Shirla's Life

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-15T16:15:00.006-04:00

Jordyn Easter Sunday

2009-04-14T12:47:00.002-04:00

Here is a pic of Jordyn after the Easter egg hunt, she won the prize for the youngest hunter:

Checking In

2009-04-13T16:15:00.003-04:00

I have been such a bad blogger! I have been neglecting my blog. :'( I'll try to get back into it!

We had a great Easter. We went to my sisters. She said she counted and there were over 80 people there! I got to see a lot of family members that I hadn't seen since LAST Easter! I have pics and will try to get them posted here sometimes this week. There was so much food there yesterday. Everyone brought a dish or too. I took macaroni salad, seafood salad, deviled eggs and PMS brownies. We did a BIG egg hunt for the kids. They all had a blast. It was a wonderful day!

For dinner tonight I have a whole chicken in the oven baking, My house sure smells good now! I'll be making a side dish of some sort. I'm not sure what all I have in the pantry, a veggie and some biscuits.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T18:33:00.003-04:00

I hope everyone has been having a grand ole' St. Patty's Day today. :) It's been a while since I updated my blog. Nothing exciting to report. It's been raining here since last Friday. I think tomorrow the sun is supposed to shine, that will be a welcome sight, I'm really tired of the dark rainy days!

My birthday was Monday. I had a nice day lazy day. ;) Keith was going to take me out to dinner, but I didn't feel like going out in the rain, so he and the boys fixed themselves sandwiches and noodles and I made myself a tuna sandwich. Keith bought me a birthday cake from my favorite bakery, Ukrop's http://www.ukrops.com/ which is really a locally owned grocery store and they make the best birthday cakes! :)

To save a little household money we decided to cancel our land line. We all have cell phones. We will still have our DSL through our land line company. Has anyone done away with their land line and gone to just having a cell? We hardly ever used the land line phone, I guess I got most of the calls on it and used it the most, but it was more out of habit then anything else.

Dinner here tonight was marinated boneless chicken breast, Amish noodles and corn. I should have fixed green beans so we had something green, but I was really wanting corn, so corn it was! lol I have cabbage here, but I just wasn't in the mood for it.

All My Beautiful Snow...

2009-03-07T22:43:00.003-05:00

All of my beautiful snow has melted away! :'( Today the temps were in the upper 70's and tomorrow they are supposed to be the same. Don't get me wrong today was nice, but I rather have the cold weather. One plus is we get to change our clocks tonight and it will stay lighter longer, I do like that!

I had to run some errands today and decided not to go grocery shopping, I'll do that tomorrow.
I went to Walgreen's today and I paid with a $100.00 bill, when the cashier gave me my change back it wasn't enough change, I told her that I had paid with a $100.00 bill and she started arguing with me that I had paid with a $50.00 bill, I didn't even have a $50.00 bill in my wallet only $100.00's and $20.00's. She finally called the manager up there and the manager opened the drawer and there was my $100.00 bill on top of all the other big bills. She told the cashier to give me the correct change and as she walked away she was rolling her eyes at the cashier and shaking her head. If I hadn't been paying attention I would have never noticed that she didn't give me the correct change until I got home.

Keith wanted a hamburger and fries from fiveguys so that is what we had for dinner. I do love their fries!

Snow Pictures

2009-03-02T18:40:00.004-05:00

My son Matt:

Keith and Matt:

Eric:

Eric:My inlaws pond: In Front Of My House:

Matt Coming Out Of Fas-Mart:

I'm Snowed In And Loving It! :)

2009-03-02T08:04:00.003-05:00

We got snow over night! I think I heard the local weather guy say we have about 5 and a half inches so far. My husband and my two son's didn't have to go to work today. All the schools are closed and a Richmond, VA is pretty much shut down. It started Sunday while I was out grocery shopping. When I left the house it was pouring rain, by the time I left the last grocery store the roads were covered with snow! There are over 66 thousand people in Richmond, VA without power. Our lights blinked a few times last night and actually stayed out for about 5 minutes but they came back on and have stayed on. Normally my area is the first to loose power and the act to get it back. We have been getting heavy snow and heavy wind all night and it's still real windy and the snow is still falling.

My plan for the day is to make a big pot of taco soup for dinner and I hope to make some kind of dessert and I might even pull out my bread machine. I love baking when its snowing. :)

Here are some pics that I took last night and this morning:

The front of my house:

My back yard:

Jordyn Pic's And Stuff

2009-02-16T16:15:00.004-05:00

I finally have a few pics of Jordyn! Here she is seconds after she was born:

Here she is again:

I still haven't seen her yet. :( I'm still coughing and I don't want to go see her while I'm still coughing so bad. I talk to April on the phone and they are both doing great. I cant wait until I can hold her and smell her. :)

I had Wesley and Carter here today, they were out of school for President's day. They didn't get here until after 12:00pm. They spend the night with their Dad and he is working nights and doesn't have to go into work early in the mornings like before. Tina hasn't picked them up yet, she has a flat tire and is waiting to get it changed.

Dinner tonight will be what I didn't make last night. Hamburgers, baked beans and fries. Keith and I took Matt to Sam's Club so he could look at TV's. He ended up buying a 37 inch Vizio flat screen. After we got home then I went to the grocery store, it was late when I got back so Keith said to save the hamburgers for tonight. I ended up cooking frozen pizzas for dinner last night.

Valentine's Day Keith took me out to dinner, we went to Cracker Barrel. We both had steak. It was surprisingly very good! I also had a salad, mac and cheese and hashbrown casserole. I LOVE that casserole! After dinner we went over to Sam's Club because Keith changed our membership to business and we had to get new pics and cards, then we walked around the store for a bit looking at stuff. We didn't buy anything.

She's Here!

2009-02-10T17:42:00.002-05:00

Jordyn Piper was born at 2:00pm today by C-section. She weighs 7 pounds 9 oz. and April said she looks just like her big sister Alyssa did when she was born. Both mom and baby are doing great! Pics coming soon.

I'm Going To Be A New Mawaw Again Today!

2009-02-10T08:45:00.004-05:00

My daughter April went into the hospital this morning to be induced. Sometime today I will have a new granddaughter! :) They have already picked out her name, Jordyn Piper.

Here is both of my daughters, Tina and April

(I couldnt find a new pic of April alone, April is the one on the right)

Since being sick I haven't been cooking, we've been living off chicken noodle soup and liquid's. I hope to attempt to cook dinner tonight. I'm not sure what all I have to pick from, but I know there is food in the freezer and the pantry. lol

A Little Update

2009-02-08T23:52:00.001-05:00

The flu or something has hit my house hard! I'll try to update when we all get to feeling better. I miss you all and hope everyone is healthy.

Tuesday Night Snow Showers

2009-02-03T23:52:00.005-05:00

I'm not sure you will be able to see the snow falling to well in these pics, but we had some snow showers tonight and I took pics. lol

We went to have our taxes done this evening and my son Matt filed taxes for the very first time, I took a pic of that too. lol

After we left the tax place we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. We hadn't been to one in years and it was really good. It started snowing on the way home. I guess it snowed for a good hour then it just STOPPED! :'(

Snow!

2009-01-26T10:53:00.003-05:00

It's SNOWING here! :) My son Eric called to tell me it was snowing where is was and for me to look out of the window to see if it was snowing at home and it was! :) I have Carter and Wesley here with me today because they have the day off because it is a teachers workshop day. Dinner tonight will be ravioli lasagna and garlic bread.

Toothless Tuesday

2009-01-20T17:58:00.003-05:00

My grandson Carter lost another tooth over the holiday's and I am just getting around to posting his toothless smile. :) He wanted me to tell you all that the tooth fairy left him $1.00 for his lost tooth. He lost the other one a while back and also got $1.00 from the tooth fairy for that tooth. Here is a pic of him and also a pic with Carter and Tina and after that I took a pic of the cinnamon buns that I made last week and a new pic of Emma after her bath the other night.

Dinner tonight was hamburger goulash and crackers. It turned out really good and hit the spot on a cold winter evening. The local weather guy was calling for us to get some snow today, but I never saw a flake all day! :(

Carter:

Carter and Tina:
Cinnamon's Buns:
Emma:

Inauguration Day January 20, 2009

2009-01-20T12:02:00.000-05:00

Monday's DUH/OOOPS Moment For Me

2009-01-19T23:52:00.002-05:00

Keith asked me to make a homemade chicken pot pie this week. So today was the day. I got it all mixed up and into the oven. Keith gets home just in time for it to come out of the oven. We all sit down to eat and as we are eating Emma is sitting patiently beside Keith's chair waiting for a small piece of chicken. Keith starts looking around on his plate for a piece of chicken to give Emma when it hit me..................

I forgot to add the chicken to the pot pie! OOPS! lol In my defense I did have all three grandchildren here with me all day, so it was a very busy day here today and the people that live with me are lucky I made anything for dinner!

I Was Tagged

2009-01-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

My friend Dana over at http://avereenie.blogspot.com/ tagged me. I am supposed to post the 5th picture in my 5th folder and then tag 5 friends to do the same. I'm not sure who to tag so if anyone that reads this would like to play along can do so. It was fun, I had just loaded a bunch of old pics onto my computer and my 5th picture was one of those old ones. The pic is of me and my two sons Matt and Eric. I'm not sure when the pic was taken, probably around 1999 or 2000

Wesley Wednesday ;)

2009-01-14T15:14:00.003-05:00

Wesley is here today! :) I haven't seen him in a few weeks. We got a lot of rain and it seemed to rain on his day off from school and Tina cant work when it is raining so he stayed home with her on those days. He has been full of himself today. lol

It's a really cold day here today temps in the low 30's so I put on a big pot of chili for dinner. I'll serve crackers with it. I also made some homemade cinnamon buns for dessert. :)

I woke up this morning to a bunch of dirt tracked all through my house! I followed the trail and it lead me right into my son Eric's bedroom! Grrrrrrr I had to sweep it all up before Wesley got here. When Eric came home from work I asked him why he didn't get the dirt up, he claimed he didn't do it! So I took him into his bedroom and showed him the big pile of dirt that was laying on his floor! He said, "Oh yeah I guess it was me" *insert eye roll* He also said he didn't know he tracked it all through the house because it was dark in the house when he left for work this morning.

I'm Baacckk

2009-01-13T15:32:00.004-05:00

Hello! It's been a while since I've blogged. Thanks Barbara and Dana for the giggles. No I haven't been held hostage. lol That made me giggle big time when I read then both. ;)

I've just been super busy. I realized I didn't even blog about the nice Christmas gifts I got. My in laws gave me money so I went to http://www.verabradley.com/ and checked out their big sale. I was able to get TWO pocketbooks for $53.xx! I was so happy. I love Vera Bradley's pocketbooks. Here are the two I got:

My son Eric and his girl friend Linda gave me this Cuisinart Ice Cream maker! I LOVE this thing and it makes the best vanilla ice cream! I haven't tried any other flavor yet. I want to try to make my Mama's banana ice cream in it.

