obsessed, I tell you.

Wii Fit: I’ve made good on my promise to Bill: “Buy it for me and I will use it.” I aim for 1 hour of workout time every weekday. Some days I get 45 minutes, some days I get an hour and six minutes. All depends on how well Sophia sleeps, because I squeeze it in during  her naps. Olivia likes to exercise with me. I acutally feel like I am doing something positive. I haven’t lost anything substantial yet, but I’m not going to worry about it because I feel good and this damn baby weight will come off when it is good and ready. Also: I love boxing. It’s fun on Wii Fit.

The String Quartet Tribute to Weezer: Pull this String: My girls really enjoy listening to classical music (Lots of Baby & Little Einstein both in utero and now). It  usually calms them down when they get cranky in the car. I have a few Baby Einstein cds and some other classical cds that do the trick, but I saw this and decided to give it a whirl. It does not disappoint. It’s neat to hear your favorite band’s songs in this format and the girls really like it too. This way we can share our music with them, without it being inappropriate. Win-Win. I can’t wait to find more like this one.

For now, I’m going with Me Likey for the “feature” name. It’s less crass, obvious enough without being bland, and goofy. Like me.

So, for today’s Me Likey, I give you a variation of this recipe because when do I not change stuff around?

Here’s what I did:

• 3 cups penne pasta
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 3 pinches ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup Italian Breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted

Follow the same instructions. Originally I had used Panko breadcrumbs, but I am going to try it with Italian when I make it again. I also am going to add some garlic and maybe some onion powder, because it needed an extra oomph and we think that might do it. You could also play around with what type of cheese you used, though I would probably stay away from your more bitter cheeses, and keep it in the same general arena as cheddar, but it is basically a macaroni and cheese with chicken. It’s freaking good. Olivia ate it and she normally dislikes pasta (we’re still not sure why).

I am also going to tell you about Old Navy’s big baby & toddler sale going on right now (in store only, I think). Ya’ll know how thrifty I am, so you know this has to be good if I am buying stuff brand new. Almost all of their baby stuff (anything under 2T I think), is $5. I got Sophia this sundress and a cute little gingham summer top for $5 each. She didn’t need much else, since I have all of Olivia’s hand-me-downs and other stuff I found on consignment/thrift, but if you are having a baby or know someone who is having one, this is a terrific deal. Olivia chose three different summer dresses (she got the that last one in different shades of blue–which is apparently sold out online) for $10 apiece. I justified spending that much on summer dresses because Sophia will hopefully also be able to wear them one day. I promise, Old Navy isn’t paying me to tell you this–it was just a pretty good deal. Some of their quality has gone down, but for kids clothes, you can’t beat those sale prices.

As a quick aside: I went to the GAP outlet this weekend and found a cute little striped shirt for Sophia marked down from close to $20 to $9. I scoff at that price: I bought the same damn shirt in January from the thrift store—for $1, and you couldn’t tell it had been worn ( it couldn’t have been very old–it’s still in the outlet).

So yeah. Me likey.