End of the Week Roundup

Happy Friday to a very long week (for me at least)!

1. Yesterday I met with my doctor which I mentioned here. I feel a lot better having gone to her. It doesn't fix everything but it at least gives me a new hope about my situation. Quite frankly, it was the only time in my life that it was okay to hear "you at least got pregnant". Long story short, I got a prescription for Clomid and they took my blood to check my thyroid to see if there's any issues there. Here's to hoping for good things family-wise in 2015!

2. Steph is awesome, she let me grace her blog this week with a guest post and recommendations. If you scroll to the bottom of this post, there's also a giveaway you can enter! Good luck!

3. I finished up my first chevron quilt this week (it's for sale too, if you're interested!). I love how it turned out, but it was definitely a lot more work than my usual patchwork quilts.

4.  Speaking of my quilts, I created a Quilts by Nicole website this week too! I'm not sure the website was really necessary but I needed to flex some creativity muscles and that usually means a new blog design and since I love my current design, I decided to just create this site instead. 

5.  Sunday was my sister's birthday. We all met up at my moms house and had dinner and played games. It was a good time, but then again time with family always is. I didn't get any pictures but we did pull out some old pics of us as kids and my sister commented how much she loved her bangs in this pic so I'll share that instead!

Happy Friday and good luck with the giveaway!

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January Cooking Challenge Results

In the beginning of this month I created a cooking challenge for myself. It was my way of not only using up recipes/pins that I've never used that I wanted to but also to step out of my comfort zone and use cooking techniques I avoid because I'm not comfortable with them. 

Here's the first results of the year! I'd say I was 65% successful....

First up, Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Now I've eaten this recipe before, however I always made Dave make it for two reasons: 1. I don't work with dough, at all  2. I don't cut in butter. So this time I decided to make it all by myself, cutting butter and all. 

Cooking Technique Tackled: Cutting butter, working with dough

The results: Complete success! The recipe is delicious to begin with and I manage to not mess up the cutting in of the butter. 

Next up: Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls

Cooking Technique Tackled: Frying food in oil, working with spring roll wrappers

The results: The filling was really good, but the egg rolls did not come out looking crispy, crunchy or egg roll-y at all. The grease just kinda sat on the wrappers and it was like eating oil straight from the pan. I'm not completely turned off of the idea of trying to fry it again but maybe cook it in less oil? Or something along those lines. It was edible and tasted half decent but good lord it was hideous and... loosened the bowels to put it kindly. 

All in all, this month's challenge wasn't half bad. I'm excited to see what other cooking techniques I'll tackle this year. 

Did you try anything different this month? 

Dancing with Duck Lips

I've been on a memoir kick lately. They're normally quick reads for me that give me a "sneak peek" into a celebrity's life. My favorite memoirs have to be the ones by Chelsea Handler. 

Anyway, I was inspired by the run of memoirs I've read to brainstorm what the chapters of my own memoir would be called. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the chapter headings of "Dancing with Ducklips and other insights", look for it at your local Barnes and Noble never. 

Chapter 1 // If your mother didn't pass out from your big head entering this world at least once, you haven't done it right. Go back and do it again. 

Chapter 2 // Greasy hands and dirty fingernails aren't as sexy as I once thought, but it made me a hard worker.

Chapter 3 // I don't care how intelligent or level headed you are as a teenager, your first boyfriend is going to make you stupid. 

Chapter 4 // Hemorrhoids aren't the only thing in life that will be a pain in your ass. 

Chapter 5 // How to plan your life out perfectly--and then watch your plans fail miserably.

Chapter 6 // You know love isn't like the movies, well neither is friendship. 

Chapter 7 // Treat yourself as you would treat your friends.

Chapter 8 // Romance isn't flowers and candles, it's when he stays by your side when you hop on the crazy train and get on the first class psycho bitch cart. 

Chapter 9 // Dancing with duck lips, perfect "The Lawn Mower" on the dance floor,  and why Night at the Roxbury is the worlds best dance instruction video.

Fin. 

aka The End. 

End of the Week Roundup

You know it's funny, in the winter I have blog post ideas coming out the wazoo but roundups are hard to create because I hibernate in the winter. I go to work, then school, then come home and quilt or read. That's it. It's tough to create a roundup when you're pretty much just curled up under covers for the majority of the week.

1. Saturday I met up with a friend to give her a quilt that I made for her mom out of her dad's shirts who passed away last May. 

2. On Saturday I also got a new rotary ruler/cutter. I can't cut a straight line so this new contraption is a Godsend for me. 

I mean just look at these perfect squares! (Rainbow chevron quilt coming soon!!!)

3. In the world's suckiest moment of the week, I came home from school Tuesday night to a huge package of Similac formula, which was a sharp reminder that if I hadn't miscarried my baby would be due in two weeks. How did they even know in the first place? I wasn't pregnant long enough to sign up for anything! In either case, it blew monkey chunks hard and it took me a while to get over that one. 

4. I made this recipe over the weekend, nothing like some good yummy comfort food on a quiet Sunday!

5. Nibbler rarely plays with toys (unless he wants to steal one from Squish), but this little egg gives him treats so of course it's one of his favorite toys. 

How did your week go?

Crockpot Broccoli and Cauliflower

My father's side of the family is huge. My grandmother had 9 kids and we all kinda just kept growing from there. One of my favorite part of family get-togethers was our meals. They were always hearty and terrible for you but oh so good. One of my absolute favorite side dishes was the broccoli and cauliflower casserole my Aunt Penny makes. The recipe I'm sharing feeds A LOT considering the size of our family. You can cut the recipe in half and it'll feed about 6. 

Here's what you need:
- 2 packages frozen cauliflower
- 2 packages frozen broccoli florets
- 1 can cream of shrimp soup (if you cannot find cream of shrimp you can use cream of mushroom as well)
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup milk
Here's what you do:

1. Cook vegetables according to directions, arrange in crock pot.
2. In a separate pot, melt cream cheese and butter. 
3. Add milk and cream soup.
4. Mix well and pour over veggies in crock pot. Cook on high for 1 hour or 2 for low. 

Enjoy!