You can't win friends with salad!

If salad became the only food there was to eat, I would be content. I love salads, minus potato salad. I'm an Idaho girl who hates potato salad. O.K. maybe I don't hate it, but I don't really care for it much. Most other salads rule. Here is my favorite.

This is my easy Oriental Chicken Salad. The original recipe I had for this has been lost through the years. I am sitting on my laptop typing this, yet I am still too lazy to use Google to see if I can find something similar. Besides, that would cancel out the point of this blog. I'm showing you how I make it, not how it's suppose to be made. I have no idea on the calories involved or nutritional information. Just remember, even though it's a salad doesn't mean it's going to be super healthy. :)

You will need:

• 2 lbs. of cole slaw or chopped cabbage
• 3-4 small to medium sized chicken breasts or breaded chicken pieces
• 4 packages of chicken flavored Ramen Noodle Soup
• 1 c. vegtable oil
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c. roasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds 

I actually left out the sesame seeds this time because I didn't have any, and I left out the almonds because I don't like them in salad, but for those that like almonds in stuff they would probably be good. 

I probably don't have to say this but... cook your chicken as directed on the package. Bake it, fry it, deep fry it,  pan fry it, just don't use it raw. I used some breaded chicken fingers because they are good. While they are baking or whatever you are going to crush up the Ramen noodles in a large bowl. 

All crushed up.  

Save the little flavor packets that come in the noodle packages, you will use them later. Add your crushed up mix to your cole slaw or chopped cabbage. I prefer the bags of cole slaw because it is so much easier to just cut them open and dump them in a bowl. Remember, I'm too lazy to Google something, chopping cabbage is even harder. 

When your chicken is done cooking cut it up into little bite sized pieces and add to the mix. I used 3 medium size breaded chicken fingers but you can use more or less depending on what you like.

Mix everything together well. If you have the sesame seeds and almonds throw them in the mix or sprinkle them on top of each serving if others don't like nuts and seeds. The seeds are good on it, I just didn't have any and I didn't want to wait to make the salad. Again,  I can't Google, I'm certainly not going to the grocery store. 

Now we are going to make the dressing. 

Heat 1/2 c. rice vinegar in a small sauce pan, I let mine come to a boil. Add 1/2 c. sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved remove from heat and add 1 c. vegetable oil and your flavor packets from the Ramen noodles. Still everything together and pour over the salad. Stir the whole sha-bang till everything is nicely coated with the dressing mixture and enjoy!! It's really good if you eat it right away, the noodles are very crisp and it's not bad at all with warm dressing. Try a bowl right away then let the rest sit in the fridge. It's really good when everything absorbs the dressing and is my favorite that way. 

Bon Appétit!

(whispers) Obsession...

Remember that perfume, Obsession? I used to think it was the best smelling stuff out there. I think I actually owned a bottle, but I can't remember. I would have got it for Christmas or a birthday because back then I was broke. O.K. I'm still broke, but back then it was a different kind of broke. Now I can't stand the smell of the perfume. I'm not really sure why and I apologize to everyone wearing it right now. It's just an old smell.

Obsession perfume is so not the point of this post. I wanted to post about my silly obsessions with things. It's all I can think to call it. Many years ago I thought tongue piercings were the dumbest thing ever. Why the hell would anyone pierce their tongue of all things? How STUPID! (Hang on, this relates). All of a sudden, and I mean all of a sudden, I decided I wanted my tongue pierced. I literally woke up one day and wanted it done. It wouldn't leave my head. I obsessed about the idea till I got it pierced. Hopefully I will never want my nipples pierced, I still think that is stupid. The beginning of this year I all of a sudden wanted my ears pierced, again. I went crazy over earrings before I even had them pierced. Every where I went I had to check out the earrings. While I still wear them I've lost interest for the most part.  At one point scrapbooking became an obsession. It was long after it was all the rage. I just decided I wanted to do it and I bought a ton of supplies and made a whole album. Now I have a ton of supplies and pictures, but no real desire to do it anymore. Then I moved to makeup. I wanted to create tons of looks and have every color eyeshadow possible. I have a ton of makeup now, but the obsession with it is fading. Currently it's nail polish and nail art. I've always tried to have nice nails, but all of a sudden I am painting them twice a week, sometimes several times at once. Like everything else I have a ton of nail polish. I feel like there's not enough time to use it all and do everything I want with my nails. Crazy right?

I have had other smaller type obsessions. Certain things that I have wanted to do and wont leave my thoughts until I've done it. Like buying certain frames and designing a picture wall in the hallway. Things like that are usually short lived, obsession ending once I've done it. Before it ends though it's the only thing I have on my mind, all day, every day.

