Chicken Quesadillas

These chicken quesadillas have been a family favorite for years.
They are easy to put together and very tasty!

You're So Gangsta, I'm So Thug

via Pinterest

Sorry, about using Train lyrics in the title. I just couldn't help myself. We finally got some answers about the shootings.  Of course, this is just word on the street and has not been confirmed by the police but... Apparently we have been caught in the middle of a turf war between two rival gangs. Naturally upon learning this I went on Pinterest and found some funny photos about gangsters.  :)

It Happened Again....

Yep. There was another shooting. It wasn't directed at our house this time but it was half a block away and my husband was outside when it happened and saw the entire thing. Seven bullets flying down the street. If the guy had turned around and decided to take out the witness standing there in a bright white shirt illuminated by the streetlight...things could have been even worse.

Once again if things had happened just a little differently I could have lost one of my guys.

Beer Cheese Fondue

The thing we are going to miss the most about the Twin Cities (besides all of the friends we have made, of course) is all of the amazing food. There are plenty of good places to eat where we are moving but there are certain foods at a few one-of-a-kind restaurants that we will really miss.

One those is the beer cheese fondue from the Chatterbox Pub. So after our last trip there I decided to come up with my own recipe! It may not be identical to theirs but it is absolutely delicious and will definitely satisfy the cravings when we can't make the 8-hour drive back to the Cities.

Organizing User Manuals

I found this little organizing tip on Pinterest and had to share it with you guys.  It comes from Desiring Virtue and it is so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.  

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Snickerdoodles are my husband's favorite so these never last long.  They are perfectly buttery and chewy...and highly addictive.  : )

Buffet Makeover

I finally got around to giving the kitchen buffet a makeover!  This is what it looked like before:

Vegetable Chili

This hearty chili is full of flavor and low in calories! It is also a great recipe to have on hand in case some vegetarian friends drop by.  

Colorful Living Room Makeover

You know that feeling you get after you put in your two weeks notice at work?  When you still have to go to work every day but you have a really hard time finding the motivation to actually accomplish anything because you know you won't be there much longer.  All you can think about is how much you want to go to your exciting, new job instead.

That's kind of where I am at with the house right now.  Since we will be moving soon there are a lot of things that need to be finished around here so that we can sell the place.  It's really difficult to find motivation though because we aren't going to be around to enjoy it.  Not only that but everything is getting finished just to stage it instead of the way I would do it if we were staying.

I finished the living room before we decided to move so I'm pretty happy with it.  When it comes time to stage we are just going to remove a few pieces of furniture like the coffee table and bookcase.  For now, I am enjoying our fun and colorful living room:

Here is what it looked like a year ago:

Home Sweet Home?

I'm not conceited enough to think that anyone other than myself noticed but posts have been a bit sparse around here the last couple of weeks. That's because there have been some big changes going on in my life that I couldn't talk about yet. I hate when people talk about something big that *might* be happening but "I can't tell you yet"...so just shut up and let me know when you can talk about it, right? Anywho, things are official now so I can announce that:  we are moving back home!!!!

I kind of mentioned after the shooting that we had been wanting to move back for awhile and that bullet was the final straw but I honestly didn't think things would happen this soon. After talking about it a bunch we made the difficult decision to go to Shelby's bosses and request an early transfer back. They were already wanting us to move back but they expected it to be another year or two so this completely changed the plans that we all had. The company that he works for is awesome and they have been an incredibly supportive "family" since the very beginning. So we were reluctant to throw this at them and possibly make things more difficult for them.

However, we made it clear that we were willing to do whatever it takes to make this move beneficial to them too and we fully realize that the first year or two will be rough and it will mean more traveling. For us this will still be better than the stress of staying in a neighborhood where we don't feel safe and our closest family is 8 hours away. :( Once they realized that we were committed to making it work they were fully supportive and Shelby's boss even agreed to let us rent one of his houses!

So take a look at our new home sweet home: