Happy Friday!

I figured since I've only gone 2 miles in the past hour, this would be a good time to squeeze a blog in. This is by far the only drawback of city living! This has been a great week!! My first week of work and Harleigh's first week of daycare were both successful...and Rob is still making some great contacts. Praying he finds something soon though!

It's no secret to most that I am very directionally challenged. I need my GPS just to go a few blocks. Well I'm glad to report that today was my first day to do all my daily stops to and from work without my GPS! It's seriously a miracle. Lunch was kind of sketchy but Rob was driving so it doesn't count.

In other good city livin news, I've established an amazing manicurist (the conversation is very limited), a very friendly dry cleaner (again, convo is limited), and a kickass hairstylist who shares the same small town roots as me, and ironically the same past romantic relationship. Small world huh?

In a nutshell, I can't remember the last time I was this happy and felt this fulfilled. I'm so lucky to have Rob to go through all these changes with. He's supportive and optimistic to no end. Love that man!

If you're reading this I hope you have a spectacular weekend. I know we will :)

New Job

Apologies to those I told I would update last night...I was exhausted when I got home! My first day of work went great! I know it's technically only day two but the atmosphere and employees have been great so far. Even better, it only takes me 10 minutes to get to work! I'm really excited about my future here! I'm also happy to report that cubicles are NOT a myth. They do exist. Mines not so homey right now but I have plans to Meganize it in the near future. The only drawback in all of this is I find myself quoting Office Space and The Office allll dayyy longgg. Seriously.

My first day turned out to be a pretty bittersweet one though. Although I was overjoyed to be working again, it was also my first day EVER away from Harleigh AND her first day in daycare. It's really hard not knowing the people caring for your child, whereas in Brownwood I could get the scoop on anybody anywhere in a matter of 10 minutes. With all that said, Harleigh did great! And they must have been busy having fun all day because she slept hard all night. It took Rob about 5 minutes to get her fully woken up this morning. The best part was taking her to daycare this morning and little miss greeting her teacher with the biggest smile ever on her face! That is definitely a reassuring sign!

Rob is still on the job hunt but has made a lot of good contacts and gotten some good leads just in the past couple of days. If you're reading this and you have any contacts in the DFW area, please comment and let me know.  We would both greatly appreciate it :)

Momma's Little Italy's

This might just be a new favorite of mine! I absolutley HATE cooking lasagna the traditional way but this was sooo easy and quick AND Kenzie was able to help which makes it that much better! Another winner for my mom :)

                                                                          The Cast

12 oz. ground beef (as lean as possible)

1/4 tsp. salt, divided

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 cup chopped onion (as always, I prefer the easy frozen stuff)  

14.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (he was being bashful)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

24 small square wonton wrappers

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 and spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Brown ground beef with onions, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.

Add crushed tomatoes, parmesan, oregano, and basil.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place 1 wonton wrapper in each of the 12 cups.

Add HALF of the cottage cheese to each cup.

Add HALF of the meat mixture and sprinkle mozzerla on top.

Repeat layers: wonton wrapper (press down), cottage cheese, meat mixture and mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes.

I suggest letting the corners of the wonton wrappers brown for a nice crunchy texture.
Let cool before removing from the cups. The longer you allow them to cool the easier it is to remove from the pan.

So simple, hearty, and fun to do as a family...enjoy :)

Crime of the Week

You should have seen the eye rolls I kept getting from Rob, a.k.a. the wine snob. The only thing I see wrong with this picture is I forgot a straw! Cheers!

What's That Smell?

Of the many things I love about Rob, one thing in particular is his well cultured tastebuds. Because of this, he has introduced me to things I never would have tried in my past life. Maybe one day I'll be as big of a foodie as he is but until then this is one of our hurdles....funky stinky cheeses. Can you tell which drawer is mine and which is Rob's??

PePa's Goulash

I decided to try my hand at my mom's goulash tonight. Rob has never had goulash so I figured if he doesn't know what to expect then he doesn't have too much room for judgement. Thankfully he loved it! My mom makes some of the best comfort foods and this is one of my many favorites!

***UPDATE: Turns out this wasn't my mom's recipe but my grandfather's. Sorry mom, it's not Momma's Goulash anymore :)
Turns out when my grandparents first got married, my Mema didn't know how to cook...so this was one of the first meals they cooked together, compliments of my PePa. Mema recalls they didn't melt cheese on top though. Mema got tickled when she remembered they use to share it with the landlady becuase the recipe made so much.  PePa passed away when I was 5 so that makes this recipe that more special to me.***

The Cast

1 pound ground beef

1 package frozen chopped onion and bell pepper

2 cans tomato soup

1 package shredded cheddar

8 ounce package large elbow noodles

Start a pot of boiling water for the noodles. Cook according to package. I prefer al dente. If you're like us, you don't have those fancy non-stick pots and pans so be sure to add a little vegetable oil to the water.