My son Matt have me new stuff for my bathroom. A shower curtain, the rings for the shower curtain, soap dish and tooth brush holder. He let me pick it all out, I picked out the butterfly pattern at Walmart. I haven't taken a pic of it all in my bathroom, but it all looks so pretty in there. My daughter Tina and her kids gave me bathroom towels, they were much needed. my daughter April baked lots of cookies and she gave me a container full of the, they were SO yummy! My sister gave me a Yankee candle with a cute bear. We had a great Christmas. My tree is still up, but its up as a protest. See my husband bought me two storm doors for the front and back door. He bought then Memorial day weekend. The doors are still in boxes in our garage! He was on vacation for two weeks during Christmas and he promised me that he would install my doors. He never did, they are STILL in the boxes in the garage, so the tree is staying until my doors get put up. :x Oh and he also promised he would fix my truck while he was on vacation, its STILL not fixed, the floor in the kitchen is STILL not finished. So the tree is staying up.

It's a cold day here so I put on a big pot of Cheese steak soup for dinner. I don't have any good crusty bread to go with it so I'll make some Bisquick drop biscuits.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T08:37:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year to all of my blog friends! I have pics to share and as soon as I get them uploaded I will be posting them. I don't think I posted about our Christmas, I'll try to get that done soon. We had a nice Christmas. I have Carter and Wesley here today and Keith is still on vacation. He goes back to work Monday so hopefully I can get back to blogging every day next week.

Christmas Eve At April And Curtis' House

2008-12-24T20:31:00.003-05:00

Mallory, Carter, Wesley

Wesley

Carter, Mallory, Linda, Keith, the back of April's head

Wesley, Mallory, Donna, Alyssa

Tina
Just getting back from dinner at April's house. Dinner was amazing! She had turkey with all the trimmings. :)

Treats For Santa!

2008-12-23T22:36:00.004-05:00

I had a pretty busy day today. I had to grocery shop. *ugh* Tonight after dinner I got to work on the things I have to take to April's house Christmas Eve dinner. I made the "BIG" cookie and deviled eggs. I also dipped marshmallows in chocolate and rolled them in graham cracker crumbs. I also dipped a few potato chips in chocolate. The marshmallows and graham crackers are AMAZING! Pop one in the microwave for 3-5 seconds and you have yourself a little S'more! yum! :)

Chocolate covered marshmallows

rolled in crushed graham crackers:

A few marshmallows dipped in chocolate without graham crackers and a few potato chips dipped in chocolate:

Wordless Monday ;)

2008-12-22T12:18:00.005-05:00

Carter

Oatmeal cookies:
Sweet Treats, the recipe:

http://marisrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/12/sweet-treats.html

Pictures And A Recipe

2008-12-18T16:26:00.004-05:00

Linda putting up my tree:

Mallory today:

Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 oz. red food coloring (2 bottles)

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting/Icing Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/3 cup flour dash of salt

1/2 cup Crisco 1 stick margarine 1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Grease two 9 inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cream shortening and sugar WELL. Add eggs and beat well. Sift together 3 times flour, cocoa, and salt. Add these three ingredients and buttermilk to batter, beat well. Add vanilla and food coloring and beat in. Then in a small bowl add vinegar and soda, until soda is dissolved, FOLD INTO CAKE BATTER. DON'T BEAT OR STIR NOW. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool layers before icing.

Icing Directions:

To Make Icing: Cook 1 cup milk and flour in double boiler until the consistency of pudding, stirring constantly. Add dash of salt and set aside to cool. Cream 1/2 cup Crisco and 1 stick of margarine and 1 cup granulated sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add to cooling pudding mixture and beat until creamy.

DON'T ICE CAKE TILL COOL because the icing will melt all over the cake.

Wednesday Update

2008-12-17T15:57:00.003-05:00

I've been a bad blogger the last few days and haven't been posting. My granddaughter Mallory has been coming over every day so I've been spending time with her. Today Wesley is off of school so he's been here today too. Mallory spent the night here Monday night, its always a treat to have her here with us.

Monday nights dinner was kid friendly because Mallory was here, I made her favorite, fish sticks and for the life of me I cant remember what our side dish was and we had green beans. She LOVES green beans! Tuesday nights dinner was supposed to have been sticky chicken, but my chicken was still frozen solid (the chicken is in the fridge in the garage and it still isnt thawed, I was going to cook it today but had to change my plans) so I was going to make bacon and eggs. I had cooked my bacon in the oven and right about the time Keith came home it was done and I was about to make the scrambled eggs when he came in and he had stopped off at the grocery store for me to buy bread and he came home with some kind of soup. He ate the soup for dinner and I made myself a bacon sammie.

I need to blog about what happened to Keith Monday morning, but I don't have time to do it now so I'll do that in another post another day. Just let me say, coffee and glass is hard to clean up off the floor! *insert eye roll*

It's been raining here all week and today it has been drizzling all day, its dark and just plain yucky out! Dinner tonight will be roast that was cooked on top of the stove with potatoes in it. I'll make some gravy and serve peas with it and also make Bisquick drop biscuits.

Weekend Happenings

2008-12-14T21:29:00.005-05:00

We finally put our Christmas tree up. It's not decorated yet. I hope to get that done this week.
I started Christmas shopping. I got a few things. I cant say what, but I can say I got April, Tina, Carter, Alyssa and Wesley's presents. I need to find a toy cash register for Alyssa, I still cant believe Walmart didn't have them.

Saturday I didn't go out of the house, I even stayed in my PJ's. I didn't do much of anything, just laid around and took cold meds. Today (Sunday) I did my grocery shopping. Dinner tonight was quick and easy, Sloppy Joe's and Tater Tots. After dinner we roasted marshmallows, then put the tree up. Matt and Eric started putting the lights on the outside of the house, but decided to wait until tomorrow evening to do it.

I took a few pics of Linda and Matt putting the tree up, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. I'll post them as soon as I load them.

Friday

2008-12-12T18:16:00.002-05:00

Here is a pic of my grandson Wesley on his first day of school Monday. He is doing great and loves going to school. Today he went on his first field trip. They went to the mall to see Santa. They also got to ride the Christmas train that is at the mall and they ate lunch at the Chick-fil-A there.

Update

2008-12-09T17:46:00.001-05:00

I've got a horrible cold and haven't felt like posting. I'll be back posting soon as I feel better. Take care.

Gingerbread Men Recipe

2008-12-07T22:03:00.003-05:00

I thought I would post the gingerbread men recipe that I use at Christmas time here since it is that time of year again. This recipe is really good. It got it from a friend of my sisters:

Gingerbread:

1 cup light molasses

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 cups flour

Bring molasses and sugar to boil and pour over shortening in large bowl. Stir until cool. Add eggs, mix dry ingredients. Chill dough overnight. Roll on lightly floured board to desired thickness. (I roll my dough kind of thick, we like soft gingerbread men) With cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on lightly greased cookie sheet or stone. Use currents for eyes and buttons. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 mins. or until done, depending on the thickness of your cookie. Decorate with icing as desired. I have made these cookies as gingerbread men and as round cookies.

Recipe by: Carol, a friend of my sisters.

SNOW!

2008-12-06T20:20:00.004-05:00

It is snowing at my house now!!!!!!! :) I am so excited! My grandson Carter and I were at the grocery store a little bit ago and a cashier came over the intercom and said that it was snowing like crazy on Interstate 95. When we finally got out of the store and into the car and on the road we could see the snow falling in front of the head lights. Right now it is snowing really hard. I wish it was day light so I could snap some pictures.

Congratulations VA Tech, ACC Champions!

2008-12-06T17:08:00.006-05:00

Coach Frank Beamer and Victor "Macho" Harris

VA Tech won today! YAY! Virginia Tech become the first two-time winner of the ACC championship game with a 30-12 victory over No. 18 Boston College. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jnpWXlas7EUWiwGPKpwBAbQBJhzgD94TF7A00

Are You A Jackie Or A Marilyn?

2008-12-05T23:42:00.005-05:00

This was on my friend erinandshawn blog:

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Doris!

You are a Doris -- "I must help others."

Dorises are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs.

How to Get Along with Me

* Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.
* Share fun times with me.
* Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.
* Let me know that I am important and special to you.
* Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships

* Reassure me that I am interesting to you.
* Reassure me often that you love me.
* Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Doris

* being able to relate easily to people and to make friends
* knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better
* being generous, caring, and warm
* being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings
* being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What's Hard About Being a Doris

* not being able to say no
* having low self-esteem
* feeling drained from overdoing for others
* not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish
* criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should
* being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them
* working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Dorises as Children Often

* are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism
* try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding
* are outwardly compliant
* are popular or try to be popular with other children
* act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention
* are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Dorises), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Dorises)

Dorises as Parents

* are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't)
* are often playful with their children
* wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?"
* can become fiercely protective

Thursday

2008-12-04T22:30:00.002-05:00

Dinner tonight was spaghetti and garlic bread. I made brownies for dessert. I didn't use a box mix, I dug out my old brownie recipe and made them from scratch. The were SO good! I'll try to post my recipe soon. I don't feel like typing it out tonight.

I didn't do much lot today. I did some laundry and dusted my bedroom furniture. I've been feeling out of sorts lately.

My daughter Tina had a meeting with Wesley's new teacher the other day and Wesley will be starting school this Monday! He is so excited. I know this will be great for him. Tina said he got to go to his class while she was meeting with this teacher and he had a great time. One of his teacher's name is Miss Emma. ;) He also made a friend, his name is Carter. ;) Tina said he will have three teachers and there are only 6 or 8 (I forget which) children in the class, so he will get a lot of one on one time with the teachers.

Through The Window

2008-12-03T19:29:00.003-05:00

I found this today on a message board that I read:

Through The Window

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood.

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her

neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean", she said.

"She doesn't know how to wash correctly.

Perhaps she needs better laundry soap"

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,

the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later,

the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.

I wonder who taught her this?"

The husband said,

"I got up this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life.

What we see when watching others,

depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

Rainy Sunday

2008-11-30T19:05:00.002-05:00

It has rained here all day and I've been really lazy. I did get some towels washed, dried, folded and put away and we had taco's for dinner. Later this after noon I made some Fudgies (AKA no bake cookies).

