As anyone who knows me should know, my favorite baseball player and the only reason I like the Yankees is retiring after this season.

I doubt you can read this whole thing, but it’s all over his Facebook page.

So if any of you want to take me to a game ever, NOW IS THE TIME.

I’m very sad. This would help.

Seriously. Think about it, kids.

Heyyyy everyone!!

I hope you had a great 2013; I know mine was pretty spectacular!

One of my resolutions is to blog at least once a month again. And to actually have it be something worthwhile…unlike this post, because I’m re-watching season 4 of Justified with the boy and my pup is snuggling so cute and I want to enjoy this moment.

So, while you wait breathlessly (No no, please breathe. You could die.), I leave you with  my favorite Buzzfeed of the week:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/things-that-inevitably-happen-when-you-work-in-an-office

XOXO, Kayla Rae

For all you Scrooges out there…it’s best to not read any of my posts after Labor Day. Because we are UNDER 100 days, people: http://www.xmasclock.com/ YEAH!!

Don’t worry, I’m making a Christmas list at Target if you want to buy me anything. I’m THAT person.

I won’t get the tree out until after Thanksgiving–I’m not that crazy about it. But kind of.

It has started to get chillier and it’s raining today, and you know what follows rain and dropping temps in Iowa. I won’t jinx us yet though, because we still have another of my favorite times of year coming up: harvest! If you thought I was going to say Halloween, you must not know me well. That is one of my LEAST favorite “holidays”, mainly because I’m paranoid. Although I could get together to watch a scary movie with someone if they want! As long as I’m at home and far away from the crazies.

Has any one of my followers seen World War Z?? I want to watch it right now because I’ve heard it’s amazing, but Sons of Anarchy is on tonight so will have to wait one more day.

It’s been five months since my last post, because I’m a failure as a blogger. No other reason, really, except Life.

News in Kayla world: I started dating, so now have a boyfriend. That word, however, still makes the commitment area in my brain shudder…I’m working on it. Here’s a picture of us at his brother’s wedding for your visual imagination:

We started living together in Adel until we decided to move to West Des Moines the end of April, and now live in Wellington Apartments, which we l-o-v-e LOVE. Although sometimes we miss the small town life. But mostly not at this point in our lives.

I just got promoted two weeks ago–from Loan Servicing Specialist 2 to Loan Servicing Specialist 3 (I don’t know where the 1 went, don’t ask me), so make a little more money to do a little more work. Hopefully that means I’m doing all right there and they don’t hate me or anything. Wells Fargo has been pretty good to me–benefits and PTO woot-woot!!

But the main event, and title of this post is something I’ve been wanting for YEARS…a new puppy!!

We had been talking about it for awhile, and I had been thinking of getting one for a few years now, since meeting Squirt There was always something keeping us from getting one (not enough money, space, time, etc) so I pretty much bit the bullet and started looking at adoptable younger dogs–I knew I wanted to adopt, from volunteering at the Animal Rescue League. Plus my apartment takes half off the pet deposit for adopting and not buying from a breeder/pet store, which is superb.

Once I saw this little girl’s picture and the lady at the shelter said she was still available, I knew it would be over. We got her from Second Chance Dog Rescue, a shelter run by some amazing people who live and breathe for their dogs to find forever homes; well worth the short half hour drive to Prole. If anyone is looking for a dog, I’d really recommend this place–they are small enough that they take time to know you as individuals and make sure the pet works with your personality, and they do almost everything for you for the $175 fee: spay/neuter, flea treatments, rabies and normal vaccinations, and my favorite is that they get plenty of outdoor/running free/socialization time.

They had her outside with about 15 other dogs when we first showed up, so we could barely get her attention because she was running free and being playful. But once we got her inside, she calmed right down and she has been perfect ever since. We broke a couple of rules and over-socialized her a bit her first day by taking her to PetSmart and then a baseball game, but then got home and she started to realize she was going to be an only child and now is just perfect.

She basically just hangs out a lot and even though they said she wasn’t house-trained, she holds it all night and is perfect in the crate (even though I want to break and let her in bed, I know I’ll break on other things so want to at least keep her crate-trained until we know she’s okay), and there have been zero accidents in the two days we’ve had her…knock on wood. The real test will be this week when we go to work; she whines for a few minutes when we leave but every time we come back after a few hours she’s passed out, belly-up, on her doggy bed. Her favorite is when we get the stake out in our mini-yard and she can sit with us while we’re on the porch and watch the squirrels and birds go by.

Now if you don’t hear from us, you’ll know why…we have no money because there’s a baby in our lives. I still can’t believe it…so excited

Perhaps I’ll blog about something entertaining for anyone other than myself and my closest friends next time. Perhaps.

Hello people, and welcome to 2013. I hope none of you were banking on the Mayan calendar and spent all your money before Christmas.

I got hired on at Wells Fargo in the beginning of December, so you are looking at a full-time employee right now! No more food service for this girl–although honestly, my first managers taught me how to be the best worker out there, and I am super grateful for the work ethic that I learned when I was young. It’s hard to find these days.

So, Pinterest has taken over my life. And for the better, I’d like to think! This weekend has been dedicated to trying new things from the website, which I’m sure I will share with you later. But in the meantime, here are some of the recipes and products that have worked for me:

Homemade Febreze: Honestly, I just finished a bottle of Febreze this week, and tried this gem of a concoction…and it seriously smells just as good as the $5-$7 bottles people buy at the store. 1/8 c fabric softener, 2 TBSP baking soda, fill the bottle with hot water and shake it up. Genius.

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni:
Full recipe here. I am a HUGE pasta lover. I mean, I’ve probably tried about every pasta out there, and honestly, the peas mixed in is what really did it for me. True story. It’s not that spicy–I added a little more red pepper at the end. So good.

Mini Breakfast Treats: I have a mini muffin tin that fits 12, and these were the first things I made in it. I whisked together 4 eggs and a handful of shredded cheese, then grabbed 6 strips of bacon and split them in half. Circle the halves of bacon to outline each cupcake setting and then pour in the egg/cheese mixture, about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Don’t forget to spray cooking oil on the tin–that way the treats just pop right out. It’s amazing what people think of, and they’re so cute and little!

Organizing Tank Tops: This. This right here, people. I have so many clothes and not-so-much drawer space. Brilliant.

Ranch Pork Chops: I’ve been trying to branch out of my chicken and beef eating, but found it hard to get a pork recipe that isn’t too dry. This doesn’t come with a full recipe so here is what I did: Thaw 4 pork chops. Pour about a cup of ranch into a bowl. Get one packet of dry Italian seasoning and mix with bread crumbs (I used 2 slices of bread and crumbled them up) and about a TSP of garlic salt and parmesan, mix into separate bowl. Dip thawed chops into ranch, then roll into crumb mixture. Cook at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Pretty good, for pork that isn’t bacon.

Easy weeknight meal for 4 (or 2, if the person eating with you is a 240-lb male who apparently does not eat all day):
I didn’t use as much butter as shown in the photo…just use a thin layer of vegetable oil on the bottom of the pan and maybe half a stick of butter cut thinly over the top so the food doesn’t burn. It helps if you cover it with foil.

No more dryer sheets: Plus, my apartment smells so fresh and clean. Coming from OCD over here, this is where it’s at.

Pizza Bread: I cooked this on a snow day this year, because I didn’t want to turn up my heat so I used the oven French bread, pizza sauce, italian sausage, mushrooms, black olives and mozzarella cheese on top. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the cheese is all melted. Obviously you can use whatever toppings you want. Easy-peasy.

Re-boot your towels: After awhile, my towels started smelling funky and I was like “Uhhh, this is NOT how I smell when I get out of the shower,” because obviously I wash my towels about as much as I wash my clothes. This works for refreshing them so they can do their job. Do it.

Baking Bacon! I don’t know why I did not think of this or hear about this before…I cook about 8 strips of bacon every other week because I have those healthier turkey/bacon wraps (see below) for lunch at my desk. I absolutely HATE cooking bacon on the stove. I’m always getting splattered with the grease-awfulness. This is perfect. Then I just let cool and split into bite-sized pieces and put it in a container=bacon for the next 2 weeks.

Turkey/bacon Wraps: Start with a wrap (I use La Tortilla Factory’s Smart & Delicious Soft Wraps). Put about a TBSP of Ranch on it (more or less depending on what you like…I’m not a huge Ranch person so that’s a perfect amount for me), spread it around the wrap. Add turkey, bacon pieces, lettuce, tomato and anything else you want. I eat these at least 3 days a week. Cheap and healthy and really quick.

Kitchen/bathroom floor cleaner: I’ve been doing versions of this since I was little because, well, my mother and I are weird about cleaning. If you’re like me and don’t like the vinegar smell leftover, I finish off with a dab of Pine-Sol on a rag and wipe everything down. For the clean freak in you.

Baked carrot fries: These are a super yummy treat, especially if you don’t get enough veggies in your diet.

Homemade Vick’s Shower Disks: I am almost constantly congested around this time of year, especially when the weather starts messing with me–warmer one day, back to freezing the next. This is a miracle. Make sure you use muffin liners; nobody wants lavender-tasting cupcakes/muffins later; oil doesn’t wash off as well!

There you are. I’m posting some of these for me to use again later because I love them *that* much, plus to be honest my Pinterest boards are getting ridiculously large. Feel free to use these and let me know what you think!