Last blog of 2011

I can't believe today is the last day of 2011! In some ways it was a long, and frustrating year, but in some ways it was a fun, busy and entertaining year. I suppose all years are this way to some degree. I tend to not regret anything that happened because I don't see the point. Everything happens for a reason, and I like to believe that not just the good, but also the bad makes us a better person. I have no grand plans for 2012 nor do I have a ton of resolutions. I used to make them every year, I never kept them a single time. :)

We certainly aren't ending the year the way I'd have wanted with Jason and I both sick, but as his Kindergarten teacher used to say quite a bit, "you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit" and we too, use this phrase a lot in our house.

We will keep our tradition of a quiet, stay at home New Year's Eve where we spend the evening watching old movies. We've done it every year for years and years. This year it sounds quite appealing with it be a bit nippy and very windy and us being sick. Forget the fancy cocktails, just give us some hot chocolate this time. :)

And now my friends and family, we wish you a wonderful and happy 2012!

Last blog of 2011

I can't believe today is the last day of 2011! In some ways it was a long, and frustrating year, but in some ways it was a fun, busy and entertaining year. I suppose all years are this way to some degree. I tend to not regret anything that happened because I don't see the point. Everything happens for a reason, and I like to believe that not just the good, but also the bad makes us a better person. I have no grand plans for 2012 nor do I have a ton of resolutions. I used to make them every year, I never kept them a single time. :)

We certainly aren't ending the year the way I'd have wanted with Jason and I both sick, but as his Kindergarten teacher used to say quite a bit, "you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit" and we too, use this phrase a lot in our house.

We will keep our tradition of a quiet, stay at home New Year's Eve where we spend the evening watching old movies. We've done it every year for years and years. This year it sounds quite appealing with it be a bit nippy and very windy and us being sick. Forget the fancy cocktails, just give us some hot chocolate this time. :)

And now my friends and family, we wish you a wonderful and happy 2012!

Can someone please tell me what happened to 2011?

Because I truly can't figure out where it went. A year ago Kevin was working for Infocrossing, and therefore working from home 4 days a week. Jason was in 3rd grade. Michelle worked at Starbucks and Michael at Walmart. Fastforward a year and Kevin works for 1st Bank,Jason is in 4th grade and  Michelle is active duty Air Force and Michael works at JCP! Wow! Crazy year for sure.

While we didn't actually have snow falling Christmas weekend, we did(and still do)have several inches still on the ground from this past week's two storms. Our street is actually still a sheet of ice!

We had a good Christmas this year. We received a lot of really nice gifts and goodies. We were able to do a video chat with Chris & Shelley Christmas Eve night and Michael spent the weekend with us.

We are taking this week off from school and Kevin took the week off work and we are going to simply relax. Everyone was tired and rundown after a hectic month and it is going to be nice to just sit and do nothing!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you are all looking forward to a fantastic and healthy 2012!

Now I'll leave you with a bit of our past week. :)

Confessions of a frazzeled stay-at-home-mom!

Sometimes, like this morning, when I look outside and realize I have to shovel, or I look around my house at the folded clothes needing to be put away, or the way my 9yr old boy attempts to make his bed in the morning and I start wondering how on earth will I make a dent in getting things done. I wasn't feeling particularly good to begin with, but the chores for the day seemed like endless amounts of crapola. To top that off, Jason has been in one of his "talk NONstop for hours and hours" moods. And as a mom, you want to listen or at least pretend like you're paying attention, but if you're a mom, you KNOW that there are times where, you just tune it out for a few minutes. Of course with me, it always happens that this is the time he will actually ask for an answer or something and of course you have NO idea what the heck he just said. :) This can prove to be most tricky.

We were supposed to do school this week, but we didn't yesterday. Of course losing power had a little to do with that. Today isn't looking a lot better for it but I have hopes of doing something before the week is over. He has managed however, to take some green yarn and tie it around things and go through the ENtire house hooking it around various things. He *says* he is making a trap. For what, I do not know.

I have learned a few things though yesterday and this morning. First, always keep your cell charged because if you lose power, you can't charge it! Second, when the power goes out, the dishwasher stops. It doesn't just start back, you actually have to start it again. Third, try though as I might, I simply am not as young as I used to be, and sometimes it becomes quite evident! And fourth, I remember when Jason was a baby(well, when all 3 boys were babies)thinking how much easier it would be when they were older and could do things by themself. How nice it would be to not have to watch them every second. Now, with Jason approaching 10, double digit age, I realize how much I truly miss my babies being babies! Every now and again he'll look at me and I see glimpes of a little kid still in there, but at the same time, there are instances where I see glimpes of a a little man!

At the end of any day, regardless of how tired I might be, or bad I might feel, I do realize how truly blessed I am to have 4 amazing kids and the most wonderful husband in the world and they're ALL mine! For that, I am truly grateful!

Chicken Taco Soup

Love, love, love this recipe! I normally make regular taco soup with ground beef or sometimes ground turkey, but had never tried it before with chicken. YUM. And with it being so cold and windy and snowy, it is perfect on a night like tonight!

Chicken Taco Soup

Place 1 small chopped yellow onion, 1 small can of corn(not creamed)1/2 can black beans, 1 8oz can tomato sauce, 1 can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 12oz beer, and 1 envelope taco seasoning(or make your own)in a crockpot and mix together. Place 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast(could use thighs) on top and submerge in mixture. Cook on low for 5 hours and remove chicken to cool and add 1/3  cup cream, 1/2 & 1/2 or milk. Shred chicken and return to crockpot and heat on warm setting for about half an hour and mix thoroughly.

It IS a bit spicy, but not TOO bad. Very yummy with crackers! Will definitely make this again.

Christmas lights and recipes

Not the best week but it did end nicely. Got the heart monitor turned in Monday, that was an adventure! The rest of the week seemed to fly by somehow. I was quite busy so perhaps that something to do with it? We got Starbucks last night and rode around Falcon looking at Christmas lights. Saw one house that looked like they were putting up lights and just gave up, and we saw some houses that were so lit up you could see them from the moon. The best by far had a tree in the window but in an upstairs window had a virtual Santa. It was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. It looked real!! Kevin came home and googled and sure enough you can buy it for $300.

Recipe for this blog, roast.

3-5lb roast
1 packet onion soup mix
black pepper
1lb portabello mushrooms
12oz beer

Chop the mushrooms and layer on bottom of crockpot. Put roast on top and spread onion soup mix and sprinkle with pepper. Pour the beer over. Cook on low 8ish hours. It smelled awesome and tasted even better.

One more recipe for the night, onion pie.

Cook a small onion in 2T butter until soft. Add 1/3 cup cream and cook for a minute or so to thicken . Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Take a frozen pie shell and set on a cookie sheet. Take 3 eggs and mix with 3/4 cup shredded cheese. Put onion mixture in pie shell and cover with egg mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Very yummy and goes great with the roast!

Mushroom Pie

Gonna share tonight's dinner recipe to not only share, but as I've mentioned before this gives me a 2nd or 3rd place to store recipes. I have not tried this but it sounds wonderful. Can't say it won't be a heavy meal, but it does sound like a good one if you're trying to have a day or two weekly with no meat.

