Housewife Tip #6

Take stock of your kitchen.

What separates a girl from a woman (at least one part) are some kitchen essentials.

I have realized that several of my college student female counterparts are lacking in the kitchen department. This might not seem like a big deal, especially if you eat microwave dinners and mac & cheese all the time, but it's time to grow up.

One way to evaluate your kitchen is to choose one staple meal and a desert that you would be willing to make for friends if they came over.

For me:

Chicken is the meal, but you only need a few extras to make it delicious. Consider:
- herbs/spices
- cream of mushroom/celery soup
- chicken broth

I can make super delicious baked chicken with just those ingredients. The herbs are the most expensive, but once you dig in and buy some staple herbs/spices (oregano, rosemary, garlic, basil, salt, pepper) you will be set. Soup can be like a dollar and you can do canned broth or cubes, whatever is your fancy.

Buy lettuce or a bagged salad and there ya go, a simple baked chicken and salad meal. If you feel like adding a bread side, use your garlic powder or salt and make garlic bread!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
- flour
- white sugar/brown sugar
- vanilla
- baking soda
- salt
- chocolate chips

Then, when you know you're having a girl's night or friends over, all you need to go get (if you don't already have them) is butter and eggs.


Also, all of these basic ingredients (flour, sugar, herbs) are generally used throughout the spectrum of all types of cooking, so when you do feel like branching away from a Hamburger Helper box you will be generally more prepared.


Good luck in the kitchen!

Curtis OUT.

Housewife Tip #5

The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake

I found the above recipe by chance- I was just trying to find something new and interesting to add to my food repertoire. I love chicken, but I am not the best cook. This recipe is easy and wonderfully delicious without a lot of hard work.


My edits include:
- I used seasoned bread crumbs instead of croutons because I read that the croutons were awkward to eat, they were too crunchy. 
- I added garlic salt and rosemary on the chicken before pouring the marinara sauce onto the chicken.


It came out of the over and looked beautiful, and tasted even better. My next dinner party will include this dish! Also, basically any type of healthy green side would be good with this.


Try it out! It's super delicious!


Curtis OUT!

Being a Hipster

It has been decided:

The number one rule of being a hipster is that you do not refer to yourself (or your friends) as a hipster or hipsters.

This is unfortunate for me, because I am an outspoken hipster, making me not a hipster...
I bought mint green and deep purple skinny jeans today, I love my grey skinny jeans and ill fitting bright yellow cardigan, I have yellow framed glasses AND black framed glasses, when I wear contacts I have purple pseudo-Ray Bans, I wear TOMS shoes...

I, essentially, am a hipster. BUT since I admit to my hipster-ness, that negates it.

Conundrum?

Maybe I am a hippie/hipster... I don't have an edgy haircut or have any cool accessories, and I don't wear makeup.

Labels are amusing :)

Curtis OUT.

Housewife Tip #4

Be Honest & Make Incentives

I live with a boy. He's not quite a man since I have done his laundry more than he has done it for himself since we've started living together. We share a room and a house. He hates doing laundry and washing dishes.

I cannot stand cleaning up other people's messes. This causes some strife.

I tried the being honest method first... in not the best way possible.

I came home very aggravated about being a full-time student, working an evening job, being a dedicated sister in my sorority, and having to come home to a sink full of dishes - 

Basically, my honesty was in a scream... "Why do I have to come home, after everything else I do, to clean up after YOU?! What do YOU do all day? You don't have full-time school hours, you have no job, and you don't do any extracurricular activities. All you do is sit at the computer!!!!"

Obviously this didn't work to make anything better.

Part one of Housewife Tip #4 : honesty is good when you are calm and speaking rationally

I tried the incentive method second.

I was annoyed that he left out a certain pan - he always leaves the pan on the oven after using it. I bet him a CookOut milkshake that the pan would NOT be cleaned by the time I got home 3 hours later. Low and behold, the pan was cleaned! Is cleaning one pan worth a $4 milkshake? Not really. But it was a good way to say, "I really appreciate and need your help on this."

If my man was around when I started doing chores, I would ask if he could help me. He usually would say, "Sure." kind of begrudgingly, but would help anyways. I would try to make sure we had a fun or daily re-cap conversation while we emptied the dishwasher. Once we were done, I'd point out that it took half the time for us to do it together, we had a conversation about the project he just finished, and that I really appreciated his help (cue big kiss and hug). 