I wish I could become obsessed with house cleaning. I love a clean house, I just hate making it that way. It's hard when there is so much makeup and fingernail polish laying around. I currently try to do the "clean one room a day" trick. This worked for awhile but now it usually ends up being Friday and I think 'Crap, I haven't cleaned a room at all this week' and end up cleaning the whole house in one day.  My husband wishes I would become obsessed with sex. I didn't ask him, but I'm sure that's what he would say. I wonder what my next obsession will be. Hopefully it will be something cheap, easy and doesn't add anything more to the clutter in my house. Oh, and there was a small perfume obsession where I bought a number of expensive perfumes, none of which was Obsession.

These are a few of my favorite...movies!

It's been awhile again since I have posted. I think I ignore my blog because most things I do go on Facebook right away and I feel like I'm not posting anything new on here, so I skip it. I've been rather obsessed with nail polish lately, and I've just ordered a ton of nail stamping image plates. Soon I will have plenty of nail art pictures to blog about. I better go buy more polish remover now..

There was a tag going around on Facebook asking for your favorite movies. I never copy and repost those things, so I thought I would blog about it. Most people who know me know that I love the horror genre from books to movies to everything else. You might expect my favorite movies to be all blood and gore, I might surprise you. So here are my top favorite movies, in no particular order.

The Goonies. 


I remember walking dangerously down a very busy road with a friend to see this movie in the theater. I know I liked it at the time, but I think as years went by I liked it even more. One thing that always confused me was a memory of a scene in the movie involving a giant octopus. I swear I could remember there being one in the cave at the end of the movie, but in all the times I watched it on cable I never saw that octopus again. Finally I got smart and used Google and found out the octopus scene was deleted shortly after it's release. I knew I wasn't imagining octopuses.. octopi.. whatever. I will never get tired of this movie. Goonies never say die!!

See, it's the octoeye! 

A Christmas Carol.


I don't think I even have a favorite version of this, although I really loved the newest one with Jim Carrey. I thought it did an excellent job following the book. I even like the Flintstones version where they are putting on the play, but Fred ends up learning the lesson for real, and Scrooged.. "Will you PLEASE hold the GODDAMN hammering, NOW!" This movie in whatever version is just so Christmas too me. I swear when I watch it I can even smell Christmas. I wonder if this novel inspired the line in the song "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" when they sing "There will be scary ghost stories..." After all, I can't think of any other Christmas ghost stories.

The Princess Bride.


It's INCONCEIVABLE that someone would not like this movie. It has everything, romance, mystery, action, sword fighting, pirates, chases, torture, giants, and love... twoo wuv. Not to mention Cary Elwes is kinda hot in this movie. I've seen it so many times I could watch it with my eyes closed. I even fell for the secret twist of the book, even though I wont tell because maybe someone out there doesn't know. I did figure it out before I was done reading it, but it was fun not knowing and discovering it.

Time is such a bummer! 

The Wizard of Oz.


We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz! I remember watching this all the time as a kid. Every time they would play it on t.v. it would seem like it was some holiday. Did you know that the movie was always in color? The Kansas scenes have always been in a sepia tone while Oz has always appeared in color, it was never colorized at a later date. Now lets talk about the Ruby Slippers. Oh, those shoes, those beautiful shoes! They are the most perfect pair of shoes ever. I even have a cheap Halloween knock off pair.

The Phantom of the Opera. 


While I have never seen it on the stage, but I have seen other movie adaptions, my favorite is the 2004 version with Gerard Butler. So lets talk about him. Gerry is simply HOT in this movie. He makes me want to slap Christine around for not choosing him in the end. I know he isn't meant to be hot and sexy, he is suppose to be disfigured and hideous. But, with him being hot and sexy it is easier to feel something for this poor man who just wants someone to love him while he kills people. Is that so much to ask for? I even love the music in this movie. I've been asking for the soundtrack for Christmas for years now, but I have yet to get it. I have the feeling Jonathan is afraid I will force him to listen to it in my car or something.

He murders people? Meh, I can over look it. 

The Lost Boys.