I had mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that I would tell of some of my cooking mishaps. I was supposed to make crock pot meatballs for April's boyfriend Curtis. I normally put them in the crock pot in the morning. I don't know what was wrong with me Thanksgiving day because I forgot all about fixing them that morning! Soon as April, Curtis and Alyssa pulled into my driveway Thanksgiving day I remembered I had forgotten to do the meatballs! I was so upset with myself. The one thing Curtis loves and I forgot it! I did go ahead and mixed them up and started the crock pot, but they were not ready to eat until later that night and I have to say they were the best I've ever made. :x The other thing that I forgot was the green beans. I did remember to warm them in the microwave while we were heating everything up to go on the table, but I forgot to take them out of the microwave! lol They were the last dish that got warmed. Eric was about to use the microwave later that night and when he opened it there sat the green beans! OOPS! Did you have any Thanksgiving mishaps in your kitchen? If so, care to share?

Saturday

2008-11-29T20:12:00.005-05:00

I had a nice day. Tina and Wesley came over around 11:00am. She wanted to go to Kohl's to look for some jeans and tops/sweaters so I went with her. I needed a new pair of jeans. I found a pair on sale for $19.99. Tina bought a whole big bag of clothes and only paid $40.xx for everything! She was so excited. After we got back we went outside and played ball in the yard with Emma. It was a nice day. :)

We had more Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner. After dinner I started on some laundry and cleaning the kitchen. I had to stop cleaning in the kitchen when I ran out of hot water. I think something is going wrong with our hot water heater, it runs out of hot water way to soon. Granted I was washing kitchen towels and I wash those in hot water, but I really shouldn't have ran out of hot water that fast. Hopefully Keith will get around to looking at it on his vacation that is coming up soon.

Matt took this pic of Emma yesterday with his new cell phone. He sent it to me and I set it as my backgorund on my cell phone:

The Day After Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T20:55:00.005-05:00

Keith, Matt and I got new cell phones today! Matt's old cell was falling apart, Keith's old cell phone was just old and mine wasn't holding a charge for very long. We all got these phones:

Keith got an orange one, Matt got a black one and I got the lavender one. They are neat little phones. We all have text messaging now and Keith is driving me nuts sending text messages to me. He has never had a cell that has text messages on it. Here is what his old cell looked like:

The lady at the cell phone store laughed at Keith's old phone when he took it out of his pocket to show her which phone he had. lol His old phone didn't even have voice mail on it! lol He even got a blue tooth headset for his new phone. Now to see if he will ever use it. My old cell had text messaging but I didn't have it turned on. I had it turned on the new phone.

My grandson Carter is spending the night with us tonight. Carter and I went to Target this evening. I needed a small desk lamp for here at my computer. I found one for $9.99, it's not exactly like what I wanted but I didn't want to drive all the way to Walmart tonight, so this one will do. We also stopped off at the Dollar Tree and walked around. I let Carter pick out a few things in there.

Dinner tonight was leftover from yesterday. Carter had chicken nuggets because he said he didn't want what we had yesterday because he had it for lunch today. lol Tina was here when we got back from the cell phone store and she stayed here until around 4:00 or so.

Thanksgiving 08 Pictures

2008-11-27T23:32:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had a few mishaps in the kitchen, but everything turned out delicious. I'll post more tomorrow. I'm beat and need sleep! Night nite.

Here are a few pics from today:

My kids: Tina, Matt, Eric, April and granddaughter Alyssa

My kids goofing off
The BIG cookies before the toppingOne BIG cookie all done
(I don't add nuts to it like the recipe calls for)

Hot Artichoke Crab Dip

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T09:19:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope your day is wonderful!

Wednesday Thanksgiving Prep

2008-11-26T10:40:00.005-05:00

I have some cooking to do today. I have my green beans cooking now and am about to go make the first BIG cookie. I am going to have to go to the grocery store again today. I need eggs, Ukrop's was out of them last night (the guy said he was going to be putting some more out, but I couldn't wait for them to be put out) and I totally forgot to stop off at another grocery store on the way home. I really didn't want to go into a grocery store today, but my son Matt said I had to make his deviled eggs or it would seem like Thanksgiving. I want to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and I have to make my hot artichoke crab meat dip. Tomorrow I'll put the meatballs together and cook them in the crock pot I would make them today but I don't know how good they would be made a day ahead of time plus my family would eat them all before tomorrow. lol

I also have some cleaning to do. I think my laundry is finally caught up. Tonight before I go to bed I want to mop the floors. Oh by the way, my kitchen floor still isn't finished *insert eye roll* They said they would try to get it finished tonight, we shall see. Matt has to clean his and Eric's bathroom tonight after dinner. I told him I wasn't touching it and I mean it! I have to give Emma a bath at some point today or tonight, she really needs a bath! Dinner tonight will be something quick and easy, probably Hamburger Helper, we haven't had that in a long time.

I hope everyone has a good day and happy cooking to everyone cooking today!

The Tuesday Before Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T20:59:00.005-05:00

I did some cleaning today. My main thing to get cleaned today was the window in front of my kitchen sink. I took the mini blind down and took it into the bathroom, filled the tub with hot water and then sprayed the mini blind real good with Grease Lightening and then put the blind into the hot water and let the grease Lightening do its thing. After it stayed in the water for a little bit I lifted it up and took the shower sprayer and sprayed it really good, then I laid it on a towel that I had laid on the floor and let it dry for a bit.

Grease Lightening is amazing! That blind was really yucky and now it looks like brand new! I can now look out of my kitchen window and not see spots all over my window. lol The view from my kitchen window is all wooded area and sometimes if I'm standing at the window at just the right time I can spot a deer or two. If I think to do it tomorrow I'll take a pic and show you all what it looks like while standing at the kitchen window. While the blind was soaking I washed the window and threw the valance into the washer.

I got everything put back up and then started on dinner. We had pinto beans for dinner tonight along with some cornbread. It was so good, plain, cheap and simple and it really hit the spot.

After dinner Eric, Matt and I went to Best Buy, Circuit City (it's so nice to have those stores so close to our house now) and Ukrop's (a locally owned grocery store). I was just going into Ukrop's to get a loaf of Baguette bread for my hot artichoke dip (see recipe below) and ended up spending over $40.00. :x We are invited our neighbors house Thanksgiving evening for dessert and the hostess said if I wanted to bring something that would be great so I'm taking The "BIG" Cookie (see recipe below), so I had to get the stuff to make that. I'm making one for us also, my kids said I had to make one for dessert. I'm also making some crock pot meatballs for my daughter April's boyfriend, Curtis. He loves them, this will be his first year coming to my house for Thanksgiving and I wanted to make these especially for him, so I bought the stuff to make those and I bought a few little odds and ends that I needed. I really don't want to go to a grocery store tomorrow if I can help it, the grocery stores are going to be SO busy tomorrow!

Hot Artichoke Crab Meat Dip

Recipe by: The Pampered Chef

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped

8 oz. crab meat, chopped (real or imitation, real is better)

3/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions with tops

1 lemon

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper

Additional sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine cream cheese and mayo. Press in garlic. Zest lemon to measure 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Add lemon zest and all remaining ingredients EXCEPT red pepper and additional sliced green onions to bowl and stir gently until well blended. Spoon into Deep Dish Baker. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Sprinkle with red bell pepper and additional green onions.
Serve with Baked Pita Chips, sliced french bread rounds, Baguette bread, or crackers.

Chocolate Chip Sensation

AKA The "BIG" Cookie

Recipe by: The Pampered Chef

1 pk refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

8 oz cream cheese; softened

1/3 c sugar

1 pt half and half

1 pk instant pudding mix;-chocolate

1/4 c nuts; chopped

Preheat oven to 375.
Roll cookie dough into a ball and flatten. Roll out dough into a 13" circle on baking stone. Bake cookie for 12 - 15 minutes or until browned. Let cool 10 minutes. Loosen crust from stone. Cool completely.
Combine cream cheese and sugar; set aside.
Combine half and half and instant pudding. Let set until firm, about 5 minutes.
Spread cream cheese mixture on thoroughly cooled cookie base. Layer pudding mixture on thoroughly cooled cookie base. Layer pudding mixture over cream cheese layer. Sprinkle chopped nuts over cookie.
Chill until served.

Monday Ramblings

2008-11-24T18:14:00.004-05:00

WOW it's been a loonngg day for me! The day didn't start off very well. I forgot to hook the house phone up last night after I had unplugged it and hooked up the Directv so my son Eric could order a wrestling PPV. For some reason I forgot to unhook it and hook the phone back in. My grandson Wesley spent the night with his dad last night and he was to bring Wesley to me on his way to work this morning. He always drops him off really early and at different times so I never know what time to set my alarm so it works out good for him to call me before he comes over with Wesley. Well, since I forgot to plug the phone back up I never got his calls. I also forgot to set my alarm in case he didn't call me in time to wake Eric up. I got woke up at 8:00 by Emma running, jumping on me and she was barking. I jumped up looked at the clock and checked Eric's room, he was still sound asleep. I woke him and then called Tina to see why JJ (Wesley's dad) hadn't called to drop Wesley off. She said well Mama he called and it went to voice mail and he came over and banged on your front door for 20 minutes, you never came to the door so he left, his ride left and now he's probably going to get fired because he is on probation and cant miss any days. I'm in tears at this point thinking I've gotten him fired! I told Tina that I would take him to work but my truck is leaking something and Keith told me not to drive it far. JJ was working 45 minutes away. Tina couldn't come over and take him because she was sick two days last week and couldn't miss any time because she was so backed up on her work. I then remembered Eric's car was here, but I wasn't sure if it would start. Tina told me that I would have to let the car warm up for 15 minutes because it was so cold outside. The car started on the first try and I let it run while I ran back into the house to get dressed, then I drove over and picked JJ and Wesley up and took JJ to work. He was late, but he made it and didn't get fired!

My whole day has been so out of whack because of having to go out this morning. I didn't get my normally morning chores done and the whole day has just been "off". I did get most of the towels washed, dried and put away, I have one load in the dryer and one in the washer to go.

I was going to make BBQ chicken legs for dinner, but when I went to get the BBQ sauce out of the pantry there was a bottle of salsa sitting next to it and I remember I had seen a recipe for Salsa Chicken on the KF board. So I ran to my computer and googled salsa chicken and I had everything to make it so that is what I made. It was super easy and my family and I loved it! Here is how I made it (I didn't follow the recipe I found I just dumped stuff in).
I used chicken legs but you can use any chicken part, next time I make it I'm making it with boneless chicken breast. I laid my chicken legs into a 9x13 pan, then I sprinkled taco seasoning mix over top of the chicken, then I took the bottle of salsa and dumped it over the chicken, covered with foil and baked until done. After it was done I sprinkled shredded cheddar cheese over the chicken and salsa and put it back into the oven until the cheese melted. Some of the recipes I found said to top with sour cream, but I don't like sour cream so I didn't do that. I made a side dish (some kind of noodle thingie from a box mix) and corn.