Mushroom Pie

Prep Time: 20 minutes            Cook Time: 40 minutes                     Ready in: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (10 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• 1 (17.25 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion and bacon; cook and stir for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the cream and dill; cook and stir for about 10 more minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cheese.
3. Place one sheet of puff pastry on a well oiled baking sheet, and pour the mushroom filling over the top. Cover with the other sheet, and press the edges together to seal. Make some holes in the top with a fork. Brush the top with beaten egg.
4. Bake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool, then cut into squares to serve.

The serving size stated is 12. You can certainly cut it into however many slices you want.
Calories for the 12 servings:419
Total Fat:32.3
Cholesterol:63

That's all the nutrional info given so it's all I have right now since I haven't made it yet. I am okay with the calories but will most likely try to tinker with the fat.

Happy Friday!!

My homeschool.

In reading some of the homeschool blogs I frequent, the main theme for this month is homeschool & December. It got me thinking how true some of the posts were that I was reading. Not *only* in December, but the entire year. Our year, month, week, and day would I assure you,  not look like a normal public and or private school day. And you know what? I can't think of anything more wonderful!

If you were to come to our home on any given day, I can pretty much guarantee you'd see what to you, looked like total chaos and a home that appeared to be in desperate need of cleaning. Not cleaning as in everything is dirty, cleaning as in most days you're gonna find dishes in the sink to be washed. Most days you're gonna find laundry that needs to be done. You might realize we need to dust in some spots. But, I can tell you it isn't as it seems. You see, I'm thrilled to see dishes in my sink in need of washing. Why, you ask? Because that means I've cooked something hot and healthy for my family. If there were never dishes in there, well then that would mean I don't cook. Now mind you dear readers, this is certainly not to say we never pertake of fast food. I am after all, human.

We do not live by public school rule. We do not have a set 8-3 school day. Some days our *school* day doesn't resemble a school day at all. Is Jason learning? Yes, he is. At his own pace. If he doesn't "get" something, say his 8's muliplication, I can do that in math every single day for a month if I have to. When we come across things that he just gets, or already knows, we can blow right through that without spending sometimes more than a day on it. I can tell when he's not paying attention and seems bored. I now know this his a clue to me that he does indeed, "get it" and it's time to move on.

I will not make this a post on what public schools do or don't do. I truly have nothing against them and he had a good 1st grade as well as 1st grade teacher. But something happens out here, perhaps all over I don't know, but definitely out here. The kids in 1st-maybe 6th grade "seem" to learn an awful lot. Almost "too" much it would seem. Then by the time they graduate high school, they "seem" to know nothing. NOTHING. I won't go on and on, but back when I was in high school, we had what, 6-7 periods in the day? We were taught what we needed to know to go forward after graduation. The high school in our district has what they call, "A-day and B-day". I'm sorry, but I just do not understand this. Why do they feel they need to give them a zillion classes, and all lasting maybe 40-45 minutes? WHAT are they learning? In homeschool, we have the freedom to teach only the basics. Jason knows about tolerance and such, but I don't have to spend an hour a day with a cultural awareness class.

This brings me to December. I love December. I love what I can do at home this month that Jason wouldn't be getting in school. We can talk about Santa. We can have a Christmas tree. We can discuss the true meaning of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. We are in fact, currently doing a Christmas Unit Study by Amanda Bennett dealing with the real meaning. Some he already knows from kid church, but he is eager to study it every day and I think that is wonderful.

We can have days where all we do is bake cookies. Yes, that would be the school for that day. You can use math and science. Some days we do clean and yes, you guessed it, that can be used as a school day, too. Life lessons I call them. Laundry, shopping etc.

So, our day to day schooling is totally nothing like a regular day you'd think of, but at the end of the week, we've done what we need to do and he's learned what he's learned. At the end of a year, he is at least grade level on some things, and way above on others.

I certainly don't begrudge the public school system and I happen to know a few teachers! :) I admire them all for what they do. It can't be easy sometimes. But for me, and our family, homeschool is the only option. We control what our child learns, and when. And with that said, "Merry Christmas"!!

My week

Ever have one of those weeks where it's Sunday morning and you think to yourself, "wow, a whole week ahead of me", only to wake up again, and it's Sunday morning and you think to yourself, "wow, where did Monday-Saturday go".......Yeah, that kinda sums up my week.

Sunday the 4th was rather icky, really. Cold, foggy, windy, flurries and a nice little tummy bug. Yucky day. Monday wasn't a whole lot better. The only difference was the flurries turned to snow, and the tummy bug was a little better. Kevin worked from home due to the weather. It was either that, or spend 4 hours on the road to get up to Denver. He chose work from home.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent baking and making cookies and candies. I had the whole can't have caffeine for 24 hours that started Thursday morning. THAT wasn't fun. Friday I had heart tests that weren't a lot of fun, either. I also got to have a monitor hooked up to me to wear until Saturday morning. Even tried to sleep with one? You can't! I was so happy to take it off.

Today was much, much better. Relaxing morning with Kevin, fantastic church service, awesome food at Cracker Barrel and a trip to Barnes and Noble. Oh, and a stop at Starbucks. ;)

Hoping this week is a little bit more relaxed and that we get some school done.

Cold, snow, football and candy

Even sitting here typing this I am asking myself, "why "this" color and why "this" size font" and yet I'm still typing and using it.

Our weekend has been cold and snowy. Mostly cold. Thursday we had snow but it was so windy it's merely a guess at how much we received. Friday was cold, cold. I did make a recipe I had found two years ago for leftover Thanksgiving food. Not particularly sure why it took me two years to do, but I did, and it's pretty good. Basically you use pie crust, the fridge variety, not frozen, or use homemade. You cut little triangles(you can make them as big as you want)and fill them with turkey and gravy and either mashed potatoes or dressing and could probably use sweet potatoes. Plop some on a piece of pie crust and cover with another piece of the same size and seal the edges and cut a little slit in the top. Spray them down with a little cooking spray and bake until done. I forget how long it said to bake, but it wasn't right. I just had to watch them. They bake at 400 degrees though. You make a sauce out of cranberry sauce and chili sauce and that is it. Warm it and dip the little boogers in it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Saturday it was flurries and cold but we braved it and went to Village Inn for brunch and did some shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods and and stopped by Starbucks and came home! I made some yummy soup last night but there is no recipe. I litterally made it up! But it was delish on a very cold night.

Today is cold again but we haven't seen snow, yet, although they say it's coming, 4-6 inches between 2:00 Monday morning through noon Monday. No word yet on what tonight's food choice will be. I'm feeling particulary lazy. =)

We did watch some football yesterday. I don't see how anyone can look at LSU and think they aren't the best team in college football this year. They just are. Yes, that means my team isn't. ;) We had our year last year and Bama in '09, but from where I'm sitting it's all LSU in '11. I also think OK ST made a pretty good argument for a BCS run after last nights' womping of OK. Regardless of what happens I'll be sad when the season is over and will wait somewhat patiently for the '12 season to begin. ;) Hopefully the Braves will kick some booty during the spring and summer.

And two recipes. One, the first actually I'm not totally sold on, but since some people really like Red Velvet(myself included)I'll post it.

