Hey Good Lookin.... What ya' got cookin

Tonight for dinner we had one of the best soups I have ever made - chicken tortilla soup. It was better than any restaurant, plus we have enough leftovers for dinner tomorrow. Seriously - it was soo good that I don't mind eating it two days in a row.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 chipotle chile en adobo, minced
1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp kosher salt

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup corn (fresh or frozen and thawed)

1 ripe tomato, chopped

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)

tortilla chips, crushed

cheddar cheese

avocado

1. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. All the onion, garlic, chipotle, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and salt and cook until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes more.

2. Pull the pan from the heat and stir in the tomato, chicken, cilantro, and lime juice.

3. Serve on top of crushed chips and garnish with cheddar cheese, avocado and lime wedge.

4. Go back for seconds.

This and That

Good Friday to all of you! I don't have a recipe or a crafty project today.... just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

1. Have I have mentioned my obsession with mascara? I love the black, gooey stuff.... I want my lashes long, thick and luxurious. And I love to try to brands. Ulta had a sale on Lorac mascara last week, so I picked up a tube of visual effects in black. So far, I love it! I always use a lash primer and when paired with this Lorac mascara, my lashes are fab. If you ever see it on sale, pick up a tube.

2. Miss A loves to color in the bath tub.... it makes bath time fun and creative. We have some wonderful bath crayons by Crayola... they wash off easily and don't leave any markings on your tub. BUT - the Alex star bath crayons are horrible. Santa gave her this star crayon in her stocking and it is awful. It leaves bright, waxy marks on your tub and has to be scrubbed with bleach to come off. And even after the bleach, you can still see streaks. And, it leaves marks on your skin. Miss A drew on my leg and I had purple and green stripes on my skin for the rest of the night. So, save your money and DON'T buy this product. Stick with the Crayola TaDoodles- they are great.

3. Miss A's 2nd birthday is going to be hear before I realize it, which means it is time for me to get my party planning rear in gear! I think we are going to have a girly farm theme party, with a color scheme of pink, red and turquoise. I have picked up some great $1 items from the Target Dollar Spot, but I still need lots of other stuff for her party. Games, food, decor - pass along your ideas!

4. Did you watch Grey's last night? Based on a twitter (@MrsPreppy) conversation last night, I am confident that I am in the minority with this next statement.... I am excited about a McBaby! This Lexie/Mark/Callie/Arizona love square storyline is definitely going to be interesting and the coming weeks should make for some good episodes. And like I said last night, I am strong enough in my love for Grey's Anatomy that I can handle the heat of being in the minority. ha!

5. I still have some things life in the Blog Sale SALE - All items are $5 + shipping.

Have a nice weekend!

Blog Sale SALE

Blog sale SALE! Please see the items below.

ALL ITEMS ARE $5 + SHIPPING.

Christmas Cards 101

Ok, so now Christmas is over and you have probably quit receiving fun cards in the mail everyday. If you are like me, you loved to display these cute cards all season long.

But, now that it is time to put away the Christmas decor, what do you do with the cards? I hate to part with all of the beautiful photo cards that people send us, so I hold onto them.

Instead of just stashing them in an old shoebox, I keep them in a scrapbook album.

I have all of the cards grouped by year, as well as one of our cards from that same year.

This album is on our shelves and it is so much fun to look at all of the cards from years past, plus it is a great way to remember what your card looked like that year.

And now here is my question for you.....

How many years do you send someone a card without getting one in return? And I am not talking about your dear Aunt Sally that has never sent a Christmas card her entire life. I am talking about people that you know send cards, year after year.

I am thinking 3 strikes and you are out. Or, is that too generous?

Blog Sale

Here some some additional items for the blog sale.

If you want to buy or have questions, leave me a comment or email me at mrspreppy@gmail.com

1. J Crew strapless white linen top, size 10, never worn!

$10, $5 shipping

2. J Crew halter dress, light blue, size 12, worn twice!

$15, $5 shipping - SOLD

Blog Sale

***ALL ITEMS $5 + SHIPPING!!***


After realizing my bubbies and belly are probably not going to return to their prebaby size, I decided to finally clean out my closet.... I have a huge donation pile, but I thought I would see if any of you all would be interested in some cheap-o preppy clothes.


**See something you want to put in your closet? Just email me (mrspreppy@gmail.com) or leave a comment. I will send you a PayPal invoice and payment needs to be handled within 24 hours. All items come from a smoke free house and any imperfections - aside from normal wear and tear - are noted in the description. If you purchase multiple items, I will reduce the shipping amounts.


