Summary Sunday : I Suck at Doing This on Sundays Edition

Ah...second Summary Sunday post in a row done on a Monday. I'm just that awesome. Collin finally made it home late Friday night, so we got a couple of days to spend time together. Thus...no blog post from me. But...I'm back. So now you get the fun.

Last week I recovered from the stomach flu, Collin went to the mine for a week and Darian did some more guest blog hosting. We also got to attend Kirsten's second birthday party. So cute! It's always fun hanging out with Owen & Patti. We also enjoyed the fact that Andrew & Laura were in town. Andrew is Owen's younger brother. He's always a good time.

I get to be Auntie to the cutest girls ever. (I may be biased...)

What else happened? Let's break it down...

Posts I Posted : Darian got featured not once, but twice for his book reviews on the Percy Jackson series. (Sidebar - I now have Three Times a Lady playing in my head. You're welcome.) I also managed to finish another book and unwittingly discovered that I yet again chose a book in an incomplete series. I am occasionally a dunce.

Books I Finished : I am sad to say that for the first time in two years I have abandoned a book. I was reading Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island. It was obviously not my cup of tea. I got so bored with it that I just couldn't take anymore. I made it to page 55 before I called it DOA. It gets a 1 star rating since I didn't finish it. It also will not be entered into the 2012 bracket or be counted in the official year's count. Lame. But it does get the honor of being the first book on my "Abandoned" shelf. Ouch. I am now reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern at the recommendation of Patti, who gave it five stars. I am loving it so far.

Projects I Finished : After nearly going hara-kiri on my scanner trying to take pictures of my Project Life layouts, I decided to try something different and built a light box based on Pinterest project I'd seen from Michele at The Scrap Shoppe. I promise...I will eventually actually post some pages.

Recipes I Tried : I forgot to tell you, but a couple of weeks ago I tried the 3 Packet Pot Roast recipe I found on Pinterest. It was amazing! We loved it. Super easy and great tasting. Last week we tried Mini Taco Cups and Chicken Parmesan Bake. Also both fantastic! Two out of the three were Pinterest finds!

Though the Taco Cups are meant to be an appetizer, Darian and I enjoyed them as our main dish. They were fairly simple to make and we both liked them enough to put them in our regular rotation.

Mini Taco Cups :

2 pkg. (30 total) Phyllo Dough mini shells (or fillo...however you want to spell it)
2/3 can refried beans
1/2 can black beans
1/8 c. taco seasoning
Shredded cheese
Salsa (we also used fresh tomato)
Sour cream (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the phyllo cups on a lightly greased baking sheet. Combine the refried beans and the taco seasoning. Fill each cup 2/3 with the mixture. Fill the remaining space with black beans. Top with cheese. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Add salsa and sour cream. Serve while hot.

I'm  not even going to tell you how many of these I ate. It's just this side of astronomical.

Favorite Post of the Week : We all know I have an unhealthy crush on The Bloggess...so it will come as no surprise to you that my favorite post was her video on Sopa...and the dangers it poses to cats. I'll admit...I snorted when I read the folder in her hand. Let's be honest. You can never go wrong with Jenny.

FYI...this post officially took me 2 hours to write. I got sidetracked by Jenny's frickin' blog trying to find that link and ended up naming a metal chicken Zsa Zsa van Schnikelbochens. Ah, my nights are fun...