Red Velvet Pancakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese 1/4 cup creme fraiche 2 tablespoons white sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest   1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons white sugar 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 large egg 3/4 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup creme fraiche 1 tablespoon red food coloring 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Directions
Prepare the mascarpone glaze by whisking together the mascarpone cheese, 1/4 cup creme fraiche, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and lemon zest in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.
Prepare the pancake batter by whisking the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 3 tablespoon sugar, and cocoa powder together in a bowl; set aside. Beat the egg in a separate bowl with the buttermilk, 1/4 cup creme fraiche, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until moistened, then add the melted butter, and continue stirring until only small lumps of flour remain. If batter appears a little thick, add more buttermilk.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Drizzle pancakes with the mascarpone glaze to serve.
Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving  Calories: 520 | Total Fat: 35.2g | Cholesterol: 153mg

The 2nd, something that has definitely sparked my curiosity....

Microwave Divinity:

Place 2 egg whites in the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer;let stand until room temperature for 30 minutes.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/2  cup light corn syrup and 1/8 tsp salt. Cook uncovered, on high for 4 minutes. Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Cook 6-8 minutes or until a candy thermometer reads 260(hard boil stage(. Stirring every two minutes. During last 2 minutes of cooking, beat egg whites on med to med high speed until stiff peaks form.

With mixer on high speed carefully pour the hot syrup mixture in a slow but steady strream. Continue beating just until it loses it's gloss and holds its shape. Approx 15 minutes. Immediately stir in 1/2 cups chopped pecans and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Quickly put spoonfuls onto waxed paper to cool and harden.

And now it's time for the fireplace folks!

One more recipe to share. Trying to update my page but nothing seems to be changing with the color, layout etc, so I'll just post this for now. :)

Brown Sugar/chipotle meatloaf:

2 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 jar beef gravy
3 T liquid from a can of chipotle chili peppers
1/4 cup each chopped onion and celery
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp liquid smoke

Mix all the ingredients together and put in a loaf pan. Bake at 400 for one hour. About 10 minutes prior to the hour, combine 1 tsp liquid smoke, 1/3 cup spicy bbq sauce and the remaining 1/2 jar beef gravy. Heat on medium heat. Spread warmed mixture over top of meatloaf and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

And now an easy way to make mashed potatoes: scrub potatoes and pat dry with paper towels. Make 1 to 2 tiny slits and place in microwave. The number of potatoes used determines the time. About 12 minutes for 4 med sized potatoes. Let them cool slightly and scoop the pulp or meat or whatever you call it in your home out. Proceed to mash however you do it. I use a food processer/processor? hmmmm. I put 2-4 T butter then put the warm scooped out potato on top. I warm whatever milk I'm using as well. Don't use cold. Sometimes I use 1% but if it's a holiday I use heavy cream. And don't forget the salt. That is to your liking but probably 1/2 to 1 tsp is plenty. No peeling and chopping and boiling and straining. Easiest way ever to make mashed potatoes!!

Two recipes to share, or at least put on here so I have a 2nd copy of them! Yes, I tend to lose things from time to time. :)

Gingerbread Cookies:

These Gingerbread Men Cookies are as cute as can be. If desired, decorate
with raisins, currants or cinnamon red hot candies for eyes and buttons. Or,
pipe untinted or Colorful
Royal Icing onto cookies.

Makes 2 dozen or 24 (1 cookie) servings.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 to 10 minutes per batch
Refrigerate Time: 4 hours
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons McCormick®
Ginger, Ground
1 teaspoon McCormick®
Cinnamon, Ground
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon McCormick®
Nutmeg, Ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon McCormick®
Pure Vanilla Extract
1. Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl.
Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on
medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; mix well.
Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into
a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on
lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie
cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. 3. Bake 8 to 10
minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on
baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate
cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to 5
days.

AND Pecan Waffles:

Preheat oven to 350. Spread 3/4 cup chopped pecans on a baking sheet. Bake/toast 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Reduce oven temp to 200.

Whisk 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda together in a large bowl.

In a seperate bowl, whisk 1 large egg, 1 cup whole milk(needs to be whole for this), 1/2 cup buttermilk and 2 tsp vanilla(the real stuff really does make a difference over the imitation)until well combined.

Melt 2 T unsalted butter, and 1/4 cup Crisco and cool both slightly, then slowly mix with the egg mixture until well combined. Slowly mix this mixture with the dry ingredients. Mixture will appear a bit lumpy.

Preheat waffle iron and brush with additional butter or spray with cooking spray. Ladle about 1/2 cup mixture onto ironand sprinkle with 2 T of the toasted pecans. Cook until brown or your iron tells you it's done. As you cook, transfer cooked waffles onto baking sheet in the preheated 200 oven to keep warm. Top waffles with butter and syrup or make your own brown sugar/pecan mixture to pour over. Enjoy.

Christmas greetings

Here we are having entered the official holiday season and every year it happens. The "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever it is you say" debate. I don't pretend to be the world's "go to" girl for advice or information or for my opinion. I do however, have an opinion on the subject. =o)

I think we need to stop putting so much thought into it. At the end of the day, or the season, what does it matter what someone might have said to you for a greeting? Unless said person is yelling obsentities or beating the mess out of you, why can't we simply just accept their greeting? Yes, personally I do extend the "Merry Christmas" to everyone I come in contact with during the season. I say it to be a warm greeting and sincere one. The person I've said it to might in fact be Jewish, or some other religion or not have a religion at all, but I would hope the person would take it as it was given. If I was told "Happy Hanukkah", I certainly wouldn't go flipping out and make a big deal about it. I would hope and assume that this person said this to ME to extend a warm greeting. No, "Happy Holidays" is not my greeting of preference, but to a person with maybe no religion, it is still their way to extend a greeting during this time. I mean, is this truly the best time of year to try to be at our best politically corrent selves? Or is it rather a time to be kind and sincere to our fellow man? Just something to ponder.

So, if that cashier at Starbucks or Target or wherever, extends a greeting of ANY sort, just simply take it as a nice holiday gesture and extend your personal greeting back without fear of it offending anyone!

Long holiday weekend!

Our long holiday weekend is coming to a close. Jason and I took Wednesday off so we had a 5-day weekend and Kevin had off Thursday and Friday giving him a 4-day weekend. It was kind of weird having the a/c on while baking pies Wednesday, but we managed. Thanksgiving itselt was near 70 which is just wrong! Michael came over and spent the night Wednesday and was here almost all of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving we watched the parade and kept an eye on the gobbler in the oven. It was a quiet and relaxing day for us. Friday we went out and about around 9:30/10:00 to do some shopping and get Starbucks, of course. :) We had leftovers for lunch which are always good. We spent the afternoon putting the first round of lights on the house outside and ended with a last minute shopping spree and dinner at Culvers before watching the LSU game. Saturday morning we got up and had to make yet another trip to Home Depot and yes, another stop at Starbucks. :o) Kevin got the second round of lights on the house and brought up all the stuff from the crawl space for the inside. We spent the day, well, to be fair, "he" spent the the day putting up the tree and making yet another trip out for lights and we watched most of the Iron Bowl. It was pizza delivery last night. There were good parts and not good parts to our holiday weekend with the good being spending time together Thanksgiving and 2 Starbucks trips and tons of good food! And the bad being our loss of course, yesterday to Bama, but not one we didn't see coming. We're proud of our tigers this season going 7-5. Especially after everyone thought we'd have to fight for 5 wins. Our team has talent and the fact that we ARE a young team means that in the next two seasons, we're going to be a really good team again. And the other bad being I have managed in 2 days to slice my right thumb in 3 places and sprain my back. OUCH. In fact, if my back isn't better by tomorrow(Monday)morning, I'm going to have to cancel my heart testing that is scheduled for Tuesday morning because it's a 24 hour cancelation sorta deal, and right now anyway, there is no way I can do the treadmill(or is it treadmil or tredmill?) And I don't won't to have to cancel!

So, that is the short version of our long holiday weekend! Hope everyone in internetland had a great weekend as well. :) No recipe this week. (at least not today).

Thanksgiving and Iron Bowl Saturday

I am sitting here thinking about all the things I need to be doing, yet I am still sitting here. Funny how that happens. =o) I have laundry to do, 2 bathrooms to clean, dishes to wash and baking to do and well, you get the idea. I have a zillion things to do but yet I'm sitting here drinking coffee at my computer.

I also am thinking back to Thanksgiving 2010. In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago and yet in some ways like it was just last week. We had 6 people living here and 2 visiting. Thanksgiving dinner therefore, consisted of 8 people. It was really cold that week. Michelle was working at Starbucks at Peterson AFB and Michael at Walmart. Kevin was still working for Infocrossing and working from home. In a years time all three are doing something else. Michelle is in AF technical school at Keesler, Michael works at Penney's and Kevin for 1st Bank. During that time Chris took a math class at PPCC and I had surgery. Fastforward to the current Thanksgiving and there are 3 people living in the house and the temps the next 3 days are going to be in the low 60's! Crazy.

Which brings us to football and this year's Iron Bowl. Again, what a difference a year makes!! This time last year we were sitting at 11-0 going into the Iron Bowl. Cam Newton and the tigers seemed unbeatable and we...were....loving it!! After 2009's heartbreaking loss at Jordan-Hare to Bama in.the.LAST.2 minutes, here we were sitting at an unbelievable 11-0 going into Bama territory for the Iron Bowl. The game started and we were, well, there really is only one word to describe it, "stunned"in the first half. Stunned. Bama showed up ready to play and it was obvious to everyone. But, things started to change in the 3rd quarter. Actually, it started really with one play in the 2nd quarter followed by an Auburn touchdown, but anyhoo, things changed. Boy did they change. Except this time, it was the Bama Nation that was stunned. The Cam Newton that we had known all season, that seemed to not be in attendance the 1st half, showed up big time in the 2nd half. And we DID IT! Auburn pulled it off and we won. Oh my gosh it was magical and one of the best Iron Bowls EVER! There we were 12-0 with the SEC Championship coming up. And so on and so on and we all know that Auburn won and thus went on to the National Title game and came out National Champs 2010. What a magical and wonderful season it was for us Auburn faithful.

Fast forward to the 2011 season and things are, well, a little different. People said Auburn would be lucky to win a game. The people that be put us ending the season at 5-7. Here we are the week of the Iron Bowl and we're sitting at 7-4. Considering what we lost with all the players leaving, I think that's a pretty darn good record. I am proud of my tigers! We have a really young team though, and some really great players on said young team. Auburn is poised to become a monster team again, and soon. No, this isn't our year, but we knew it when the season started. And man is the BCS in a weird way this year, but how cool is it that the top 3 teams in the nation are all SEC and not only SEC, but SEC West! With the way things are looking now, something beyond stupid weird would have to happen for the 2011 National Champs to NOT be an SEC team. Pretty cool if you ask me. :)

But back to this year and the 2011 Iron Bowl. I don't know what team will walk away with the W. The entire world seems to think it will be Bama, but looking back to last year, they did then, too. :) The Iron Bowl is the one game that no one seems to ever be able to correctly predict. We've seen so many upsets in that game. I do know that we are so fortunate to be Alabamians with two wonderful schools like Auburn and Alabama and two pretty awesome football teams. Both schools showed great humanity for lack of a better word with each other over the past several months. With the poisoning of Toomers Oaks to the devastating tornados in T-town. I think both the Auburn AND the Bama faithful showed the world that while on the field.....it's war baby, but off the field, we're all family. Family of the great state of Alabama! And with THAT said...........WAR EAGLE BABY! I hope we beat the poo outta Bama Saturday. =o)

Pancakes, beverages, and allergies......

Let me start with pancakes. While I DID have the pumpkin-pecan pancakes at Villiage Inn Saturday morning which were pretty tasty, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to make the ones I found the recipe for a couple weeks ago. With a tiny exception.....I used a different recipe. ;) I know, I know, I'm wacky like that sometimes. :) Therefore, and in honor of the delish ones I made this morning, I will post the recipe for the "new" pumpkin pancakes.

Pumpkin-cinnamon pancakes

Combine 5 T brown sugar(light or dark), 2 T melted butter, 3 T veggie oil, 1to1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin(it truly depends on your liking of pumpkin)until well mixed. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ginger(I, personally, used ground roasted ginger), 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda. Add 2 cups all purpose flour alternately with 1 1/2 cup whole milk. Make them however you normally do. I use a griddle usually, but this morning decided on my cast iron skillet. I made them a 1/4 cup big per pancake. I was in a bit of a hurry this time, so I only fried a few pieces of bacon to go with them and we just used regular Log Cabin syrup. As a side note on the recipe it states you can chop up about a 1/3 cup pecans and add to the batter before cooking. I didn't today, but plan to next time. Also it suggests using pure maple syrup, warmed, with chopped pecans which I also plan to use next time. But as they were this time, they were awesome! Really good recipe.

Now, on to beverages. Starbucks, I love you. I just, love you. I had never before yesterday tried their Caramel Brulee Latte. OHmygosh I fell in love with this drink! LOVED it. Next time I'll definitely get a double-tall instead of just one shot, but all in all it was awesome.

Now for you allergies........I.Do.Not.Like you. Why are you here? Perhaps you got confused and thought it was spring, but it isn't, it's November. You have half of Falcon, CO sneezing their heads off. Half of that half have itchy, watery eyes. I'm lucky enough to have both. Both. AND congestion. It's crazy weird, seriously. No one seems to know why we're suffering. The sneezing fits are bad enough but the whole "my nose feels like it weighs 500 pounds deal" needs to GO. K? K!!

Happy Turkey Day since I don't intend on blogging until after the holiday.

Don't say it....

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that these pancakes might possibly never be made by me. I really want to try them, but time doesn't seem to be allowing me to make them. I promised myself I am going to, but it might not be until after Thanksgiving. So, my dear internet lovlies, I will share the recipe and perhaps you can try them. If nothing else, I have a second copy of it on here. =)

CINNAMON-PECAN-PUMPKIN PANCAKES:

Ingredients2 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1 cup pumpkin purée* 4 large eggs 1-1/2 cups low fat milk 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 cup chopped pecans--------------------------------------------------------------------------------InstructionsPlace the flour in a large bowl. Crumble the brown sugar and distribute over flour. Add baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. Stir to blend with a whisk. Preheat the Cuisinart™ Griddler™ in the open griddle position to 350°F. Place the pumpkin, eggs, and milk in a medium bowl. Stir with a whisk to blend. Add to the dry mixture and stir. Stir in the melted butter and pecans. When the Griddler™ is hot (indicator light will go off) drop the batter onto the Griddler using a scant quarter cup measure. Bake the pancakes for 3 to 4 minutes, when pancakes are bubbling on the top, turn and bake for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes are best served hot. Pancakes can be kept warm by placing them on a rack on a baking sheet in a slow (175-200°F) oven while baking the remainder. Serve with warm syrup and butter as desired.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Servings Makes eighteen 4-inch pancakes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nutritional Information Per Serving calories 136 (38% from fat) · carb 17g · protein 4g · fat 6g · sat fat 1g · chol 49mg · sod 242mg · calc 47mg · fiber 1g Back to Top

Please, if anyone makes them, feel free to let me know if they're good. :) For now, maybe I'll just try talking Kevin into taking me to Village Inn tomorrow morning for some of theirs. :) For now, have a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving! And to all you Bama loving fans out there..........WAR EAGLE BABY! =)

Pancakes, football, life.

Well, I'm afraid I do not have a recipe this week. I'm not sure exactly WHY, I just don't. I do have a recipe for cinnamin-pecan pancakes that I definitely want to try and looking at that, it is one of those words that I never seem to spell right. Is it min or is it cinniman? How the heck is the word spelled people?!? Anyhoo, after trying the pumpkin-pecan pancakes at Village Inn yesterday for brunch, I am more than a bit curious to perhaps add a can of solid pack pumpkin to the cinn. pecan recipe I have. I'm thinking maybe I'll actually get around to making them this next Saturday morning. We'll see.....we'll see. ;) I'll definitely post on it if I do.

This was a really nice weekend for us. It was nice having everyone feeling better after the "sore throat/fever/cough deal" that came through the house and decided to stay for two weeks. We slept until we woke up both days which is so nice. Having an alarm go off at 4:00 every morning during the week is NOT fun folks. We lounged over coffee, watched some College Gameday on ESPN and went to Village Inn for brunch. We did some shopping at Lowes and made a quick stop for some Starbucks and spent the rest of the day watching football. Auburn decided to not show up for their game, but GA did and Oregon sure did in their game. Yeah, we watched the ducks play. :) We ended up having Wendy's last night. Long story, and it wasn't the plan, but sometimes life happens. Today we had coffee again and went to church. We usually go to the early service but we went to the late one this morning. After some quite tasty turkey and ham sammies, we went to the playground at the elementary school. It was very windy and chilly, but Jason had a great time and fresh air never hurt anyone. :) Tonight we're going to settle down and watch some more football and try to savor the last bit of weekend.

We have this week and then Monday and Tuesday next week of school before breaking for Thanksgiving. Kevin has a 4-day weekend, we get a 5-day one. I'll have to ask him if his boss is going to be rooting for us in the Iron Bowl. He's an LSU fan through and through. Went to college there and lived there for a while. He doesn't care much for Auburn or Bama but I think he dislikes Bama more. :)

That's it for this week. Here's hoping I get around to making those pancakes and posting that next week. ;)

Heart stuff, icky sore throats and football!

So, this past Thursday was my appointment with Dr. Lee, at Pikes Peak Cardiology. This place takes up the ENtire 7th floor of Memorial Hospital. The front desk lady helping me wasn't the "most" friendly, but everyone else including Dr. Lee, I really liked a lot. I mostly just talked with his nurse and then with him and they both listened and could "hear" what they thought they would. Dr. Lee says, "you have a very crisp sounding mitral valve", which is what he expected to hear. I left with an entire day of testing scheduled for November 29th. I will not go back to see him until December 13th. We picked up something from our eye doctor Kevin had ordered and then had a very late lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Friday evening I began to have a scratchy throat. BUMmer. I took some medicine and went to bed. Saturday was the day we had tickets to the AF/Army game at the Academy. I woke up with a sore throat and cough and low grade, 99.6, temp. Yay?!? I took some Motrin and we got ready and all headed out. Michael went with us and we had a good time. It was cold and cloudy and windy all day. Right after arriving(thank goodness we were under a tent at the time)it started to POUR rain and was 38. At this time of course, I am thinking, "yeah, I just don't think we're gonna stay". It stopped however, and we did stay for the 1st half. Air Force was losing when we decided to leave, but we actually left because I wasn't feeling well at all. Air Force came away with the win!! Go AF!! It is always fun to be there and Jason LOVES the flyby. This game all 4 planes went over at the same time. Last time one came by and then 3. They. Are. LOUD!! My ears were a wee bit clogged from whatever it is I have and driving up on the Academy with said clogg-i-ness, so it wasn't AS loud for me. :)

2nd one in a week? =)

Somehow I felt compelled to share this. Perhaps because we're having it tonight and it smells so good baking away!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Mix 2 lbs lean ground beef(I use 96% lean), with a small chopped onion, 1/2 TBS chopped garlic, 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar(can use light or dark, I have both but my light was already open), 1/2-3/4 cup ketchup, 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup milk(I used 1%), 1/4 cup beef stock, 1 TBS red wine, 2 eggs, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp roasted ground ginger, and about a half cup dry bread crumbs, 1/4 tsp herbs de provence, 1/4 tsp ground mustard. Mix well and put into dish/pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Bake 1 hour at 350. Mix together 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 TBS liquid smoke, 1 tsp garlic, and a little beef stock. Brush evenly over meatloaf and continue baking for 5-10 minutes. That's it!

Smells AMAZING while it's cooking. We're having cheese grits and green beans with it. YUM! And here is a small clip from earlier today. :)

A little Halloween from our house

We did school in the morning yesterday which is not the norm for us as we usually do it after lunch. We spent the afternoon making cupcakes and punch and a couple other Halloween-y things for dinner. We had a good time. We also put out fake spider webs around our front door and put in a black light. Here then, is a bit of our evening.

Here in COland

This past week seemed to be long as well as busy for us. We have those weeks from time to time. We did a Halloween themed week in school of course, much to Jason's liking. The boy LOVES him some Halloween. Everyone seemed to be under the weather as well which thinking about it, might have played into the week seeming so long.

Friday night we attended "Trunk or Treat" at our church. Great experience and awesome turn out of people. It was a lot of fun, albeit VERY cold. Jason dressed as Mario since it was asked for costumes to be nothing that would scare the younger kiddos. Jason had a good time. We all got Starbucks afterward which was oh so GOOD!

Saturday was sort of errand day for us. Grocery shopping, getting gas in the cars, dropping off Kevin's/Daddy's clothes at the dry cleaners. We had some pretty yummy pizza for lunch and then spent the afternoon watching some SEC football. The GA/FL game to be exact. We started watching the Auburn game but had to stop and record the rest. Last night was "Treat Street" at the high school which we go to every year. The entrance fee is canned goods for the local food bank. Worthy cause and they really do a fantastic job. Michael and Nathan drove out and went with us. Jason did Mario again. Michael wore a sock monkey something. Zombie? I forget. It was fun. We all went to the local Mexican place after for dinner. It is ALways good food. ALWAYS! Came home and finished watching the Auburn game which was AWESOME!!!!!

Today we went to church, of course which was also awesome. Had lunch at Village Inn which was really good food, as it usually is. We came home and rested a bit then carved the two pumpkins and put all the raked leaves in bags. Pot roast has been simmering all day in the crockpot and smells SO good.

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween and a great first week of November!

Yes, you would be correct, I still love my crockpot!

So, while I was sitting here this morning going through email and reading a couple blogs, with my coffee, of course =), it hit me. OH no. Dinner. That evil thing at the end of the day that can and DOES creep up on a busy wife and mom. Today was the day I was taking Michael to get his cast off and it was right smack in the middle of the day so I knew school would not take place until after we were home. I also knew I had to stop by Safeway to pick up my prescription refill which was ready, and also milk. I declare I spend a good portion of my life buying milk. Anyway, dinner was starting to look like a definite fast food kinda night. I didn't want that because we did that twice this weekend. Long story, but we did. Then it hit me....BAM! Well helllllo crockpot, how you doin? :) I had all the ingredients for beef stew. This I thought, could easily all be thrown in and cook all day. Good idea, until I realized there was NO beef in the freezer. What to do, what to do. I quickly realized I had tons of frozen boneless/skinless chicken breast and I also had broth and such. So, we had chicken stew instead. YUM. Yummy yum. So easy, so good, smells amazing:

Chicken Stew

Coat the pot of the crockpot with cooking spray. Defrost chicken in microwave(unless you just have some in the fridge to be cooked)and cut into fairly nice size chunks. Throw them in the pot a long with celery(I used 4 stalks), onion(I used a whole one)carrots(I just happened to have a bag of precut so I used that)and potatoes. I had little potatoes so I used them. I chopped everything into about the same size as the chicken. I poured one jar of chicken gravy, and a carton of veggie stock. I also used some of the stock to pour into the gravy jar to loosen up what was still in the jar and also added 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and 2 tsp garlic powder to the jar and used the jar with the stock to mix the spices. I then poured that into the pot and put the lid on. It can cook at low for ten hours or high for about 6. SO good. So, so good.

I love my crockpot!

It's no secret, my crockpot is without a doubt, one of my best friends. I can't imagine a kitchen that doesn't have one. Oh the joys that kitchen is missing! Having had a rather busy week, and finding out I'm seeing a cardiologist on top of Jason having a couple issues with some girls at the end of our street(I had a post on my wall already about it)AND him not feeling well Friday or yesterday, I opted to plug in my always helpful and eager crockpot last night. I found a, now get this, "BREAKFAST" that can be made overnight in ones crockpot. GENIOUS! I had done it once before, this past Christmas. I put everything in before we went to bed and then Christmas morning breakfast was ready! WIN! I found a similar version and threw everything in last night for this morning. Sunday mornings are, without fail, hectic for us. We enjoy attending the early service each week which starts at 9:00. Breakfast is always hurried. I think however, I've found the answer with my crockpot. The recipe can be varied so it isn't always the same, and as long as you remember to have the coffee ready to go as well, you're good to go! Jason isn't feeling wonderful this morning. Better, but not great, so it looks like we'll be hanging around home. He doesn't have any real symptoms, just doesn't feel good and has had a mild fever.

This week will consist of Michael getting his cast off and we sure hope everything healed and he won't require the surgery to put in the metal plate. Friday evening is "trunk or treat" at church and we're looking forward to that. We have a few things up out front. A not so scary spider and ghost. :) And our two scarecrows which aren't very scary, either. I am not much the Halloween person, but I do enjoy seeing what costumes the little kiddies have on.

Now, here is the overnight breakfast crockpot dish:

So simple, spray the crock's pot :o), dump in a bag of frozen hash browns(NOT the shredded kind), a large bag of shredded colby/jack cheese, a can of cream of mushroom soup and mix it all fairly good. Layer enough cooked bacon over the top and pour a dozen(beaten)eggs over it. That's it. Put the crockpot on low and it cooks for 10 hours. For variation, you could use ham, or no meat at all I guess. You could use different cheeses and soups. Kinda need the eggs, so no variation there. The house smells AMAZING all night and upon waking. YUM! Add coffee brewing to that and OH MY!!

Enjoy!!!!

Another week came and went......

Sitting here looking at my desktop calendar, I truly am amazed that it is already October 17! Wow! It seems like it should be June or something. I usually have to pay close attention to this time of year. For me, it somehow manages to jump from Halloween to Thanksgiving Day without my knowledge each and every single year! Don't know how it happens, but it does.

We had a short week of school last week. Kevin took Thursday off for an eye appt. and therefore Jason and I doubled up on school Wednesday so we could take the day off, too. We had a really good day. Brunch at Village Inn, a nice visit with friends at Barnes & Noble and dinner at TX Roadhouse with Michael. We all stopped in World Market as well before heading home. I'll be going with Michael on the 24th to have his cast taken off. We're sure hoping he has healed and won't need surgery.

With it being Monday and all, and well, I just love my crockpot, I have dinner already going. It'll either be beef stew(if I cut up the roast when it's all done)or pot roast. I have carrots and little potatoes in with it. Either way the house is gonna smell good.

This week we're mostly doing our unit study for school and I have an appt. finally, with my doctor to discuss ole flappy. I sure hope he can change my current medicines or give me a new one or two or whatever. I stay determined to NOT let it keep me from life. Life is too precious and short to let something keep you from enjoying it!

Have a great week!

Fall in CO. You gotta love it!

We have lived in CO for a total of 14yrs, if you count our time here back in the '90's when Kevin was in the AF and yet somehow, every, single, year it amazes us both in fall and then again in spring. What amazes us you ask? The WEATHER! We know for instance that through late April(and into May isn't unheard of)there is always that chance of really cold weather and snow. Fast forward through summer and we know that every year it can be hot(we had on short sleeves and shorts October 30th, 2010, it got to 78 that day)and then we are teased with cool air and snow before the month of October is over. We had an unusually hot summer here followed by some unusually cool weather the beginning of September. And you guessed it, then we were treated to above average temps and record low moisture. This past week we were hovering around 80 most days and then.............BAM! Saturday we woke up to snow and 30 degrees! We didn't mind at all. Jason was totally excited and there is just something about the first snowfall of the season! It's never a big snow or anything, but it is exciting every single year!

We stayed inside and had a pretty quiet, yet fabulous Saturday! Sometimes it is just nice to keep your jammies on and snuggle with your man and your 9yr old while watching football! Not that Jason was still long enough for him to have really snuggled, but. I tried a new chili recipe that simmered all day in the crockpot and also a pumpkin pie spiced buttermilk pound cake. Both were "ok" but nothing terribly special.

Sunday we were up with our alarm yelling at us and got ready for church, had breakfast and headed to church. Our church does 4 identical services over the weekend. Saturday evening at six(but helllll0, this time of year that is prime football watchin time), then one at 9:00 Sunday morning and again at 11:15 and again Sunday evening at six. We have gotten in a habit for lack of a better term, of going to the 9:00 Sunday service. Jason absolutely loves the 4th grade classroom this year at church. We stopped by Walmart on our way home and Kevin purchased one of those thingies that converts old vhs tapes into dvd's is it? We have SO many old vhs home movies that needed to be converted. We spent Sunday afternoon doing just that. We converted 3 or 4 movies. You watch them on your tv as they're being copied over. We did 2 tapes from England. One when Chris was 2 and one when he was 3 and Michael was born. We did one from '93 after we'd moved here when Kevin was stationed here and then we did the tape Gari & Eric had gotten put onto vhs from old video of them and the kids when they were young. I always LOVE watching Kevin when he was a baby. We used to watch this every Christmas Eve, but afdter our old vhs player died, we haven't watched it in several years. It'll be nice doing that again this year.

And now, I will leave the blogosphere with the chili recipe, someone out there might make it and think it is better than just "ok"!

Gameday Chili:

brown 1lb lean gr. beef(I use 96%) with one small or half a med size yellow onion until "most" of the pink is gone. Spray the cooking pot of the crockpot with cooking spray and add beef/onion mixture. In a bowl combine one can petite diced tomatoes(I used something new I found from Hunts, I think, that is especially for chili), 2 cans tomato sauce, and 1 jar of beef gravy. I think that is what intrigued me to try this. You can add a can or 2 of kidney beans or chili beans if you want, I didnt'. Then add 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2-1 tsp Mexican chili powder and 2-3 tsp regular chili powder and up to a half cup water. Mix it all well in the pot and cover and cook on low up to 10 hours.

Monday's and stuff

It is Monday, at least at our house it is and my calendar says it is, and it certainly feels like Monday.

Our weekend was not the weekend we thought it would be, but sometimes you gotta just go with the flow. Friday was a decent school day thankfully(not that we've had a lot of bad ones). We ended up with Culver's for dinner. Wasn't planned, just happened. One of the "go with it" moments of our weekend! Saturday morning we knew we had things that needed to be done. The men got haircuts and picked up dry cleaning(I never made it Friday to pick it up), and I went grocery shopping. I.Do.Not.Like.Walmart.On.Saturday. People seem to lose their sense of EVERYthing on Saturday. I went about my shopping anyway and about half way through on the baking isle, BOOM! A familiar sharp/stabbing pain around my heart. I was NOT amused! For those of you wondering, "what the heck", I have "Mitral Valve Prolapse". I do not like it. I do not want it. But, I have it. Lots of family members seem to have it in my family. It has something or other to do with a flap that does or doesn't do something it should or should not do. I don't know. It at times, causes your heart to skip beats. Mine at times causes it to race, and then there are the times where it hurts. And let me tell you, when it hurts, it HURTS. It stops you in your tracks. It hurts to breathe. But, anyway, it passed and I finished up the shopping with help from Kevin and Jason who came after their errands were done. We then were treated to a fantastic ballgame on CBS. That's right. Auburn was on and beat South Carolina. That's right. Awesome game.

Sunday morning found me awake by 6:00 because the stupid heart flap thing, caught, or does whatever it is that it does and sharp pain woke me up. I was again, NOT amused. We went to church and came home after stopping at Walmart. Again with the Walmart? Really? We did see Jason's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Brooks there with her son Sam. We talked for quite a while with her and then got the stuff we needed and came home. I tried to rest, but ole flappy would have none of that!

I did manage to make meatloaf for dinner last night and then tried resting, again. Turned out that flappy did NOT care for me being on my left side. After fighting with it forEVER I ended up with insomnia. I mean, really? Seriously?

Today is going to be a very easy school day and Jason has his yearly well child checkup with his doctor. That is about all I believe I care to do today. And here's hoping flappy stops it soon(it always does, sometimes after a day, sometimes takes a week).

tis the season, already?

While we are just beginning to put out some fall decorations around and about our house, we have noticed a trend among stores we've visited recently as well as mail we're finding in our mailbox. The stores are starting to be all aglow with Christmas! Trees on display. Trees all lit up on display. It. Is. Only. September. Come on people! I like the holiday season just as much as the next person, but let me make myself a bit clearer, "Not. In. September." I admit, I'm definitely into the fall/harvest/Halloween frame of mind, at least sort of. But it is almost October and we've already had the first day of fall. I'm starting to also receive things in the mail. Swiss Colony. Personal Creations. On and on and and all Christmas related. I love Christmas and the entire holiday season and it is by far my favorite time of year, but I don't want it in my face everywhere I look, starting in September! I actually like Thanksgiving and want to have that day, first. Then starting on Black Friday(Iron Bowl Day) I am ALL over Christmas stuff. The tree goes up, the decorations go up, the music comes on, and I love me some Christmas music. I just want to enjoy fall a little bit, and Halloween with all the little kiddies dressed up and of course there is always that tiny sense of spooky that time of year. And I want to enjoy Thanksgiving and all that it brings. So, albeit, as stated above, while it IS my favorite time of year and I love, love, love it, I don't want it starting in September!

Here it is ONLY Thursday, yet I am posting. I am sharing two recipes, neither of which have I tried nor do I have ANY nutrional info. Sorry....

Chocolate-pumpkin brownies:

For those at a high altitude like myself, don't preheat the oven, but rather turn it on as you put the brownies in to bake. Those below 2500ish ft or below, preheat your oven to 325. If your up high like me, you'll bake at 350. I know, it's weird, but it is what it is.

Now onto the putting together of ingredients: 1st cook 2T butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2T water in a saucepan over med heat until it boils. Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips(I like dark, you can use any you like)until well mixed and melted into the butter mixture. Add 2 large eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp baking soda below 2500ft, 1/8 if above, and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well. Add 2/3 cup flour(add 4T above 25000ft) and mix well. Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of cloves with 1/3 cup solid pack pumpkin. Mix well. Pour into greased 8x8 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes at the above mentioned temp.



Crispy-creamy-garlic oved baked chicken:

Preheat oven to 400. Pour packet of Shake & Bake extra crispy in a shallow dish. Take 4 boneless/skinless chicken breast and dip in egg and into Shake & Bake. Coat a baking dish with nonstick spray and add chicken. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until almost done. Take from oven and add 2/3 cup cream of celery soup, 1/4 cup milk mixed together, and pour over chicken. Bake another 10 minutes or so and take fromoven. Sprinkle 1 cup Kraft 3-cheese with Philly over top and bake an additional 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

Hello facebook/blogworld/internet peeps!

I have decided that a good bagel and a hot cup of coffee is a FANtastic way to start
a person's Monday, and therefore their week! Thank you Starbucks House Blend and our new perculator for the coffee! I forget which brand bagel at the moment, but to the person/people/whomever that make them, thank you, too!

We had a very quiet weekend around our CO home this weekend. Very quiet indeed. In fact, Saturday I don't recall us even leaving our house! Except for Jason, he played outside with the neighborhood kids all day. Me and my man stayed on the couch most of the day watching football. As I am sure you all know by now, Auburn's winning came to and end Saturday as they fell to the Clemson Tigers. Kudos to Clemson, you guys played a good game! As for our beloved Auburn Tigers, we're still proud of you and continue to see greatness in your future. Special teams, YOU ROCK! Trotter, you're an okay quarterback with a fairly good arm. Offense, you've got potential. Deffense, well, when you decide to play, you're pretty darn good. Problem is, you don't always decide to play! We hope for a decent season and to beat Bama of course. You can do it. We believe in you, War Eagle!

Sunday found us sleeping in really late. REALLY late for us. But, we had an incident Saturday evening when Kevin came to bed. I wasn't feeling well and was already groggy from medicine and went to bed fairly early. I was sleeping when I awoke to our bed falling. That's right. Kevin got into bed and BAM! I jump up. He jumps up. We both stand staring at his side of the bed where it happened. It's a rather long story to describe our giant bed and how it sits, but some of the wood had come apart causing other planks that hold the mattress/box spring, to fall. He thinks he fixed it, and proceeds to get back into bed at which time BAM! again. He jumps up a second time and does various things and assures me it's safe. Um, yeah, honey, are we looking at. The. Same. Bed? I think NOT! So I start turning on all the lights I could find and went about collecting any and everything I could find to which he responds, "what the heck are you doing?" Trying so fix the bed I exclaim. I. Don't. Trust. It! I took quilts and luggage, you name it and started putting it under all the wood in places where it "might" still fall. Once I was happy with my fixing, I happily turned off the lights, got into bed, and went to sleep. Anyhoo, this was all pretty late and messed me up for sure with sleep and I don't know what happened to him. When we woke up it was basically lunch time and half a day GONE. Since obviously breakfast, lunch, and dinner weren't going to happen, not to mention church, we opted for cinnamon rolls. We did salvage the day by running to Staples later in the day for things needed for homeschool. And we got to see and visit with Michael for a little while, so all in all with that and watching football again Sunday afternoon, I "guess" it wasn't such a bad day after all! :)

And speaking of church, it has grown so much they've added a 4th weekend service! For those of you not knowing, it isn't a traditional church as in the ones in the south we're all used to. There is no Sunday School persay. They do a Saturday evening service and were doing two Sunday morning ones, all the exact same service. Their hope is that with different times, people can make it to one. They've now added a 3rd Sunday service, in the evening, 4th total of the weekend. :)

This week is going to find us apple getting/picking and making an apple pie on Wednesday for a school project. How cool, huh? :) Can't wait! Saturday we're heading down to Ft. Carson to a huge air show. Jason has never been to one so he is really excited!

And that folks concludes this week's blog. No recipe. Didn't have time to come up with one I wanted to share this week.

Have a great week everyone!

OH my. 2 posts in 1 day? What am I thinking? :)

I was reading something that caught my eye. I know, I know, "me" reading something and all....but yes, I was, and it did, so I'm putting it down here, more so my words and the jist of the article, but you know, whatever, it's still pretty much the same. =) And yes, I know everyone out there isn't a homeschool mom like me, but still.


Staying stress free as a homeschool teacher, mom, and wife and still being me:


1) Is it actually even possible?
2) Yes, it is quite possible if you know how
3) First of all, make a weekly schedule of not only the week's lesson plans, but
the week's menu! That's right. Even if it's only a rough draft of what you might
want to cook. It is so much easier if you know ahead of time what you're
doing.
4) Don't try to be SUPER mom/wife/etc, you aren't and you can't be!
5) Listen to number 4. Regardless of what you think, no, you truly cannot "have
it all", at least if you want to stay sane. Not without having priorities.
6) Always take time for yourself. Always. Doesn't have to half a day. Doesn't
even HAVE to be each day. But do yourself and your family/friends a favor
and take "some" time.
7) Excercise......excercise......excercise. It's important. Do it. One need not run
marathons to accomplish such. 20-30 minutes a day. That simple. Do it.
8) Take time for you kids. Regardless of how many you have. If they're young
and in your house, give them your time. They crave it. Give it.
9) Have some sort of law and order in your home. Kids need boundaries. They
need rules. They need some form of disipline. They need it, it's your job to
give it.
10) A weekly family night is awesome. Give it a try. It could be movie night. It
could be game night, roller skating night, bowling, whatever. Try not to
always do the same thing. Shake it up a bit. Bordom can equal stress!
11) Always have time for your husband, and being husband and wife. There IS
no excuse. Do it. You both deserve time to be a couple. A montly date night
can do wonders for you both. And it doesn't always have to be dinner and a
movie. Something as simple as an hour at a coffee house, or walk around
downtown. Plus, your kids need to see that they're in a loving family with
parents that love each other.
12) Take time for your friends. Friends are so, so important. You need them.
even if you don't live near your closet ones, there is a such thing as a phone,
or online chat!

And this concludes the list. I am very sure there are other ways of staying calm. The article didn't list them all and I couldn't think of any other, but if you can, by all means, use them.

Now, go have a stress free life!! =)

New recipe and our weekend

Here it is already September 12th. What!!? We're already having autumn weather out in CO and it sure is nice after the super hot summer we've had! Loving these days of being able to open windows and let in fresh air. Fall really is my favorite time of year. All our leaves change to vibrant gold/yellow, red and orange. Then the sound of crunching leaves when you're out walking. Cold nights and warm days. It's just perfect! All this AND we'll get our first snowfall of the season during these months.

As you probably are aware, we had plans to spend a big weekend in Denver over the weekend. We did spend the weekend, but it certainly didn't play out the way we had intended. We learned that sometimes, it's more fun and relaxing when things "don't" work out as planned and you just go with it! We ate brunch at Village Inn before we left. Watched a bit of the Auburn game before left. Had a great drive up to Denver. Enjoyed the acquarium, the food wasn't all that wonderful, but the table by the 30gallon tank was nice. Mostly the same fish swam by but a shark did come by once and a stingray. Our hotel was downtown which was cool. An old hotel but very well kept and nice. Not a chain for sure. Our balcony was nice. We were on the 10th floor overlooking some of Denver. A bar&grill/pub kinda place was outside our room/balcony and it was sorta fun listening to the people laugh and talk. The sounds of downtown were really cool. We saw all sorts of people, from homeless sleeping, to a homeless man going through a dumpster, to a woman running and a couple out walking their dog. Everyone seemed oblivious to anyone else and went about their merry way. Very nice weekend overall and we'd go back to the Burnsley. The breakfast was amazing!

Now on with this new recipe I have. Haven't tried this one and have no nutrional infor for it but it sounds good and I am going to try it.

Sweet Potato Sheperd's Pie:

Serves 4:

Scrub and pierce 2 large sweet potatoes and microwave on a safe plate for 10-20 minutes. You want them tender but not overcooked, so keep an eye on them. While they're cooking, cook 1lb 96% lean gr beef(or gr turkey) with 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Add 1 can whole kernel corn and 1 cup tomato sauce with about 1/4 tsp each gr cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Place in a 2-qt baking dish coated with cooking spray. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out pulp into a bowl and mash with 2-3 T butter, 2-3 T milk or cream and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Spread evenly over meat mixture and bake, uncovered for 30 minutes at 350. Enjoy!

Chilly weather and hot soup

This week's recipe= cream of pumpkin-curry soup with the weather being so chilly outside.

Melt 2 T butter(use real butter for this, margarine doesn't work well)over medium heat. Grate 1/4 cup of onion(I prefer a sweet onion, but whatever you like)into melted butter and stir in 1/2 tsp salt, pinch of black pepper and 2-3 tsp curry powder. I actually usually use 4-5 because we like it, and a pinch to a tsp of something hot, such as red pepper flakes, tabasco sauce, or some sort of ground hot pepper. I usually only do a pinch to a 1/4 tsp, but I know there are some people that really like hot stuff. Actually, hot curry powder works nicely for the hot addition. Mix in 1 can solid pumpkin(NOT pumpkin pie mix)until well mixed and smooth. Add 2 1/2 cups chicken stock(you can use broth, but if you have either some leftover stock from doing something with chicken, or have boxed stock in your grocery store, USE IT, it absolutely makes a difference) and mix well. Add 2 cups 1/2 & 1/2 and mix well. You can use nonfat 1/2 & 1/2, it works well. You could also vary the milk. Using different measurements of nonfat milk, 1%, even whole. I use 1 cup nonfat 1/2 & 1/2 and one cup 1% milk in ours. Simmer for up to 30 minutes and serve.

I don't have any nutrional info for this soup.