1. Ann Taylor Loft tropical print spaghetti strap top, size 10
$10, $5 shipping

2. J Crew size zipper blouse, ties in the back, size 10 (I might have worn this once)
$10, $5 shipping - SOLD

3. Ann Taylor Loft tropical print halter top, size 10
$10, $5 shipping

4. Ralph Lauren pink and green stripe skirt, size 14

$10, $5 shipping

5. Madras print skirt - size 12

$10, $5 shipping - SOLD

6. Vineyard Vines skirt - size 12

$15, $5 shipping

7. Vineyard Vines turquoise halter, size 12 - NWT ($125 retail)
$15, $5 shipping - SOLD

8. Ann Taylor Loft turquoise spaghetti strap shirt, size 12

$10, $5 shipping

9. Vineyard Vines turquoise skirt, size 14

$15, $5 shipping - SOLD

10. J Crew madras skirt, size 12

$10, $5 shipping

11. J Crew spaghetti strap madras top, size 14

$10, $5 shipping - SOLD

12. Ann Taylor Loft black and white halter top, size 12

$10, $5 shipping - SOLD

13. J Crew navy halter top, size 12

$10, $5 shipping - SOLD

14. Banana Republic halter top, tomato red with brushed gold accent, size L

$10, $5 shipping

15. 4 Ralph Lauren Polo shirts - turquoise, white and pink - size XL, yellow - size L

$15, $10 shipping - SOLD

16. 2 Vineyard Vines polo shirts - light blue, size boys L, turquoise, size M

$15, $5 shipping

17. J Crew green polo shirt, size XL

$5, $5 shipping

Pottery Barn rustic

My latest home improvement project has been refinishing our dining room table.

This farm house style table was in our house growing up. My parents had it made many, many moons ago and we ate dinner at this table.... as a family, every single night.

Fast forward 10 or so years and I am now the owner of this table. Farm house style is not exactly my thing, but Pottery Barn rustic is definitely my thing. (Let me back up and say, one of my brothers started to sand it a couple of years ago, and never finished. Hence the sanded top and unsanded benches.)

I spent a lot of time trying to decide how I wanted the table to look. Did I want to paint it black? Did I want to stain it? Did I want to distress it? I finally decided on a PB rustic type of look.

My first step was to sand the entire thing. Growing up I can remember my brothers and I would lay on these benches and do our homework. And if you looked close enough, you could see the intentions of years and years of math problems, spelling words and science equations. As much as I love this little memory, those little marks are now all gone.

After sanding everything, I primed the entire thing. By this point I knew I wanted to paint it white, so I had to make sure the dark red legs were nice and primed.

After the priming, I applied the first coat of white paint. The next step is the fun part. I painted all of the edges turquoise. At this point Mr. thought I was nuts. What? A white and turquoise table? Just wait and see.

After the turquoise, I rubbed a white taper candle all over the turquoise areas and then did 2 more coats of white paint.

After all of the white paint was nice and dry, I lightly sanded over the areas I had painted turquoise.... this gave the table the rustic look I was going for. But, now the rest of the table looked too new, so I went ahead and distressed the rest of the table with a fine grit sandpaper.

The last step was to apply 2 coats of satin polycrylic. We plan on using this table all the time, so I needed to protect the surface from water spots and cleaning products. I sanded in between coats to give it a smoother finish.

So... here is the finished product! I love the way it turned out. This was my first real venture in refinishing furniture, and since I have completed this I have already refinished another piece for our living room!

I am going to use one bench and store the other one. I have a set of 4 antique chairs that I am in the process of recovering, the 2 chairs that are currently there are from other rooms in the house. We needed additional seating for Christmas dinner.

Doggy Drugs

Almost 1 year ago we adopted this sweet little guy.

He was a loveable, cuddly, energetic pup.

And now, he has turned into this. (Jake at 11 months)

He is still sweet and loveable, but his energy level has gone through the roof. I know what it is like to have a puppy lab, but I think he may have been dropped on his head one too many times as a baby. Or, he has a mental illness. Either way, I think we need to get him drugged.

He will go ballistic a couple of times each day and when you let him outside, that is when the split personality really comes out.

Jumping, growling, barking, trying to attack your legs.... We keep spray bottles around to discipline him, but I am sick of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stuff.

The positive is that he has never messed with Miss A. She can climb on him, scold him, chase him, pull his tail, kiss and love on him, and just be a wild toddler around him and he has never once been aggressive toward her.

So tell me - do you sedate your dog? Should I try to get him on film acting nutzo?