I LOVE LAMP!

Who can name that movie?  I use that Steve Carell (hint hint) quote for this post because I have to agree with him, I LOVE LAMP!  Not all lamps though.  When Mike first moved in to our house, he had to make do with any lamp with the price tag of "free."  Especially since our main living room has no ceiling light.  Dark much?  So, when we were registering for our wedding, we decided to register for some lamps.  We came across a wonderful lamp that we both loved so we asked for three.  We got them all :)  Here's what they do for our house:

This is the black lamp in our bedroom.  

As you can see, it's bright.

There are three shelves on this lamp (one on the floor).

So here is our unity sand.

And my Bible.

Looks really good next to our bed!

Here is the brown version in our living room.

It was fun to decorate and looks super nice.

Here are all three shelves.

Even when it's off, it looks really nice.

Here is what the majority of our lamps look like.

Ornate. Gold. Two word that definitely do not describe the rest of my house decor.

 Here's the third lamp.  Yep, we got all three.  This one is also brown.

Love the pull down chain to turn on/off the lamp.

We display our three Vintage Library board games on this lamp.

Scrabble.

Risk.

Life.

From the side they look like books! Love.

Since we're talking about lamps, here's another fave.

This was the lamp in my college dorm.  And both apartments.  And now my house.

It gives off SOOOO much light.  And I love lamp light.

Plus, it's just funky and fun.

So, you see, I truly love lamp(s).  By the way, Thursday is almost over.  Happy Friday!!  Next up: dining room :)

Deep Breath.

Well, as you can tell, it has been one week since my last post.  Sad, I know.  But, much has happened in the Strunga household.

First--we didn't catch any mice.  Last Wednesday morning when I posted, I had a brand new outlook on my situation.  I was simply going to bleach everything, catch a mouse, and all would be well.  Minutes after posting that to my blog, I went into the kitchen to begin tackling my to-do list.  I decided to go ahead and check the drawers of things I had cleaned the night before with my mom as a precaution.  I didn't expect to find anything.  I did.  There were more droppings and evidence that a mouse had in fact been in my utensil drawer and crawled all over everything.  I went into the living room, called my mom, and wept. ALL THAT WORK GONE TO WASTE!!!!!  Mom came over.  Because she's my mom.  And she lives 2 minutes away.  And she's amazing.  And she married my dad.  Who came over and helped clean three nights in a row.  And helped set traps.  And fixed things that were broken in my house.  And walked me down the aisle.  Sigh.  I have suuuuuch good parents.

So--we called in a professional.  Who used "Fast Track" instead of traps you can buy at Big-R.  Like we did.  Dad also caulked some holes and will be fixing a broken grate outside the house.  No sightings of mice.  No new droppings.  Hallelujah.  But I'm still moving things out of my kitchen and cleaning.  Maybe next week I'll be moving back in :)

We also adopted a kitten.  Aka, mouse hunter.  Her name is Peanut.  She is soooo stinking cute.  And tiny.  We brought her home Saturday after having double surgery (spayed & declawed) on Friday.  She had a runny nose.  And sneezed quite a bit.  Took her to the vet on Monday.  She has an upper respiratory infection.  And fleas.  And worms.  Uhhhh....good thing she is stinking cute.  We have to give her .05mL of pain medicine 2x/day until Saturday, .5mL of antibiotic 2x/day for two weeks, and 1.25mL of the deworming medicine 1x/day for 9 days.  Uhhhh....good thing she is stinking cute.  For real.  But here she is...looking adorable!

 Can you find her?  Yep, she's just chilling in a random spot on the carpet.

Don't worry, she has lots of beds/blankets/couches/pillows to choose from.

She is sooooo cute.

Her tag says "Peanut Strunga"

This morning she crawled up on Mike's chest.

Please ignore the fact that he's not wearing a shirt.

Look at that.  So presh.

SOOO CUTE!

I'm sure pictures of Peanut will be popping up in several future posts.  Next up...lamps!

The Woman Cave: Breached.

Well, it's Wednesday.  Let me catch you up on what's been happening.

Monday night, Mike & I came home from small group and needed to head to bed because we were taking some high schoolers to Holiday World the next morning and leaving at 7am.  I went to go to sleep and realized my phone (alarm) was still in my purse.  I didn't really know where I set my purse down but it's usually in the kitchen so that's where I headed.  When I turned on the light, there was a MOUSE that scurried off in between my canisters.  AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

There was a tail right there. 

RIGHT THERE!

I went back into the bedroom seriously ready to cry.  I asked Mike what to do but he was icing his really sore ankle and could barely walk.  I called my mom.  When she picked up I just said "I saw a mouse on my kitchen counter.  I'M FREAKING OUTTTT!!!"  To which she replied, "I'm sending your dad."  BEST PARENTS IN THE WORLD.

They came over and starting setting traps.  We were trying to figure out where they might come from and just had no idea.  Mom asked if we should get their cat, Sugar, and bring her over to find the mouse. I was all for this.  We went and got her and brought her back.  We set her on the counter by the canisters and she immediately moved to the space behind my Kitchen Aid Mixer.

She went right to the corner and starting pawing at/sniffing the space underneath the corner cabinet.  My dad investigated and found that the cabinet is not flush with the wall.  We set more traps.  Before they left, I asked if we could check the other corner cabinet juuuuust in case.  This is the part when my gag reflex was in overdrive.  He moved my bread machine which I rarely do....and the corner of the counter had lots of mouse turds.  AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I seriously felt so unclean/grossed out/like I was going to puke.  

So now my kitchen is a war zone.  I'm beyond being frightened and am now just mad that this mouse or mice has disrupted my life.  I am currently taking every single thing from it's home and washing it in bleach/soap water.  Then I'm bleaching out every drawer and cabinet.  I've found more mouse droppings than I'd ever have liked to have seen in a lifetime.  My parents keep reassuring me that this happens to everyone...but I'm disgusted.  Seriously...disgusted.  This is my WOMAN CAVE!  It's supposed to be a happy place.  Here is a bit of how it looks now...

Everything is on the island.  

Bleach.

Bleach.

Trap & poison.

Plug-in repellent.  Recommended by friends on facebook.

So, I'm off to fight in the war against mice again.  My weapon?  Bleach.  And more bleach.  And I'll probably run to the Dollar General in town and get some more bleach.  Ugh.  Mice.

On a lighter and happier note, Mike & I adopted an 8 week old kitten from the local shelter.  It was an agonizing choice because all of the kittens and cats wanted to be petted and looked so unbelievably lonely.  People of Vermilion County...go adopt some pets!  Poor babies... Especially Archie.  We almost brought him home.  I hope his little heart isn't too broken.  But we saved this baby:  http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/20475954?photo_view=1

Her new name is Peanut.  We love her.  And pray she will hunt the mice right out of our house.  Or at least scare them off.  

That's all for now.  Maybe someday I will attempt to be happy in my kitchen again :(

Yum-oh.

Lots of people I know on Facebook have been posting pictures of scrumptious looking cupcakes.  And have not instantly sent me the recipe OR mailed me a cupcake.  So rude.  Sooooo, I began looking through hundreds of cupcake recipes on Tasty Kitchen--the recipe website built by Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, where readers of her blog can publish and share recipes with each other.  Most people that know of PW and sign up on the website are pretty good cooks.  So I trust that website almost above all others for recipe finding.  That is where I stumbled upon "Mini Oreo Cheesecakes."  Uh, yes please.  So here is the recipe and my pictures along the way.  Super easy, super yummy.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
52 oreos (36 whole, 16 crushed)
2 lbs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 pinch salt
36 cupcake liners

Start by putting your liners in your cupcake pans and preheating your oven at 275 degrees.

I only have two 12-cupcake pans so I had to repeat this again after making 24.

I was shopping with my mom when I got some of the ingredients for this.

She wanted me to use the "shiny" liners.

Here they are mom!

Grab your whole oreos.  Or "Twist & Shouts" if you are a one-income family :)

Put one oreo at the bottom of each liner.

Now grab your cream cheese.  (You're going to be seeing lots of generic brands throughout this post)

Add all 4 packages to your mixer.

One cream cheese...

Two cream cheese...

Three cream cheese...

Four.

Now add your sugar.

Here's my nice spectrum of measuring spoons/cups...

Add the sugar to your cream cheese in the mixer.

On a side note, you can get single sheets of wax paper in a box at Sams.  I like to use them to put messy spoons and things on while I'm cooking.  Saves some clean up time!

I used my whisk attachment for this.

Mix on a medium setting.

On another side note, I did not get the average canister set for the wedding.  Instead, I registered for the four largest sizes.  I want to be able to put a large scoop inside (or at least 1 cup) and be able to get what I need!  No small canisters for me :)  So, I keep two on the counter (flour & sugar)...

And two in a cabinet (brown sugar & powdered sugar).  Works great for me!

Now you'll want to add 4 eggs one at a time to the mixture.

Before the eggs it should look like this.

After the eggs it should be much runnier.

My mixer often leaves some stuff on the sides of the bowl unmixed.  

So I go back through, scrape the sides, then turn the mixer back on.

Once you've got a good mixture, it's time to add the sour cream.

While the mixer is doing it's job, bag up your 16 oreos (if you are like me and don't have a handy food processor yet).  

Crush them with your rolling pin.  Like so.

They should come out looking like this.

Add your vanilla to the mixture.

Then add crushed oreos.  The final result should look like this.

The recipe calls for 3 tbsp of the mixture per cupcake.

I measured the first one then eyeballed it after that.

Once they are all dipped out...

...put them in the oven for 20 minutes.

Since I had to reuse my cupcake pan, I pulled the cupcakes out and put them in 9x13s.  Then I put them in the refrigerator to cool for 4 hours. 

Notice anything wrong with this cupcake?

Answer:  it has multiple liners.  Whoops!   

These are fantastic!!! Not too difficult either.  Hope you enjoy!

If you didn't already know, my husband, Mike, is the youth minister at the Catlin Church of Christ.  We have anywhere from 10-20 students at our house every Sunday night.  Since we've been married, I have decided to add a meal to the Sunday night regimen just like my youth minister's wife, Jen Burger, did when I was in high school.  Did I mention we're living in the parsonage I once attended youth group at? So crazy where life takes us.  Anyway, last night was taco night.  As a side dish, I made Macho Nacho dip--a dish one of my classmates always made for anything from float making to bonfires at her house to tailgating at football games.  Here's the recipe!

You'll need:

1 can no bean chili

2 packages/1 lb cream cheese

1 package shredded cheddar cheese

Grab that cream cheese again!

Spread 2 packages out on the bottom of a 9x13.

Then grab your no bean chili.

Pour over the cream cheese.

I know it doesn't look appetizing now but it gets better.

Now pour the cheese evenly over the chili.

Like so.

Then put it in the oven on 350 for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Here's the finished product and the taco bar!  

It was sooo yummy.

Ok, that's my big post for today!  Hope you enjoy your second to last Monday of summer!