Cooper Street Shenanigans

 Well, its official. This semester has gone by so quickly! But I wouldn't have expected anything other than this. I am officially home in my own bed and let me tell you... there's nothing like sleeping in your bed you grew up in. I have been getting the best night sleeps. Not to mention the food, and on my parents bill ;) This week we made (my specialty) buffalo chicken sandwiches. My brother had just got home from U of I and he wanted them so of course I gave in. And not to toot my own horn, but they are always delicious. Here is how I made them: First you get chicken breasts, doesn't matter what kind just make sure they are thick enough so you can butterfly cut them. You basically cut your four chicken breasts into 8 thinner chicken breasts so they will cook evenly without getting too dry. Once you get your chicken cut you put them on a pan on the stove. Sprinkle your favorite wing rub, mine is this Dry Heat wing rub from Schnucks, and then pour some buffalo Frank's r...

 I know, I know... the worst news I could possibly bring you guys is here. It is Humble's last day at our little house on Cooper street. To say we are sad is an understatement.  The past couple of months have been nothing short of awesome with this little puppy and all of the memories we have gained from him. He started out as a tiny little pup that was not even big enough to grow into his paws but now he is a big ole dog.  What I learned from him is this: Whenever you are feeling down about a certain assignment - Talk about it with Humble. Whenever you need to unload your stress and get some fresh air - Take Humble on a walk. Whenever you get sad about the situation we are in and having to stay home all the time - Snuggle with Humble. Not only is he a great listener but he is also the best snuggle buddy ever.  This past week, Humble and I went on a walk alone on Grand View drive. A couple of people stopped to pet him and he would just sit politely and wag his tail a...

 You want to know what gets me up in the morning? Knowing that if it is a sunny day we will have a beautiful sunset to look forward to in the evening. I could be in a terrible mood all day and then right when I see a sunset, I instantly am in a better mindset.  Maybe it is because we are all cooped up and have to stay inside but God has been bringing us the best sunsets lately.  I looked back and a year ago I took this picture: This was at my house and the sky was absolutely beautiful that night. It stayed that way for a small amount of time so I am glad I got the picture when I did.  Which brings me back to present day, I took this picture this weekend: Obviously a different sky but still as beautiful. I hope this makes your day as much as it brightens up mine. We will get through this together and the days we have ahead of us are only going to look brighter and brighter. 

 This past weekend I went home to visit my family. Although I live like 15 minutes away, I don't go home that often. I wanted to see my little sister because she just got her wisdom teeth out. This weekend was full of puppy snuggles and baking. Finn, pictured below, is not growing fast and that means I can still pick him up and he still falls asleep on my chest. But he sure does have a TON of energy. I was trying to take him on a walk and all he wanted to do was play with every single plant that we walked past so we did not get that far. He is at the age where he does not sleep a lot. My mom says he has been waking her up by barking at 5 am and then he won't settle down for bed until 11 pm.   The rest of the weekend we cooked. On Saturday morning my mom put a pork butt into the crock pot with some seasoning and bay leaves for pork carnitas later. Let me tell you, it was delicious. I made my special salsa to finish off the tacos. One thing I have come to love with my tacos is w...

     Just when I thought we might have a mild fall then weather got freezing fast. So here I am sitting in my old house at Bradley freezing. We had been waiting to turn the heat on because we didn't know if it was going to get warm again. I woke up on Monday morning and our house was a brisk 50 degrees so we decided to turn the heat on.  The best thing to do when it gets cold enough to turn the heat on? Carve pumpkins. Did you know you can get really good pumpkins for three dollars at Walmart? My roommates and I got two pumpkins and started figuring out what we should carve them into. I chose to do a spider and my other roommate wanted to the normal scary pumpkin carving.  Something about seeing a pumpkin lit up in a dark room is one of my favorite things ever. I remember when I was little we would carve about 3 pumpkins every year during Halloween. What I don't remember is how hard it is to cut the pumpkins perfectly. Maybe I am a little more of a perfectionist...

Has anyone ever made chicken in the crock pot? Asking for anyone! Monday I went to class but before I left I put 3 boneless chicken breasts in the crock pot with some salt and pepper. I thought that would be good and didn't think much about it until I was halfway to my class, that I might need to add some sort of liquid to the bottom of the crock pot.  Of course, this happens when I can't do anything to fix it. I call my mom really quick and she said you could add some chicken broth to the bottom or water. I immediately text my roommates to add some water to the bottom of the crock pot because the chicken was said to take 3 hours.  Once I got back from my two classes the chicken was done. It seemed to be moist but I had not shredded it yet. Here is another question... how do you shred chicken? I used two forks and had such a hard time shredding it.  Overall, the chicken ended up being really good shredded just took way too much time shredding and had too much stress to ma...