Busy, busy!

I've been pretty busy lately. 

I had five transcription files due last week. I've enjoyed working on transcription files over the weekends now. Johnny hasn't worked overtime on Saturdays lately so on Saturday and Sunday I've been going in the bedroom and raising the head and foot of the bed and typing in there. It's SO COMFY! :) The dogs were napping on the bed off and on while I was working. They'd go in between hanging out with me and then hanging out with Johnny in the living room. During the week Johnny is working in the bedroom so I usually work on transcription files in the living room on my rolling laptop desk that I bought last year. 

I also worked a little bit in my office this weekend. I finally moved the garage sale bins out of the office and got them taped up and stored away. I also moved some of the drawer organizers that I previously had in Aubry's room that I need to find a place for in my office. I haven't yet decided where they're going to go or what I'm going to put in them...but I'll definitely think of something. :) I love organization! 

After I get this first batch of photos edited, I'm going to work on my Etsy shop some more. I still haven't listed my printed transfers yet. I'm still hammering out the details. I also need to work on some new designs...and I also want to work on some planner sticker digital downloads and other printables to list in my Etsy shop as well. June and July have been pretty slow on Etsy for a lot of sellers...and I've kinda let my shop take a backseat to my other obligations at the moment and just doing a little here and there when I can. But by the end of the month, I really want to get it going full-swing again. 

Last weekend Johnny and I took the dogs over to my grandma's house for a little while. Grandma loves seeing the puppies and they enjoy playing over there. They'll explore the backyard for awhile and then they'll just relax at our feet in the house while we're chatting. Johnny replaced Grandma's garbage disposal and I changed the filter on her air purifier (she got the same one we have in our living room). Then this weekend Aubry stopped by and I helped her fill out her application and FAFSA paperwork for WSU Tech. She's interested in their sheet metal programs. So we got that all set up...which is exciting! :) We also scheduled Ashlyn's senior pictures for October. I can't believe our last baby will be a senior next year! 

 Well...gonna get back to work for a little bit before bedtime. Hope everyone has a good week! :) 

RECIPE: Grilled Chicken Sandwich

I haven't posted a new recipe in awhile! I've mostly just been making the same recipes that I already have but Johnny requested something new tonight so...here it is! I served these on Brioche buns with real mayo (Ashlyn had Miracle Whip) and you can add lettuce, pickles, or whatever toppings you like. :) Also, I made this recipe in my PowerXL Grill Air Fryer Combo but you could make it out on the grill (it's too hot outside for me...I prefer the air conditioning). ;) These tasted amazing. Even picky Ashlyn ate her entire chicken breast! She and I cut ours in half to make two sandwiches.  

PowerXL Grill Air Fryer Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

3 chicken breast halves, trimmed and pounded to uniform thickness

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup pickle juice

1 tbs powdered sugar

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp black pepper 

1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Whisk together milk, pickle juice, powdered sugar, garlic salt, and black pepper in a 1 gallon freezer bag. Place chicken in bag and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

2. Place the grill plate in the PowerXL. Set to grill setting at 450 degrees and let preheat for 10 minutes. Coat the grill plate with the oil so the chicken won't stick.  

3. After it has preheated, add the chicken to the grill plate. 

4. Cancel the grill function and turn the PowerXL to Air Fry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes and press start. Set to Air Fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes and press start. Cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. 

5. Remove the chicken to a plate and let it sit for 5 minutes. 

6. Make your sandwiches! :) 

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Ugh...July is HOT.

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned that I'm not a fan of the heat...but I'm really NOT a fan of the heat! :P It's been in the 90s and 100s pretty much everyday and I hate it. My health issues really hate it too. :( I could live very comfortably with mild 70s all year long! 

We didn't do much for 4th of July. It's not really my favorite holiday anyway (I'm not a fan of noise, either). :P Since the kids are older now, we don't have to shoot off fireworks which is just fine by me. IMO, it's literally setting fire to your money. :P lol. 

People tend to go crazy with fireworks in our neighborhood and the dogs were NOT very happy about it. Actually...it was more Nova than Bozley...which is unusual. Boz is typically the more fearful one but he just barks at the fireworks if he's in the house...and will look around for the fireworks and maybe come stand by me and watch if we're outside. With the little fireworks that don't make too much noise, he'll still play around in the backyard without any problem. But Nova was too terrified to even go outside to go to the bathroom at all. She would hold it all day from, like, 9am until almost 2am because she was too scared of even the small fireworks...or any noises. And around here, nearly ALL fireworks are legal and they can legally shoot them off from June 27th through July 5th...until 10pm every night except the 3rd and 4th when the deadline is midnight (not that people actually abide by that law). So it was a LONG week. And while Bozley is a mama's boy and more comfortable with me...Nova's a daddy's girl and she gets more comfort from Johnny. So she wouldn't go outside with just me and Bozley except during Johnny's lunch break we could sometimes coax her out the door since he was outside. But even then...a lot of the times she would just stay by Johnny and wouldn't go to the bathroom...and most days there weren't big fireworks happening during that time. And all this is even WITH the dogs being on 100mg of trazadone to help with their anxiety! I'm just still shocked that carefree Nova was the one who was more upset than scaredy-dog Bozley. But she was only 6 months old during last 4th of July and she didn't come home to us until a couple weeks after that, so this was her first experience with so many fireworks in the middle of town. 

So...Ashlyn went to my grandparents' house but Johnny and I just spent the holiday at home. Sunday night Johnny grilled chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs for dinner and we've been having leftovers. So that's always awesome! He even grilled two little steaks for Bozley and Nova to cut up and mix with their kibble as well. ;) The night of 4th of July we watched a movie on Netflix (with the volume turned way up to try to drown out the massive amounts of fireworks being shot off in our neighborhood): The Man from Toronto. It was a funny movie. :) 

Ooh and on Friday and Saturday we watched the last two (long!) episodes of Stranger Things! I really like that show. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the 5th (and final) season to come out. And last night we finally started watching Reacher on Amazon Prime. It's really good! We've only watched two episodes so far, but I'm sure we'll probably finish it this week. We've also been watching In the Dark each week since it's back on. I'm hoping Manifest will be back on soon, too. 

I've been busy lately! When I'm not working on editing photos, I've been working on CandiMaker stuff. I reorganized the sections in my Etsy shop a little bit and I'm finally getting everything ready to start selling my ready-to-press sublimation transfers. I have the listings written out and now I'm going through and creating all the listing photos that I'll use. I've also determined my pricing structure for them as well as shipping. So as soon as I have everything ready, I'll be able to get them all listed! :) I do need to get some more ink and sublimation paper, though. I'm not close to being out yet...but I don't want to run out while orders are coming in, either. I'm always excited when I start new "projects" for CandiMaker. :)

But...right now I have some transcription files to work on. I took off during the week of fireworks because I knew there would be too many disruptions. But...it gave me some time to work on other things as well. :) 

And on that note...back to work! :) 

Officially Summer!

 And...I hate summer. :P The heat doesn't agree with me at all. I have several health issues that are exacerbated by the heat and it's been in the 90s and 100s lately. UGH. 

Things have been good lately other than that though. We had a relaxing weekend at home with Johnny for father's day. We lounged in bed with the dogs and watched a documentary on Saturday. We are still loving the new king-size bed and being able to raise the head and foot of the bed. :) It definitely makes for some comfortable TV watching! And on Sunday Johnny gave the dogs a bath and I trimmed the fur on their paws for some in-between grooming until we can get them in to the groomer again. And then Aubry came over and the girls each gave Johnny a card and we hung out for awhile. It was really nice. :) 

Monday Johnny was off work for the holiday. We lounged around for awhile and then went over to my grandma's house to help her with a few things. We took the dogs with us and they had a good time. And Grandma always enjoys seeing them (and us, of course!). :) 

Tuesday Ashlyn and I (Johnny had to work) went to dinner with my mom and grandparents for Aubry's birthday. She picked Olive Garden which is always yummy. We just happened to get there as it started to downpour. And then when we were getting ready to leave it started raining again so we chatted for a little bit while we waited for the rain to calm down. It poured off and on all evening...which seems to happen every time after we give the dogs a bath. :P 

Ashlyn's new job is going well. She said they've even chosen her and another new coworker to be in charge of closing at certain times when needed. Her managers seem to be impressed with her take-charge attitude (she gets that from her mama) and ability to get things done and learn new things quickly. She wasn't sure how well she'd like the new job during training when they were at a different venue, but it looks like it's gotten a lot better since she started actually working at the facility. I'm glad she seems to be enjoying it. :)

I've been busy editing photos lately. We had some 4 generation photos taken a few months ago that I've been working on. It's taking me awhile but eventually I'll have all 155 photos finished! lol. But this weekend I have some transcription files to get done. I don't like to claim files when we have anything going on because I take pride in always getting my files back by the deadline and I don't like running myself short on time. So that's what I'll be doing for the next week or so. :) It'll be nice getting back into that groove. 

I can't believe June is almost over! I'm looking forward to July 1...that's when the final two LONG episodes of Stranger Things season 4 will be released by Netflix! We'll definitely be binge-watching those next weekend. :) I'm sad that there will only be one more season after this...but it's been a good run. 

But for now...back to work!

Yay! We have a new bed!

I am SO excited to have our new bed! We got it from my grandma. She had a king-size, adjustable Tempur-Pedic bed and was wanting to get a queen-size bed so she'll have more room in her bedroom. Johnny and I both have back problems...so we've definitely been looking forward to being able to raise the head and foot of the bed and the new memory foam mattress. We've just had queen-size pillow-top mattresses. First we had Johnny's that he bought in 2006. Then when we moved our bedroom upstairs in 2018, we switched to my mattress that was bought in 2009 (and hadn't been used since I moved in with Johnny in 2013). But in the last few years, my scoliosis has gotten worse and Johnny's back has been bothering him more...not to mention the fact that the dogs take up all the room. :P So we've been excited about the new bed!

Grandma's new bed was being delivered on Friday, so Thursday morning I took apart our bed and Ashlyn helped me move it downstairs while Johnny was working. Then that evening we picked up a U-Haul truck and went over to my grandma's house to load up the king-size bed and bring it to our house. It was SO HEAVY. The base is actually two separate twin XL bases...but with all the hardware and everything to adjust the head and foot of the bed they were a lot heavier than just a normal bed frame would be. Luckily my mom and dad were there to help too. Then we got it back to our house and unloaded it. We put the bases in our room but left the mattress and headboard in the hallway so I could still move the bases if I needed to while I was hooking all the cables back up. And then we took the U-Haul truck back so we didn't miss that deadline...and then we came back home and finished putting everything together and made the bed. 

I'm SO happy with the new bed! We actually still have a lot more room in our bedroom than I thought we might. I wasn't sure if we'd have to have it up against the wall, but we had enough room still for both nightstands AND the dog bed by the closet. We moved the dog steps to the end of the bed instead of the side...but that's about it. And we have a LOT more room in the bed, that's for sure. Usually Bozley doesn't lay in bed with us that long but since getting the new bed, he'll lay in our bed for almost half an hour before he finally gets down and goes to his bed. Nova still sleeps in our bed all night...but she's no longer taking up all the room and kicking us off the edge. ;) We raised the head/foot of the bed while the dogs were on it...and they were definitely not sure what to think about that! LOL. I'm sure if we turned on the massage function they'd really freak out when it started vibrating! 

I don't think I've ever slept as well as I have with the new bed. With the head raised a little bit and then raising the foot of the bed, my back feels so much better. Plus the mattress is SO comfortable. When grandma was buying her new bed, they said that once someone gets a Tempur-Pedic mattress they rarely get something else after that...and I can see why! I've definitely been sleeping better and waking up feeling more rested. And aside from being sore from moving furniture, my back is feeling better in general. I actually look forward to going to bed now! LOL. ;)