In the meantime, brown ground beef with frozen onions and bell peppers. I prefer adding some Cajun seasoning as well.Drain fat.

Reduce heat to a simmer. Add the 2 cans of tomato soup and stir occasionally.

You're probably still waiting for that water to boil, so pour yourself a big plastic cup of wine. No need for those fancy glasses...you're eating goulash for goodness sakes!

Drain the noodles and return pot to low heat. Add noodles and tomato soup mixture. Stir.

Add a layer of cheddar cheese on top. This can be as much cheese as you like. We prefer A LOT! Place lid on pot and allow the cheese to get melted and bubbly.

                                     SIMPLE. FAST. YUMMY. ENJOY.

Father's Day

I hope everyone had as great of a Father's Day weekend as we did! I love weekends packed with family time! Here are a few pics from Saturday.







Rob's grandparents got to meet my family on Sunday. They were passing through Comanche on their trip from California. Needless to say I had a very happy heart having both our families in the same place. We took them on a short tour through Brownwood and enjoyed a nice Father's Day lunch at The Turtle. Always a good time with these two!

Punch Recipe

My friend Sarah's baby shower is this weekend and I am in charge of the punch. Just wanted to share the recipe, since it sounds super yummy and refreshing for the hot summer days we have here in Texas! If you haven't guessed already, YES this recipe is from Pinterest :)

1 cup Countrytime Lemonade mix {or any knockoff brand}
2 cups cold water
1 can of chilled pineapple juice {46 oz}
2 cans chilled Sprite {again, any knockoff brand will do}
Mix together and add lemon slices to make pretty … Voila!

AhHhHhHhhhh!

....that pretty much sums up how I feel right now. SO many changes going on and fast! For starters, I GOT THE JOB! I start on the 25th and can't wait! I feel like this was exactly in God's timing; I had a few other jobs in Brownwood that seemed perfect and promising but they all fell through and one day while I was in California I ran my finger down a list of 135 job postings and applied to this one (just so I could feel like I was being somewhat productive in Cali ha). I got an email from them on my flight home requesting an interview, and again not getting my hopes up I scheduled it just to feel like I was being "productive" in my job search. Everything they told me about the job and the work environment was almost too good to be true. After almost a week of no sleep they finally offered me the job. I'll be working for a tax consulting firm on the North side of downtown Dallas called Marvin F. Poer and Company.

So now things get interesting. Since Rob is still looking for a job in the DFW area as well, we are having to stay with my parents in Hillsboro until we are able to rent a place of our own. 1. Because we don't have enough money on my salary alone and 2. Because we don't want to rent on a particular side of Dallas if Rob gets a job in Fort Worth. So because of this, my commute to work will have me waking at 4am, leaving by 5am...and hoping to get to work by 8am. The typical drive is only an hour, but rush hour puts a damper on that. I was nervous about getting up that early, and being extremely tired and cranky by the time I got home. I was nervous about driving in heavy traffic half asleep. I was nervous about the wear and tear on my car. And I was really nervous about how much I would be spending in gas each week. So I came up with a great plan!

To be continued......

My Kind of Weekend

Go figure. I finally start blogging again and that same night we get struck by lightning. Finally got my laptop up and running today...
I'm so thankful for a light weekend, considering how stressed I am. I had a really big interview in Dallas on Wednesday, and won't hear anything until Monday. Seems like the closer it gets to Monday the more stressed I get! This job would be HUGE for us and I'm really hoping it's in His plan. So hopefully I'll have some good news to report on Monday :)
Taking my mind off things, Kenzie thankfully planned a great little sleepover in our living room. It was a night of Hamburger Helper, sugar cookies, Pretty Pretty Princess, and Rango (which only Rob and I are watching because Kenzie has no attention span). I love a night out but these are my favorite kind of nights! There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now!

"Our Secondhand Love"

I suppose I'll use this first post to explain a few things. I'll start with the title of my blog. People associate secondhand items as old, used, worn and unwanted to the material eye. I've been guilty of this myself. The truth is, secondhand isn't at all bad, especially when it comes to love. God blessed me with a great man, even if it was in a way considered nontraditional and frowned on by most. He didn't care about my past, nor did he care that he was taking on a relationship that would be considered "secondhand". Some people view secondhand items as treasure, like finding that special piece they've been searching for in a pile of junk. With a little TLC it is made new again, and in some cases looks better than it did before. This is how I feel daily. Rob came along when I was totally broken and he made me new again. Our love is secondhand but I wouldn't have it any other way!

The main purpose for my blogging is so family and friends can better keep up with whats going on in my little family's life. Also, those who know me know that I love to write. I've had other blogs in the past but haven't felt inspired since my divorce. The past few weeks I've been overwhelmed with thoughts and ideas and it seems like every night I lay awake thinking of topics and/or happenings I want to write about. Again, I feel like I have Rob to thank for that.

So here it is. Enjoy.