This has helped. 

And not to be too graphic, but if you make some other kind of.... intimate incentives... it is VERY successful

Recap:

Be honest - Only be honest in a constructive way; if you want to calmly explain that you are very busy and would greatly appreciate some help with chores, and maybe come up with a delegation game plan, that is constructive.

Make incentives - If your roommate goes out of their way to do something for you, thank them in that moment if you think of it, or even thank them later with a note or candy bar present. If you ask for someone to help you with a chore, it makes it so that neither of you has to do it by yourself, and you both get to chat and get something productive accomplished all at once. But really- saying THANK YOU! really does make a difference. That positive reinforcement idea really works. Try it :)

Curtis OUT.

Worst Semester Ever

Spring 2012 - The Worst Semester Ever.

I think this semester was the worst due to two main courses that I honestly couldn't care less about:
Humanities 124 (The Ancient World) and Econ 101 (Macroeconomics).
I just don't care. Maybe this makes me ignorant or naive, but I honestly don't care about Aristotle, AE Curves, Plato, monetary policy, and Gilgamesh. Maybe I should care. But all I'm trying to do is get a degree in MANAGEMENT, not history or money or economics. I just want to be a recruiter and trainer. Can we pass all of the world history bull shit? We've been learning that since 6th grade!!!
I understand why economics is important for a business degree, but the poor professor is probably 70+ years old and rambles about cars and "back in his day" and it was literally impossible for me to pay attention. I think there was one class total that I actually didn't day dream or mess around on facebook on my phone.

Other than that, I had HR Management, Makeup Design (Theater), and Business Law. Those were all pretty okay.

I'm basically writing this to apologize for not writing. I keep telling myself that I will, and never make time for it.

In the fall I have 19 credit hours of class, so unfortunately there might not be any writing again. I keep holding on to this blog in hopes that I will one day make something of it. Maybe I'll work on it this summer...?

Curtis OUT.

8 Tracks, baby!

Do you like Pandora? Pretty awesome to listen to a "radio-mix" online... except for those pesky advertisements!

Check out 8tracks.com.

There are a plethora of crazy interesting mixes- a lot of them include stunning covers or re-mixes of awesome hip-hop songs. Stuff you'd never imagine... until it's playing in your FACE.

CHECK IT OUT.

Curtis OUT.
<3

Housewife Tip #3

The "Out of the Dryer" Smell 

One thing I always loved was going to my mom's house and having my clothes washed there- they always smelled nicer from mom's house than if I had washed them. It was the same at my brother's house; he would be a sweetheart and offer to put a load of laundry in the wash for me when I stayed for a long weekend. They'd come out of the dryer and smell SOOO nice, and they'd stay like that for two weeks.

I finally gave in and decided to give myself the luxury of that smell-
Fabric Softener. Dryer Sheets. Heaven.

I'm usually a thrifty shopper and avoid unnecessary items *cough like fabric softener cough*, but moving into a new house and wanting to feel as comfortable as possible, I gave in.
At Target, I bought the 100oz Snuggle Blue Sparkle Softener and a 267 count box of Snuggle Blue Sparkle Dryer Sheets, both about $8.50 each. Now, I know it sounds dumb to buy $17 worth of stuff just to make your clothes smell nice, but really, it is AWESOME.

  Good reasons to use fabric softener and dryer sheets:
- reduces the smell from wooden drawers and closets 
- if you're like me and wear your clothes more than once... or even twice... before washing them again, you feel a lot less gross
- if you accidentally forget to wear deodorant or don't have time to take a shower, you still smell relatively nice
- I have sheets that I use as couch covers, and it is such a nice feeling to have a clean house and literally clean smelling furniture, especially if you're about to have company over
- it's like Febreze on your clothes for longer!
- the dryer sheets can help reduce clothing wrinkles and static cling


Warnings:
Some people are allergic to things like fragranced detergents, fabric softeners and dryer sheets (due to the chemicals they contain). Also, it has been stated that fabric softeners reduce the lifespan of your clothing as well as the absorbency (for something like towels) over time. And finally, some people say there are cancer causing agents in them. But... honestly, there are a bajillion different cancer causing agents around us and you're either going to get cancer or not. 

Curtis OUT.