I almost put Interview with the Vampire here instead, but I had to go with The Lost Boys. This was the first vampire movie that made me want to be a vampire. Never grow old, never die. Live with a bunch of super hot dudes that ride motorcycles. O.K. so I would rather live with the Interview vampires in their fine southern mansions, and really Brad Pitt as a vampire was to die for sexy (teehee, die for, vampire.. nevermind), but the Lost Boys vamps weren't too bad either. I have no idea why everyone else in the movie resisted becoming one of the undead so much. Did you know in the end the reason David never disintegrated when he was killed like the other vamps did was because he didn't actually die? The plan was to make a sequel with David called The Lost Girls. Too bad it was never made and instead we had to suffer with Lost Boys: The Tribe. There is also a novel version of the movie, good luck getting  a copy though. 

Because he is fun to look at... 

Of course there are a lot of other movies I like, but I'm not bored enough to keep this list going. And I do have some horror faves like, The Shining, The Exorcist, The Ring. Then there is Mary Poppins which I love, and one of my top favorites, The Sound of Music. Comedies like Super Troopers, Old School and Euro Trip, tear jerkers like The Notebook, Marley and Me and Titanic. I have a wide range of movie tastes which is good, it keeps me entertained. 

What are some of your favorites, dear reader? 

Patriotic nails how to

For years now I have been doing something special to my nails for Independence Day. I started doing this before nail art was cool and people were blogging about it. I started it before the internet. I WIN! I'm not sure what it is about this holiday, but no matter what my nails are red, white and blue. I can't remember all the different looks and it is too bad I don't have pictures of each and every one. Now however I can blog all my experiments and someday fondly look back on my pictures, happily sighing and thinking, 'What the heck was I thinking!'.

As always dear reader, I share my disasters with you.

After applying base coat I painted my nails red. I have a TON of red nail polish. I have always loved classic red nails. It looks even better on toes. Yet I hardly use it. Most of what I have is a deeper, darker red, so I took a trip to Sally Beauty Supply in search of a more... American Flag red. If you have ever gone shopping for just a red nail polish you know there is like at least 50 shades of red. (HA! Get it, instead of gray, I used red..*snicker*) O.K. so that wasn't that clever. Lets just say there is a whole lot of red shades out there. I settled on "Expressionist Red" from Finger Paints. It was a little sheer, but wow, it dried super shiny and just felt like patent leather shoes. Make sure the red is completely dry before moving to the next step.

Just look at that SHINE! 

Next you are going to add a white stripe down your nail. IF you are able to just paint a nice straight strip down your nail, DO IT! Me, well I can on one hand, not the other. To make it easy I used some sticky strips that come in the Sally Hansen French Manicure kit. I don't know if you can buy the strips separately or not. Don't worry if you don't have them, you can use tape, preferably masking tape or maybe painters tape. Old self stick address labels work, too. The strips are great because while they are sticky, they peel off easily if you need to preposition one or two (all) and don't take your polish with them when you peel them off. Position these on your nails so you leave a center strip down each nail. Re-adjust if your strip is crooked. 

Now use an opaque white polish to paint the center area. I used Sally Hansen French White Tip. I painted one thick line down the middle and that seemed to do it. Try not to get it too thick as it may bleed through your tape and make a mess. You just need enough to cover the red. A little hint here. If you paint a top coat over the red it makes it easier to take a bit of polish remover to clean up any white polish that may bleed through the tape or any mistakes that you make. It removed the white without taking the red with it. Ask me how I know... :) 

So my lines aren't perfectly centered. I was watching True Blood while doing this. I can't be expected to keep an eye on the hot vampires on screen and on my fingernails. I just can't.. I do have my priorities. Again, wait for the stripes to dry before moving on to the next step. Let me just stop and say right now, this look takes awhile. If you are able to do it without the tape it goes a little faster. Otherwise it's a waiting game. I suggest holding off on any drinks while you are doing this or you will need to pee while something is drying.

Once dry take your tape again and this time go horizontally across your nail tips. This is where you will be painting your blue so make that area thick enough to add some stars. 

It's like the flag of Switzerland. 

Paint your tip blue. I used "Midnight Blue" from Sinful Colors. 

Now comes the fun part! If you have a nail stamper with some stars I would suggest using that with some white polish on the blue tips. Although I am thinking of buying a stamping kit, I don't yet have one. So I used some nail art stars that I already had laying around. Funny thing about them laying around is that they are now laying around all over my carpet because I accidentally knocked them off the table. There is easily over a thousand tiny stars all over the floor. I still haven't decided if I want to try picking most of them up or just cut my losses and get out the vacuum. 

I stuck these on my nails just before the blue was completely dry. FINALLY no waiting for something to dry! They are slightly holographic so it kinda reminds me of fireworks. I stuck them on and painted over them with my top coat and finally  called it good. 

They're not perfect, but I like 'em. 

Have a safe and fun holiday everyone! 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA!