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.