Love It or Leave It: Vol 2 - Fortune Cookies & A New Adventure

We wandered up and down the aisles at Lowe's to pick up a few home improvement items... I bribed Jeremy to go with me with the promise of a new Dremel and lunch at Ming Shee. It took us a good 18 months to find chinese food in Peoria that we liked, so since we found out we're relocating to Greenville, SC for work, we've been at least 3 times... We love their fried rice...it's tastetacular and we highly recommend it. I thought about branching out and trying the Egg Foo Young that time, but not being entirely sure what's in it, I opted for my normal sweet and sour chicken.

I'm pretty sure time is has passed logarithmically since the day I bribed Jeremy with the Dremel! We've been house hunting, birthday celebrating (Happy B-day Da & Uncle Jerry), wedding attending (yay Joe + Stacie!!), and good-bye saying... check out a few pics of our favorite moments (and Stacie's fantastic centerpieces)...

I admit I cried when we first moved to Peoria ... but it has grown over the past few years to a place that has become home. We will miss all you our good friends here and our wonderful church family and H2H at Bethany ... but of course we'll be in touch with such wonderful inventions as social networking so let's not call it good-bye but a new adventure :).

LOVE IT...

Ming Shee Chinese Restaurant in Peoria
Wonderful friends at Bethany Baptist Church in Peoria, IL
Da & Uncle Jerry (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!)

LEAVE IT...

Preparing to show your home on a moments notice - actually, maybe this should go in the love it category since we've never made our bed this many days in a row...we can probably put that in the victory column.
Saying good-bye

Da & Uncle Jerry's Birthday Lunch ..... Yumm BBQ


Yay - a new pic of Jeremy & me - Thx Dad!

My fam @ the wedding

Love It or Leave it - Vol 1

The first couple weeks in January are always full of New Year's Resolutions. I'm not sure you'd call them resolutions at our house, but we do generally try to get back on track in the new year...back on a budget, planning meals ahead of time, etc. I'm a terrible meal planner. Generally, the conversation when we get home is: J - "I'm hungry - What's for dinner?" H - "Umm" (scrounging through near empty cupboards) "cereal, cereal, or...cereal." Working full time makes grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking most difficult and leaves zero energy for meal creativity. However, thanks to a Christmas gift from my grandma, we may be conquering this problem (drum roll please) .............a new Crock Pot!! Yes, I can hear you all saying "hello, Hilary, this is not a new invention!" I have had a crock pot for a few years, and I've even used it several times, but it's gigantic, so it's a pain to clean and you have to cook for an army to fill it. My new crock pot is just right for about 4 servings (dinner today and lunch tomorrow!) and along with the Fix it and Forget it magazine, I'm all set. What an easy way to plan and cook ... or not cook...just come home and enjoy! Question: "What's for dinner?" Answer" " Not cereal!!"

So for the first round of Love It or Leave It...

LOVE IT

1. The little crock pot - reasonably priced at around $15
2. The return of Super Mario for Wii - I was always bad at that game 20 years ago ...and I still am today, but my sweet husband puts me on his shoulders and carries me through the levels. So much fun!
3. Jasmine Star...for her Kisses and Disses (Inspiration behind the new Love It or Leave It series)

LEAVE IT

1. Boring budget categories ... can you say Car repair?
2. Cereal for dinner
3. More Snow