Turkey Hunting

2008-11-23T21:20:00.003-05:00

I went turkey hunting today. ;) I finally ended up buying my turkey at Food Lion after checking four stores, .59 cent a pound with a $35.00 (or $30.00 I forget) purchase. I just have a hard time spending over $20.00 for a turkey and that seemed to be all I was finding around here. Last year I bought my turkey at Food Lion and they were .39 cent a pound, I was able to buy two, but not this year.
I also bought most of the stuff I will need to make Thanksgiving dinner. Tina and April are going to be making some things so that will help me a whole lot! Tina is making mac and cheese (she uses my Mama's recipe and makes it so good) and she is also making broccoli casserole. April is cooking a ham and making pumpkin pie and I think meatball's in the crockpot. I have to go out sometimes this week, maybe Tuesday and buy my bread for my hot artichoke crab dip. I used to make chips out of pita bread, but discovered that bruschetta works great with the dip.

Eric didn't get my kitchen floor finished today. He is almost finished and said he will finish it after dinner tomorrow evening.

Friday

2008-11-21T09:29:00.006-05:00

I finished cleaning out my pantry last night. It looks so much better in there and I can actually find stuff! I wish I had of counted all the empty boxes that I threw away. This evening when everyone is at home I'll have yet another talk to those people that live with me about the importance of throwing away the empty boxes instead of just throwing them back into the pantry.

I don't have much to do today. Wesley is here. Mallory went back to her Dad's last night and Carter is in school. Carter and Wesley will be with their Dad this weekend so I will get to see a lot of Carter. He spends a lot of his time with us when it is his weekend with his Dad, since he will only be 4 houses away from us. I'm sure he will be excited to be here and help with the flooring installation. He loves to help. Many times when he is here with me he will ask to help me clean. I give him a rag and he will go to town dusting. He also likes to fold wash clothes and kitchen towels.

I'm not cooking tonight, we will either go out or get take out. I'll also be going to Walmart I guess.

I need to start shopping for my Thanksgiving meal since I will be cooking. Tina had talked about cooking for us, but has changed her mind. Tina cooked last Thanksgiving and it was so good!

I had hoped to get a free turkey at Farmers Foods but I don't have enough feathers. The store has been running a promotion, spend $50.00 and get a feather. collect 6 feathers and get a free turkey. I only have 3 feathers.

Once I decide on my menu for Thanksgiving I'll post it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Pantry Cleaning

2008-11-20T15:56:00.003-05:00

I have finally started cleaning out my pantry! It's a big ole mess in there. I have the bottom all cleaned out and now I'm moving my way up. I have already thrown a bunch of stuff away. Things that have gotten pushed to the back mostly. I hate wasting food. It makes me so mad. If those people that I live with would just put the stuff that they take out BACK where they got it then I think that would cut down on a lot of the problem. Also, if they would NOT put empty boxes BACK into the pantry that would make my life so much easier. I don't think I'll get this pantry all done today. I might take pics after it is all finished (after the floor is all down. It doesn't have any flooring in it now so Keith wants to put the laminate in there).

Dinner tonight will be super easy. Fish sticks, mac and cheese (Velveeta) and a veggie. Mallory and Wesley will be staying here till around 6:00pm so I they will be joining us for dinner. They will love the fish sticks I am sure. lol

Free Heat And Some Great News

2008-11-19T21:50:00.004-05:00

OK, I just checked the temperature in my living room and it 84 inside my house! Keith has the wood stove in the garage going. He has this pipe thingie running from the top of the wood stove and it goes to this blower that he has blowing the heat from the wood stove into my living room. I checked the temperature outside and it says that our temps outside is 37. We haven't had to turn on our heat from the heat pump yet and this is the second day/night that we have had a fire in the wood stove. We have tons of wood here on my Father in laws land so the wood is free, which gives us free heat for the winter. Last winter I think we turned our heat on a few times, the rest of the winter our house was heated with the wood stove.

My daughter Tina found out yesterday that my grandson Wesley will get to start school in two weeks! We are all so excited about this. He will go to school 4 days a week and off on Wednesdays. He will also get to ride the bus with his big brother Carter to and from school. Wesley is so excited that he gets to ride the bus. :) I think I blogged about Wesley a while ago about him being severally developmentally delayed. The program that he will be in will be of great help to him. All of the teachers that interviewed with him said that he was a very fast learner and that he caught on quick with the things they tested him on.

My dinner tonight as very yummy. I made stuff pork chops, mashed taters and mixed veggies. My stuff pork recipe is super simple. I got the recipe from my friend Julie. All it is is stove stop stuffing on top of the pork chop. I made some gravy to go on top of it while it was baking. I took two cups of water and dissolved two chicken bouillon cubes (I was out of chicken stock so I thought. I was filling my salt shakers later this evening and came across it in the cabinet, but I swear I didn't see it when I was looking for it to use in my gravy lol), sit that aside and then took a few tablespoons of margarine and melted it, then I added a few tablespoons of flour and stirred it with my whisk. I then added my liquid to the flour and margarine and stirred over medium high heat until it thickened. Then I poured it over the pork and stove top, covered with foil and baked. It is so easy and so yummy!

Award!

2008-11-18T15:13:00.004-05:00

My sweet friend Julieann juliean-mylife gave me this award today. I am touched and honored, thank you Julieann! :) If you haven't checked out her blog you really should, it is beautifully done and she has some wonderful post on it. The rules are I am to pick 10 blogs and give this award too them. Here are my 10 blogs that I think should receive this award. I love each blog and they each have that something special thing about them that make me come back day after day to read them. Some make me laugh, some have even made me cry both sad tears and happy tears of joy. Some I have just discovered and have been to shy to post in their comments. Others I have been reading for a long time now and have become good friends with.

The rules for this blog are:

1. Put the logo on your blog

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award

4. Add links to those blogs

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.

Ten Cool Blogs:
Barbara: http://celticspirit-domesticgoddess.blogspot.com/
Crystal: http://cmswanson.blogspot.com/

Jessica: http://www.pixiemarierose.blogspot.com/

Gail: http://gail-dish.blogspot.com/
Ms Ruta: http://mzrutabaga.blogspot.com/
Moose: http://tronwife.blogspot.com/
Ms T: http://itmatterstome-t.blogspot.com/
Erin: http://erinandshawn.blogspot.com/
Rebecca: http://rebeccaandtom.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://goodolegoodsons.blogspot.com/
If any one of my nominees does not want to participate please fell free to not play, I totally understand.

SNOW!

2008-11-18T08:35:00.003-05:00

My husband called me about 7:30 this morning to tell me that it was snowing like crazy where he works! I haven't seen one single flake here at the house. :( The sun is shining here now. I hope the snow comes my way, I want Wesley and Mallory to see snow falling. They have never seen a big snow fall and I'm sure they don't remember the snow showers we had last year. The last big snow fall we had Carter was about 18 months old.

When I was a little girl we used to get a lot of big snow falls. I remember going to bed at night with no snow and waking to newly fallen snow, school closing and going out to play in the snow. I also remember a few times we had big snow falls and being sick and not being able to go outside and play in it. I remember sitting up in my bed playing my Spirograph and looking out of my bedroom window seeing all my friends playing in the snow.
We had a few really good snow falls when my children were little. So they have the memory of them, but so far my grandchildren do not have that wonderful memory. *sigh*

I have no idea what dinner will be, probably something chicken. I have laundry to do and my bathroom needs a good cleaning. I really should get into my pantry and clean it out and organize it. I have right much stuff on the floor of it and all of that will have to be moved so the new flooring can be installed in the kitchen, I'm not sure if they will put it in the pantry or not. Right now it is just the sub floor in there.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Monday

2008-11-17T15:19:00.004-05:00

I put a roast into my cast iron dutch oven for dinner tonight and it is cooking on top of the stove as I type this. I added a onion and some potatoes to it along with two cups of water with two beef bouillon cubes to it. I'll make some gravy, peas and some biscuits and that will be dinner.

I've been putting things back together in the living room. Linda helped me put my computer back together last night and she put up everything up differently then how I had it. I like the way she did it all. The tower is beside the monitor instead of in the tower cubby hole that is at the bottom of the desk (she tried laying the tower on its side and putting the monitor on top of it (my tower is one of those skinny ones and flat screen monitors fits nicely on it), but my monitor which is a flat screen was to tall and didn't fit. It will make cleaning the dust off the back of the tower a lot easier then when it was on the bottom. She also put my printer in the printer cubby hole on the desk and she put my speakers on the top shelve along with my wireless router and my DSL modem thingie. I'll get a pic of it later and post it.

Sunday

2008-11-16T21:18:00.004-05:00

Well my guys got most of the dining room floor put in today. They had to stop at a certain spot so there is a little bit of the dining room that isn't finished. My kitchen is a galley style kitchen so it is long, they hope to get it all finished next weekend. What is finished looks so good. I am so happy with it and wish we had of done it sooner. I don't think Emma likes it to much, she keeps slipping and sliding all over the place when she runs to fetch her ball.

I went to Target today and bought some new curtains for the living room. It's been so long since I bought new curtains I didn't know most were sold with just one panel. The last time I bought curtains or even looked at them in the stores they sold them in two panel packages. I found some I really liked but I needed four panels and they would have been over $40.00 and I just didn't want to spend that on curtains right now (there really isn't anything wrong with the ones I have now, I just wanted new because these are so old). I was so excited when I found a display on the end cap and they were on sale and they were two panels, a valance and the tie backs for $13.99, plus I had a $5.00 off 25.00 or more coupon! I decided on the color and picked up two packages and a rod. I cant wait to see how they look all hung up in my living room. I hope to talk either Keith or Matt into putting the rod up this week some time so I can hang them.

Flooring, Tempers And Pictures

2008-11-15T20:08:00.004-05:00

Well my guys started installing our new floor this morning. Less then an hour into it Eric and Keith got into an argument. Keith said Eric wasn't doing it right and Eric said he was and that Keith didn't know what he was doing. Eric threw up his hands and said, he was done, that Keith could finish it. After Eric sat in the kitchen for about 10 minutes and Matt calmed Keith down, they finally kissed and made up. After that little spat was out of the way they worked wonderfully together. They haven't finished. They still have to finish the whole living room, hall, dining room and kitchen. They stop at my computer. They will pick up in the morning at the computer desk and hopefully finish it all tomorrow. I have to say that what they have done so far is so pretty! I LOVE it. :) Eric's boss and his wife came over earlier today to see how Eric was doing. He said Eric was doing a good job.
Here are some pics:

Eric installing our new floor

Taking a break

Done for the day. Matt, David and Eric's arm.

Pretty!!

Ripping Out The Old Carpet

2008-11-13T19:19:00.006-05:00

It's been a cool rainy day here all day. For dinner I made cheese-steak soup and crusty bread. It really hit the spot.

This evening my son Eric started ripping our old carpet out. He let me make the first cut. I hated that carpet! He said it was only fitting that I should be the one to make the first cut. lol While I was ripping and cutting Matt found the song that was playing in the movie Office Space when the three guys were beating up the printer/fax machine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gujp3PxkkNg&feature=related and he started playing it. It was funny. lol

He hopes to start installing the laminate Saturday. My husband said today that he might have to start it next Saturday. He has a guy coming to help them with the road they have been trying to make at the swamp and this weekend the guy said he could come over to help them. He said if it rains then the guy probably wont show up. So it depends on the weather as to when the laminate will get put down. Eric said he needs Keith here to help him with the cutting. He said he isn't comfortable enough to do it alone. I can deal with the padding down on the floor for a week if we have to wait.

I took pics of Eric pulling the old carpet up, but he wont let me post them here. Here are a few after he was done.

After the carpet was pulled out. Matt doing his homework.

Emma laying down.

She is worn out from running around smelling every inch of the padding.

Matt working on the homework that he's known he's had to do all week. Eric waiting for the VA Tech game to come on.

Wednesday

2008-11-12T09:05:00.003-05:00

We picked up our new flooring yesterday after Keith got home from work. We bought it at Sam's Club. My son Eric will install it this Saturday. He said it will take two days to install it in our living room, kitchen and dining room. I'm so excited, I cant wait until it is all done.
After we got back from Sam's I cooked dinner. I made breakfast foods. Scrambled eggs, bacon and Bisquick biscuits. I baked the bacon in the oven, I've found that is the easiest way to cook a lot of bacon. I put it on my Pampered Chef large Bar pan (if you don't have one of those you can use a cookie sheet with the sides on it), in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes or until done.

Saturday And Soups On

2008-11-08T13:51:00.004-05:00

I'm finally getting to use my new cast iron dutch oven! I'm making some chicken veggie soup. I use my aunt Lucille's recipe. She made THE best chicken veggie soup EVER! I took two chicken bouillon cubes and dissolved then in two cups of water, then I added chicken breast, frozen butter beans, a tiny dash of sugar, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then I turn the heat down and let that all simmer. I will add can tomatoes, green beans, corn, potatoes and carrots in a little bit. I had to use can carrots because the carrots in the produce section we so high I refused to buy them. I normally use fresh carrots in my soup. Here are some pics I've been taking, will take more when I'm done with it.

The base

Ingredients

Soups done:

My New Kitchen Toy And Some Other Stuff

2008-11-07T12:53:00.009-05:00

I went to Sam's Club Thursday and bought a new kitchen toy! I got this: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=2&item=402223 It's a 6.5 quart cast iron dutch oven. I cant wait to use my new toy and when I do I'll take pics of it and what I am making. I already have a Vision dutch: oven http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000BI3QCK/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen , but have been wanting a cast iron one for so long. I get all giddy when I think about all the yummy soups, stews and things I'll be able to make in my new dutch oven. ;) If you have one what is your favorite thing to make it it?

We have finally decided on putting in laminate in your living room, kitchen and dining room. We hope to get it installed next weekend. My son Eric will be installing it. Some wonderful friends of mine helped me pick out the color laminate, here it is: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=2&item=391596 I was torn between two different ones. When I was in Sam's Thursday I looked at them both again and the one my friends liked really does look the most like wood. The other one I had picked out was to light. We will have to paint, I am wanting to go with a sage green color, but Keith really likes the red that my daughter Tina used in her old house. I really don't want red, it would not go with the furniture we have, the sage green would, so hopefully when I mention to Keith that if we go with the red we will need new furniture that will change his mind on painting the walls red. *giggle*

I'm not sure that I'll go to Walmart tonight, I'm pretty well stocked up on everything. If I don't go it will be the first Friday in a long time that I haven't done "Walmart Friday". I haven't talked to Linda today so I don't know if she has plans, if she doesn't and she wants to go then I'll go along for the ride. Linda's Mom had her car stolen the other night, she had gone into a convenient store and for some reason left her keys in her car and someone stole the car while she was inside the store, the car was found totaled a few hours later.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a great weekend.

School Picture Time

2008-11-05T18:37:00.002-05:00

My grandson Carter got his school pics back today. I must say they turned out great! :)

Vote 2008

2008-11-04T12:38:00.005-05:00

Today my two son's Eric and Matt will be voting for the first time. We are all going to vote after dinner. Dinner tonight will be Lasagna, tossed salad and garlic bread.

I found this video on a message board. This little boy is darling. There is no endorsement of either candidate. He is just so darn cute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svhq4C9HhUg

Reminder...

2008-11-01T20:35:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th Brthday Mallory And Happy Halloween To All!

2008-10-31T08:27:00.005-04:00

Today is not only Halloween it is also my granddaughter Mallory Kaitlin's 4th Birthday! :) April and I were in the delivery room when she was born. It seems like just yesterday. We were so excited that Tina was having a girl. The last girl born in my family was my nieces child.

Mallory right after she was born

Mallory the day they brought her home from the hospital

Mallory
Mallory
Mallory

Mallory last Halloween

Wesley isn't here this morning, he has an appointment at Carter's school. Tina is trying to get him into a program that they have for children with special needs, this is his second appointment I think Tina said he has one more to go before they decide on the right program for him. Carter only has half day today so Tina said she would come over here after they pick Carter up from school. We never get trick or treaters here where we live. I guess after dinner I'll go to Walmart.

I hope everyone has a safe Halloween and a great weekend!

Thursday

2008-10-30T16:22:00.004-04:00

I forgot to post yesterday, OOPS! For dinner last night I made Goulash. My Mama used to make it all the time and I didn't have a recipe so I Googled it and found one that had the ingredients that I thought Mama used in hers. It turned out really good and tasted just like Mama's! :)

I browned my hamburger with two chopped onions, then I drained the grease and added two cans crushed tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper. I then dumped it all into my dutch oven and added some water (I didn't measure the water). While everything was simmering in the dutch oven I cooked my macaroni noodles. After the noodles were done I drained the water and then added the noodles to the hamburger mixture and simmered it for a little while. I served crackers with it and my family loved it. It was cold here yesterday and it really hit the spot!

I had to run out to the grocery store for some milk and bread today and my son Eric had gotten off work early so I was able to go without taking Wesley. I picked up Hot Pockets http://www.hotpockets.com/ to have for dinner tonight. I normally don't buy them but I had a coupon and they were on sale. My boys are going to love dinner tonight because they love Hot Pockets and rarely get them.

While I was in the check out line today at the grocery store the lady in front of me didn't have a gas card. That grocery store has a gas card and the more items you buy of certain items the more discount you get, she got .26 cents off on her gas card, but for some reason she handed it back to the cashier and said "I don't use this, here you keep it" (I still cant figure out why she took the time to fill out the paper work for the card, if she was just going to give it back to the cashier). The cashier told her that they were not allowed to do that, the lady would not take the card back so the cashier looked at me and said, "Here do you want this card, she just got .26 cents on it, I'm not allowed to take it". I said, sure and took the card. Then after she finished ringing me up she swiped the card again and I ended it getting .49 cents total on my gas card today! Now the next time I get gas I'll get .49 cents off my next gas purchase. :)

Tuesday Dinner

2008-10-28T17:24:00.004-04:00

For dinner tonight I am making something my Mama used to make years ago. Dinty Moore Beef Stew Pot Pie. Two cans Dinty Moore Beef Stew (I used two 24 oz cans), 15 oz. sour cream, mixed together stew and sour cream then poured into a casserole dish (I used a 2 qt. casserole dish). Mix Bisquick according to the box's direction for drop biscuits, top with Bisquick until the dough covers the whole stew or drop Bisquick dough by spoon onto top the of stew. Bake in 350 degree oven.
I don't have a copy of the recipe, I'm just winging it so I don't know how long it is supposed to bake. I'm going by when the dough on top is golden brown the pot pie is done. :)

Last night I made Pumpkin Spice Blossoms. I found the recipe from this blog: http://www.picky-palate.com/2008/10/giving-kisses-for-fall.html
The cookies were very good and easy to make. I love the Picky Palate blog, she has some awesome recipes there and her pictures of the food she makes are so good.

Monday And If You Get Bored

2008-10-27T13:27:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday! I'm just doing my normal Monday chores around the house, not much to talk about. Dinner tonight will be fishsticks and boxed mac and cheese and a veggie.

I got an email this morning from a friend. The site is a game where you can practice your fly swatting skills: http://majman.net/fly_loader.html make sure to have your sound on too. lol

A Chic-fil-A Sunday

2008-10-26T19:54:00.005-04:00

My son Matt wanted Chic-fil-A for dinner tonight, but they are not open on Sunday's so I dug out my Chic fil A copycat recipe and fixed them for dinner tonight. I even had the waffle fries like they have at Chic-fil-A. Here is a pic of two of the sandwiches that were left over. There wasn't any fries left so I don't have a pic of them. I am also posting the recipe I use.

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich
Peanut oil for frying---It has to be peanut oil

1 Egg

1 cup Milk

1 cup Flour

2 1/2 t. Powdered sugar

1/2 t. Pepper

2 T. Salt***

Skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into pieces***

Plain hamburger buns

2 T. Melted butter

Dill pickle slices

1. Mix together the egg and milk. Place the filets in this mixture, and let sit for at least an hour.
2. While the breasts are sitting, mix together the Flour, Sugar, Pepper, and Salt.
3. Once the sitting is done, dredge in the flour. After the first dredging, we would put them back in the milk bath for a few seconds, and re-dredge.
4. Place the Peanut oil in a skillet or deep fat fryer, and bring to 375 F(if using a fryer) Gently drop into the oil, and let cook until golden brown. Flipping every few minutes, so that it doesn't burn.
5. Melt your butter in a small pan, and dip each bun (both pieces) to slightly coat. When ready to serve place pickles on the warm buns, and add chicken. ENJOY!!!

***We think this is to much salt...so I try to play around with it. I think the last time I made them I used 1 1/2 Tablespoons, and that seemed pretty good, you'll just want to play around with it.***
Also, you can make the flour mixture ahead, and then freeze it. That way the next time you make it, you have it ready.

**I cut the chicken more into strips, and lay about 3 strips per sandwich. We have found the chicken seems to cook up more tender this way. Also, these dip better, and you can avoid a bun.

*******Note: Chick-Fil-A actually uses a Pressure Cooker to cook the Filets in. If you have one, use the peanut oil according to the instructions for frying in it. Desired heat is 400 F. Once steam starts shooting through, cook for about 4 Minutes.**

Recipe was given to me by: Jen from the KF Board

Happy 5th Birthday, Wesley!

2008-10-23T23:20:00.009-04:00

Today October 24 is my grandson Wesley James Birthday! He is 5 years old. WOW how the time has flown by. Wesley was my Daddy's middle name. My Daddy never got to meet Wesley. :(

He would have been so proud that he was given his middle name. April and I were in the delivery room when Wesley was born. I am posting a few pictures of Wesley:

Wesley a few hours old

Wesley, I'm not sure how old he is here.
Wesley's First Birthday

This pic was taken in Feb.

My husband took the day off today and we are going to attempt to take both Wesley and Mallory to Sam's Club. Wish us luck! lol Today is the grand opening of Sam's. As you might remember last Thursday I went there thinking it had opened that day, but it hadn't. lol We also have to drop my Pathfinder off at the garage. I was sitting on the front porch last Sunday and was looking at Eric's car and my truck when I noticed that my inspection had run out in September! I had been driving with an expired inspection sticker. Here in Virginia we have to have our vehicles inspected once a year. Last year my Pathfinder failed inspection. Something was wrong with my lights, we had to get them fixed before it would pass. This year there is nothing wrong with it and it should pass.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Tagged...

2008-10-22T19:49:00.012-04:00

Crystal http://cmswanson.blogspot.com/ tagged me, I am supposed to go into my photo albums and find my 6th page and then post the 6th picture with a description. then I'm supposed to go to the 1st page of my album and post the 1st picture in the album.

Here is the 6th picture on the 6th page of my Photobucket account. It is a picture of my son Eric's girl friend Linda. I'm not sure what she was doing at the time of this picture. She's probably going to kill me if she sees that I posted this picture of her. lol

Here is the 1st picture on page 1 of my Photobucket account. It is a picture of my son Matt asleep on the sofa. I know he's going to kill me if he sees this picture posted on my blog, so shhhhhh please don't tell him. lolI get to tag 3 people, I tag: Erin, Dana and Barbara. :)

Wednesday

2008-10-22T18:11:00.002-04:00

I forgot to post Tuesday. lol Nothing much exciting is going on around here, just the normal everyday stuff. For dinner tonight I made steak cooked in onions and tater tots. It sure hit the spot.
My son Eric installs flooring and my Father and Mother in law want to put lament in their basement and want Eric to install it. They just got new carpet in the basement over the summer. Father in law said he's having to much trouble keeping it clean and he thinks lament will be easier to keep clean, so he is getting it put in. I would love to have lament or hardwood put in my kitchen, heck I would love to have it in the living room too I think it is so pretty. We are going to be getting new carpet in our living room really soon and Keith said he would think about pricing how much it would cost to do the kitchen and living room with either hardwood or lament.

What kind of flooring do you have through out your home?

Monday Dinner

2008-10-20T17:37:00.004-04:00

Dinner tonight will be a dish I haven't made in a long time. Frankly I had forgotten about it until last week when someone that I had given the recipe to lost it and needed it again. It's called Pork Chop Creole. I got it out of my Mama's recipe file years ago. She had gotten out of a magazine that had four different recipes on the page that were made with Cambell's soup. Here is the recipe and a few pictures I took while I was preparing it. I cant find the Tomato and Rice soup in the stores here anymore so I made my own by buying a large can of tomato soup and adding cooked rice to it. I was kind of upset with Keith when I went to mix the soup up because I had saved a container of leftover rice that we had from Saturday's dinner and he took it to work. So our dinner isn't no where near ready to eat because I had to take the time to make rice. *insert eye roll*
I'm making boiled potatoes and green beans to go with the pork chops. I have included a picture of my new microwave rice cooker. I used it for the first time today and it's pretty neat. I have an electric one that I love but I think this new one will be great when I only need to cook a small amount of rice.

Pork Chop Creole

In a skillet, brown pork chops, pour off drippings. Sprinkle chops with pepper, place a slice of onion and a slice of green pepper on each pork chop. Pour 1 can Tomato Rice Soup, 1/2 cup water over pork chops. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon Thyme. Cover, cook about 45 minutes over low heat. Stir now and then while it is simmering.

Sunday

2008-10-19T22:00:00.003-04:00

WOW what a weekend! I'm SO tired. Soon as a load of clothes dry I'm going to bed. Those little ones wore me out. Wesley's dad picked him up around 3:00 and Carter stayed for a while. After Wesley left Mallory and I went grocery shopping. We went to Walgreen's, The Dollar Tree then the grocery store then stopped off at CVS because I had a $5.00 ExtraCare Coupon that had to be used. We came home and I put the groceries away then made dinner. We had chicken fajitas for dinner. Mallory played for a while then she got her bath and I put her to bed, she was so tired.

Saturday

2008-10-18T22:46:00.003-04:00

Carter, Wesley and Mallory are spending the night with us tonight. They had requested pizza for dinner, but after they had been here awhile they heard Matt say something about Chinese food and then they wanted Chinese for dinner. lol They love Sweet and Sour Chicken so that is what they had, Only they don't like the sauce that comes with it, they like to dip the chicken in ketchup. lol
I had Shrimp Egg Foo Young, Keith and Matt both had General Tao's Chicken. Eric had a sub from Subway.

After dinner Mallory and I rode out to Target. I have to tell you it is SO nice to have a Target so close to my house! It was dark when we left and I knew Mallory was tired, but I didn't want her to fall asleep on the way to Target so I kept asking her if she was still awake and she would answer me with, "Yes, my eyes are still open, Mamaw". lol While in Target we walked around, since its a new store there are not very many end cap clearances yet, but I did find a microwave rice cooker on an end cap clearance. It was regular price $9.99 I got it for $4.98. It looks like this: http://www.kitchencollection.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=00821089 I also got some chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough so the kids and I could make cookies. I was to tired to make them from scratch so I cheated. :x I let Mallory pick out a package of panties, Tina forgot to pack her any. She picked out a three pack of Hello Kitty ones. She also picked a few hair bands and a pair of Tinkerbell socks at the Dollar Spot.

When I was putting the kids to bed they asked what breakfast would be, I said I wasn't sure and Carter said, "if its no trouble can you make us pancakes"? lol I said its not trouble. :)

Mallory

2008-10-17T15:40:00.004-04:00

Awhile back I posted about my granddaughter Mallory cutting her own hair. Today I snapped a picture of her. She cut into the middle of her bangs real close to her head. She also cut a big section out of the top.

Today has been a dark yucky rainy day here. I guess I will go to Walmart later.

I'm watching Carter, Wesley and Mallory tomorrow evening and they will spend the night. Carter and Wesley will spend Sunday night with their Dad and Mallory will stay with me Sunday night. Tina and her boyfriend are going to Martinsville, VA to the NASCAR race. Tina said she will be dropping the kids off at my house Saturday around 5:00pm.

Thursday

2008-10-16T16:06:00.003-04:00

I slept so good last night. It was great to wake up this morning and feel so refreshed. :)
I'm waiting on Linda to get here, her and Eric are going to ride with me to the new Sam's Club that opened up today. I was going to go earlier but she called and wanted me to wait for her.

I don't know what dinner will be. I hope to find something at Sam's Club that will be easy to make.

Wednesday

2008-10-15T18:34:00.003-04:00

I didn't sleep very well last night, I was up and down all night and finally drifted off to sleep around 5:30am. It was hard waking up at 7:15am. I did lay back down when Wesley took a nap. I didn't do much today. I did get a ton of laundry folded that I've been putting off and I have some clothes in the washer and dryer to finish. Last night after dinner I mixed up some Imitation Crab Meat salad and that is what I had for dinner, I served it with crackers. Keith is working his part time job and will eat when he gets home. I hope to get to bed fairly early tonight and hopefully stay asleep all night. Seems the older I get the harder it is for me to sleep good at night.

Here my recipe for the Imitation Crab Meat Salad. I'm very proud of this recipe I made it up myself. I Googled seafood salad and looked over a ton of recipes, then I came up with this one and if I do say so myself it is the best I've ever eaten. :)

Shirla's Imitation Crab Meat Salad

I didn't measure anything but the mayo and the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.

About 1 tablespoon Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (the one in the bottle NOT the dry mix)

1/2 cup mayo (I use Dukes)

1 stalk of celery (finely chopped)

1 small onion (finely chopped)

lemon juice (I used one of those plastic lemons and I have no idea how much I used, at first I thought I had gotten heavy handed with it, but after everything hung out all together over night and part of the day it was just the right amount)

a pinch of celery flakes, a pinch of dried minced onion flakes

two-three drops of hot sauce

little bit of salt and pepper

one pound imitation crab meat, flaked.

I mixed the mayo and everything else up and then I added the crab meat and mixed some more. Chill and I served with Captain Crackers.

Tuesday's Sticky Chicken

2008-10-14T09:53:00.003-04:00

I'm finally going to cook one of those Purdue oven stuffer roasters that I bought at Ukrop's Saturday night. I'm going to make Sticky Chicken. My family loves sticky chicken and I love making it, my house smells SO good while it is cooking. I think I'll make some Parmesan potatoes, green beans and hot rolls to go with it. Here is the Sticky Chicken recipe for those that have never seen it:

Roast Sticky Chicken (from busy cooks)

Recipe By : Lynn Nelson

Serving Size : 6

Spice Mix for 1 Chicken

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 large roasting chicken -- as big as you can find

1 cup chopped onion

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices.

Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin.

Place in a resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan.

Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 5 hours (yes, 250 degrees for 5 hours). After the first hour, baste chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices. The pan juices will start to caramelize on the bottom of pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it.

Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

To Freeze.. This can be frozen with just the spice rub on before cooking, but I prefer to make several of these and cook them completely and freeze fully cooked. Simply bag and freeze. Warm in the microwave before serving. Notes : This recipe is a great way to roast a large chicken for planned leftovers. It is reminiscent of those rotisserie style chickens that are so popular now, and it is very easy to make. The meat comes out very moist and flavorful, so it is as good leftover as freshly cooked.

Please try it and you will never roast chicken any other way. You need to start this the night before serving.

***Shirla's Notes: I have made this many times and didn't put the spices on the chicken the night and store it in the fridge over night before and it turned out great.

A New Mall

2008-10-13T15:21:00.002-04:00

We finally got a new mall in my area! It is called White Oak Village http://www.theshopsatwhiteoakvillage.com/ and it opened today. It's not a closed in mall, it is more like a strip mall. All the big anchor stores are behind the strip of smaller shops. The big anchor stores are JC Penny's, Target, Circuit City, Sam's Club, Pet Smart, Lowe's, Office Max and a locally owned grocery store called Ukrop's. If we would just get a Walmart in that area I would never have to go to Mechanicsville again (that is were all of the above stores are that I shop at the most. Mechanicsville, VA is about 10 minutes away from me, the new mall is about 5 minutes away from me. There isn't a JC Penny in that area, it is about 20 minutes away at another mall). I would have rather a Kohl's had of went into the new mall, I don't really care for JC Penny's, I prefer Kohl's, they have awesome sales). In this location of the new mall is Richmond International Airport and there was no good shopping and restaurants in the area. Now with this new mall they are putting in a bunch of new restaurants on the mall site. It's very exciting for this area and way over due! I'll be glad when everything is completed. Across the street for the mall a new Best Buy is almost ready to open. Also there is an old strip mall across the street from the Best Buy that has a Dollar Tree in it and a few other shops, the Ukrop's was over there, but they built a new one in the new mall.I wonder what will go into the old Ukrop's building? It's a pretty big building. I would love it if an Old World Market http://www.worldmarket.com/home.jsp would go in there, I love that store, but it is so far for me to go to it very often.

I want to make a meatloaf for dinner so I guess I should get off this computer and get it mixed up and in the oven. I guess I'll make some mashed potatoes to go with it and a veggie, probably corn as I always seem to serve corn with meatloaf for some reason.

Saturday Happenings

2008-10-11T21:29:00.005-04:00

Today I cleaned off both of my kitchen counters today (galley style kitchen) and scrubbed them really good. They are both all nice and clean and clutter free. I really need to wash down my cabinet doors, but I just haven't felt like doing it lately and my floor in the kitchen and dining room need scrubbing. I hope to get that done some time this coming week.

I was going to cook dinner tonight, but Keith wanted to go out to eat. We ended up at the Chinese buffet that is close to our house. After we ate we went to the new mall. It's not a closed in Mall, it is a strip mall. There are only a few stores that are open. We went into Target that is having its soft opening, their grand opening is tomorrow (Sunday). I found the Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses in there and bought a bag. I hope to make the cookies the first of the week. After Target we went to the new Ukrop's ukrops.com It is a locally owned grocery store here in VA. I love Ukrops's but they are high on their groceries so I don't shop there often, plus I'm still upset with them because they haven't started selling Beeler pork products. They do run really good sales each week. I got two Purdue oven stuffer roasting chickens for around $4.xx a piece. They are both over 6 pounds. On my receipt it says the regular price would have been $10.58 for one and $11.20 for the other. I saved one to make sticky chicken for Monday nights dinner and I put the other one in the freezer. I would have bought more but there were only 4 left and a lady was looking at one of them and I didn't want to take the third one in case she wanted it. Ukrop's has an awesome bakery, I get all our Birthday cakes there. Well they sell these chocolate angel food cakes, they used to put their chocolate frosting on them if you requested it, but they stopped doing that and now they sell their chocolate frosting in containers. I just had to buy one of those cakes and a container because it's been years since I had a piece of that cake with the frosting. They also sell their birthday cake icing, in my opinion they make the best birthday cake icing! I love it on their pound cakes.My son Matt came into the kitchen after I had frosted the cake and I said, "Look Matt I baked a cake", he then walked over to the oven and opened it and stuck his hang in there and said, "that's odd Mom, the ovens not even hot". lol I started giggling, he said "you bought that at Ukrop's didn't ya"? He knows me to well. ;)

I forgot to take a pic of the cake before it was cut, but here is a pic of the cake after it was cut.

We also stopped off at the Sam's Club office where they are letting you sign up for membership at the Sam's Club that is opening up in the new mall. The membership was $40.00 and they gave me a $10.00 gift card to Sam's for getting a new membership. They lady said it is good at Sam's, Sam's gas and Walmart. After we left there Keith wanted some loose tea and he didn't like the kind Ukrop's sells so we stopped in Kroger that is right beside the new mall and he got his tea. Then we came home. It was a nice evening.

Friday Evening With My Son's

2008-10-10T23:21:00.002-04:00

I had the most wonderful time this evening. I had dinner with my two son's. :) We didn't go anywhere fancy or anything like that. We went to Chic-fil-A and we ate in the car. lol It was just so fun being with them both. They even fussed like they used to do when they were little about who was going to sit in the front seat. lol I had to step in and remind them of the rule we had when they were little. One sit in the front going and the other sits in the front coming back home (back then kids were allowed to sit in the front seat of a car). So Eric sat in the front going and Matt sat in the front coming home.

We all went to Best Buy and Walmart after we ate. Walmart wasn't busy at all, it was a real treat to go to that Walmart and not have it busy. It's normally very busy. I was looking for some Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses for some cookies I want to make and they didn't have them. I hope I will be able to find them tomorrow at either CVS or Walgreens because I have to go to both stores. I found this yummy looking cookie recipe Pumpkin Spice Blossoms on another blog picky-palate.com and I need those kind of Hershey Kisses for the cookie. The lady that does the Picky-Palate blog post some amazing recipe there, she is very talented, everything always looks SO yummy!

Thursday's Beef Stew

2008-10-09T15:32:00.005-04:00

I'm making a big pot of beef stew for dinner. I haven't made it a long time. I don't use a real recipe I just dump stuff in. I use a package of Stew Beef, dipped in flour then placed in a dutch oven that has Crisco melted in it. Then I brown the beef along with a chopped up onion. After the beef has browned somewhat I then add two beef bouillon cubes that I have dissolved in two cups boiling water. I then add chopped carrots, cubed potatoes, salt and pepper, then add some water and simmer until ready to eat. If the broth in the stew needs thickening I melt a little margarine in a pan, after the margarine is melted I add a little flour, stir until brown, then mix up one beef bouillon cube in one cup water and add to the margarine and flour mixture and stir until thick then add to the stew. Toward the end of cooking the stew I add a can of tiny early June sweet peas )I prefer LeSueur Peas ) and let then heat up.
Tonight I'll serve biscuits with the beef stew.

Tina picked up Wesley a little early today so I was able to vacuum the living room earlier then I normally do when he is here. He hates the vacuum so I try not to use it when he is here. I should dust, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow. I have clothes to fold, but I'm going to wait and fold them while watching my shows on NBC tonight.

I hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

Some Fun...

2008-10-08T12:55:00.006-04:00

What song was number 1 on the day you were born? For me it was, Hey! Baby - Bruce Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgndNNz3lFs

Find out what the number 1 song was on the day you were born, then post what it was in my comments, please:
http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1

Tuesday

2008-10-07T09:12:00.002-04:00

I gave Emma a bath last night. Here are some pictures of her all groomed and with a bow in her hair. The bow is pink but the pink doesn't show up in the pictures. She hates the bow and the second I was done taking her pic she started rubbing her head on the sofa trying to get it out. I took it out of her hair and then she started zooming through the house, she was so happy to get that bow out! lol

I'll try to get back later today and post some more about my day.

Monday

2008-10-06T12:43:00.002-04:00

Happy Monday! I've been cleaning my house, trying to get everything straight from the weekend of everyone being home. I've got right much laundry to do and am about half way through it.

Yesterday was my oldest daughter Tina's birthday. She turned 27! Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I have a 27 year old. Also Eric's girl friend Linda's birthday was yesterday, she turned 19. If I can get myself together and go hunting for them, I'll try to post some baby pictures of Tina and some through out the years. Tina was a good baby, but she hated going to sleep at night. She didn't have her days and nights mixed up, she was just scared she would miss something I think! lol She still stays up late even as an adult.

I didn't make the Italian sausage, green peppers and onions subs Saturday like I has planned. I went grocery shopping and it took longer then I thought it would, so I ran through the drive thru at Hardee's and picked up dinner for Keith and I. Eric and Matt were not home, they picked up something while they were out. I made the subs last night for dinner. Tonight's dinner will be steamed cabbage with potatoes cooked in them and cornbread.

Have a great week!

Saturday And A Kettle Corn Recipe

2008-10-04T14:14:00.003-04:00

Well I went to Walmart yesterday after dinner and it was a zoo in there! Being the first of the month I knew it would be busy but it was not only busy it was PACKED and the shelves needed to be restocked. The lines at the check out where so long. One side had all of the lines open, but the side I checked out of didn't. I was 8 items over so I couldn't use the self check out. I was tempted to remove 8 things I didn't really need just so I could use the self check out, but I decided not to.

I cleaned this morning and am waiting for the washer to be free so I can wash towels. My son Eric is washing his stuff now. I need to get a shower and go grocery shopping at some point today. I'm not sure what dinner will be. I really want Italian sausage, green peppers and onion subs. The state fair is here and we are not going and I always get one when we go there, so I might just make them for dinner. Eric and Linda went to the fair Monday night and brought home kettle corn, it was so good. I make it myself sometimes, I found a recipe online for it. It's super easy to make. This is the recipe I use:

Kettle Corn
1/2 cup popcorn

3 tablespoons sugar oil, for popping

Directions:

Heat oil in medium saucepan until hot. Add pop corn and sprinkle all of the sugar over it. Cover and shake continuously until popped.
Transfer to a serving bowl and salt lightly.

Thursday

2008-10-02T08:22:00.004-04:00

When I turned my computer on this morning the weather gadget thingie that I have on my desktop said it was 51 degrees here in my neck of the woods. It feels wonderful! My AC is off and I am loving it! Yesterday evening around 7:00pm the skies started getting dark and the wind started blowing the cold front was coming in. We never got a storm, we only got dark clouds and wind, lots of wind. It was neat to watch and to feel the temps drop. We were all out in the yard playing fetch with Emma, she was loving the wind blowing. I sure hope the weather stays like this. I've had enough of hot weather! While we were outside two police cars went up the road to the dead end. A few minutes later two more police cars went up the road to the dead end, them one more. They all sat there for about 15 minutes. Then they all started going back of our little subdivision. The last two to leave went out rather fast. We have no idea what they were up to or that that was all about.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, I had another migraine and I'm out of my migraine medicine. I need to get to the Dr. so I can get some more. I took 4 ibuprofen before I went to bed and had to get up 4 hours later and take 4 more. I finally drifted off to sleep around 5AM. my head still hurts, just not as bad.

Last night's dinner wasn't the pizza that I've been trying to make the last few nights. lol Linda and I went to the grocery store after Wesley left and I ended up getting some cube steak that was on sale. I had green peppers and onions so I made cube steak cooked in green peppers and onions. Then I poured a jar of brown mushroom gravy over it and let it simmer. I had to test the microwave mashed potatoes for SheSpeaks so I made those and our veggie was broccoli, cauliflower and carrot blend and I made rolls. My family really liked the mashed potatoes. I bought the garlic ones. They were super easy and tasted OK. I thought they had that instant potato taste. I added butter to them and a little salt and pepper. I'll buy them again to keep on hand to use on nights I don't have time to make real mashed taters.

I'll try again to make the pizza's for dinner. Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday

2008-10-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

Not much going on, just doing my normal everyday household chores. My grandson Wesley has a cold, I guess he caught my cold. :(

My granddaughter Mallory cut her hair the other night. It's her week with her daddy so we haven't seen it yet, but he called me to tell me about it and said he took her to try to get it fixed and the stylist said the only was she could fix it would be to shave her whole head. He said no way! I told him if it looked to bad just get her a cute pink ball cap and have her wear it when they go out. We will get to see it next week when it's Tina's week to have her. Tina said she will take her to her stylist and see what she says about it, she might be able to fix it. She fixed it the last time she got a comb stuck in it and her dad had to cut the comb out along with a big hunk of hair.

I was going to make homemade pizza's for dinner last night but everyone wanted subs so I made subs for them and I had a big salad. I guess tonight I'll made the pizza's.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Seven Years Ago

2008-09-29T09:24:00.008-04:00

Seven years ago today my first grandchild Carter Wayne was born. I'll be honest here and tell you that when I first heard I was going to be a grandmaw I was a little upset. I wasn't even 40 yet and was going to be a grandmaw. I think in my mind all grandmaws were old, with blue hair. I was far from that. As time went on and Carter's birth was getting closer I started getting really excited about being a grandmaw. A good friend kept telling me that I would love being a grandmaw and they were right! I love being a grandmaw. It is a wonderful experience and I learn something new almost everyday from these precious children.

When Tina brought Carter home from the hospital they lived next door to us. When it came time for Tina to go back to work I got to be his babysitter, YAY I got to not only spend time with him I also got to spoil him, then send him home at the end of the day. ;) Here are some pictures of Carter through out the years (a lot of Carter's baby pics are on floppy's and I don't have a floppy drive on this computer so I cant post those pics):

Me and Carter, this was his first Christmas

I think he was about 6 months old here

Carter and his uncle Eric

Carter's second birthday

Carter wearing his uncle Matt's helmet and shoes

Carter at 6 years old

I'd Like You All To Meet Wanda

2008-09-28T14:25:00.005-04:00

I have a friend who has a blog. Her name is Julieann. She posted about her scarecrow Fred. Here is her post about Fred juliean-mylife I thought he was the cutest thing and we think that Wanda may be Fred's long lost sister. ;) She got him at Wamlart. I was in Walmart Friday and I got me one! I got a girl scarecrow and I named her Wanda. She is now on our front porch. I don't normally decorate for the fall, but now I have Wanda, I may check out the clearance sales when everything goes on sale after Halloween. Eric's girl friend Linda put the little pumpkin out there to keep Wanda company. :)
Do you decorate inside your house or outside for fall or Halloween?

Friday And A Recipe

2008-09-26T09:52:00.004-04:00

It's another cool, windy rainy day here in VA. Last night we had some thunderstorms roll through. They started around 12:00AM and continued through out the night. I don't have any big plans for today. I have a few chores to do around the house and I think we will probably do take out for dinner, but I've also been thinking about my Mama's Chicken and Dumpling's so I might just have to break tradition and cook today. Since it is such a cool rainy day chicken and dumplings would taste mighty good tonight. It has taken me a long time to get my Mama's chicken and dumplings to taste like hers, but the last few times I made it I got it prefect! Here is her recipe:

Shirla's Mama's Chicken And Dumplings

Boneless chicken breast

(can use bone in, but boneless is easier, no picking out the bones)

Boil chicken until tender.

In a dutch oven add, 1 can cream of celery soup, salt, pepper, parsley flakes and celery flakes. Stir well and cook over low heat while chicken is boiling.

Once the chicken is done remove and cut into big chunks, place chicken into dutch oven along with the chicken stock. Stir well and let simmer over low heat.

To make the dumplings; Mix Bisquick with milk. Drop by spoon fulls into chicken mixture. Uncovered slowly boil about 10 minutes. Cover and slowly boil until dumplings are done.

***My Mama didn't say the measurements for anything, she just dumped everything into the pot.

Thursday And Sweet Potatoes

2008-09-25T15:12:00.007-04:00

It's a cool, yucky rainy day here today. All I want to do is sleep, but I cant because Wesley and Mallory are here today. I've just been puttering around the house, not really cleaning, but picking up "stuff" and putting it all back where it belongs or throwing it out. I have no clue what dinner will be. It's almost 3:30pm so I really should start thinking about it. Tina has to stop off at the grocery store before she comes to pick up the kids, so I asked her pick me up some milk and bread so I don't have to go out later.

My neighbor gave me some GIANT sweet potatoes the other evening, I guess they will cook up, I think I'll have to cut them in half for them to cook in this century. lol They sure are BIG! The two in the back dont look that big in the picture. Here are some pictures of the them:

Middle Of The Week ChitChat

2008-09-24T09:08:00.005-04:00

I haven't been blogging lately. We have been having really cool nights here and we have/had been sleeping with a fan in the window, well it has reek havoc with my sinuses or allergies, I'm not really sure what it is. All I know is I've been miserable the last 2 days. I had to call in sick the last few days from watching my grandchildren. They are back today. I haven't been cooking dinner, it's been YOYO (Your On Your Own). Yesterday I did manage to fold most of my laundry that had piled up, I sat on my bed and folded until it was all folded. Then I put everything away. I hope to attempt to make dinner tonight. I'm thinking my Aunt Lucille's Chicken and Rice Crockpot Dish. Here is the recipe, it is very yummy and she used to fix it for me all the time when I would visit because I loved it so much.

My Aunt Lucille's Chicken And Rice Crock Pot Dish
Batter chicken with flour. Layer chicken in crock pot with 2 cans each cream of onion soup and cream of chicken soup (you can use cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup, but I prefer cream of onion and cream of chicken), salt and pepper each layer, start with the chicken, you will end with the soup. Do not add water or milk to the soup! If you find that after it is all done that the soup is to thin you can add a little flour to thicken. Cook in crock pot on low all day. Serve over rice.

***I make my own cream of onion soup. A lady on a board I read posted how to make cream of whatever you like soup, so I use her method:

I use a plain white sauce as often as not. 2 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp butter or margarine: melt butter, add flour and stir, letting it cook for a minute or two so it doesn't taste floury. Add salt and pepper to taste and add 1 cup milk for medium thick sauce. Stir over heat until it thickens and boils, then add whatever cheese you like and let it melt, or use without cheese. I often add dried chopped onion with the milk if I am going to use this for a casserole base. I do this so I can avoid the salt entirely, but I believe it is cheaper than using soup, although I haven't actually priced it out lately. This white sauce can also serve as a base for cream soups--just add chopped vegetables, mushrooms, for broccoli, cauliflower, etc. soup. Add seasonings that go with your vegetables, and you're done. My family loves broccoli cheese soup made this way. You can thin it a little with stock or milk if you don't like it as thick as this. You can throw in all kinds of leftovers and call it anything you like---it's all edible. Cream of mixed veggie soup (or refrigerator leavings soup, if you prefer.) Throw some grated cheese over the top, maybe a little chopped green onion, and we got ourselves some fancy soup tonight!

Posted by: Marcia

Sunday

2008-09-21T11:29:00.004-04:00

Well we didn't go to The Bass Pro Shop yesterday as planned. We are going today, but as of right now I don't think I'll be joining them. My head it starting to hurt so I'm going to take a pill and go lay down before it gets worst. We were supposed to have met up with some friends at Bass Pro Shop, but they decided to go earlier then we can be there, so I guess we will get together with them at another time.

I did make breakfast this morning. I made sausage, scrambled eggs, toast and cinnamon rolls (fridge canned kind, not homemade). Keith and I went out to dinner last night and we stopped off at Save-A-Lot on the way home and they had the cinnamon rolls really cheap. I got A LOT of stuff there and only spent $40.00! I don't go there a lot because its not the best area to be in, but I don't mind going there with my husband with me. We also stopped off at Walgreens and Keith waited in the car while I was in there, he said while I was in there a cop pulled into the parking lot, parked next to his car and the officer ran into the store, he said he was in there a few minutes then came out with a man in hand cuffs. Keith had the windows down in the car and he said he could hear the man saying, "I didn't do it, it wasn't me, I didn't steal nuttin". The cop then said, "Yea Yea Yea, that's what they all say".

Have a good Sunday!

Update From Friday And Some Saturday Happenings

2008-09-19T13:39:00.008-04:00

My grandson Carter spent the night with us last night (Friday). He went with me to Petsmart and Walmart. We ate dinner at Chick-fil-A. It was so crowded inside so we drove thru the drive thru and ate our dinner in the truck. Carter thought it was so neat that we got to eat in the truck. lol
After we ate we went to Petsmart and I got the cat's some food, Emma a toy lamb and two pink bows for her hair. She hates when I put bows in her hair, but I wanted some that had a clip instead of a rubber band type thingie and these had the clip or I guess I should say barrette. I think I can get her to wear one on the top of her head long enough to get some pictures of her.
In Walmart they have all their fans on clearance I got a window fan for $11.00. Here is a pic of one, but this pic isn't the model I got, it looks like mine and gives your an idea of what mine looks like. walmart.com

The Bass Pro Shop basspro just opened in Ashland, VA (soft opening, the grand opening is Oct. 2-5) and my husband and sons are so excited, they want to go there this evening so I guess we will be going there later. We drove to the one in Hampton, VA last summer and I have to admit I liked the store, it was neat seeing all the neat stuff they have in there.

I have to go to the grocery store at some point today. Tina has picked up Carter yet, she came by and dropped off Wesley and went to tan. When she gets back and gets the boys after she leaves I'll get my shower and get myself ready and then go to the grocery store. I don't know what the plans are for dinner. I think we will just grab something while we are on the way to The Bass Pro Shop. There is a Chinese place by there that we love and we haven't been there in a long time so we might go there, they have a really good buffet and the price is right.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Silly Things To Ponder

2008-09-19T13:39:00.004-04:00

I'll update my blog later, but for now here are some silly things to ponder:

Why does the psychic hotline ask for your credit card number?
Shouldn't they already know it?

In the wintertime, why don't entire clouds freeze and fall to the ground?

How does the snow plow driver get to work?

Why does X stand for kiss and O stand for hugs?

If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

Adding To My Thursday Post

2008-09-18T08:47:00.009-04:00

I'm a member of SheSpeaks http://shespeaks.com/ and yesterday I got my free coupon for the new Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash potatoes. Steam n' Mash combines 100% real potatoes with steam technology for homemade mashed potatoes that are easy enough to make every day. Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash potatoes are already scrubbed, peeled, chopped and ready to steam in the microwave and mash your way.
They come in four, great-tasting varieties and you can find them in the freezer section of your favorite grocery store.
They also sent me some $1.00 off coupons and a potato masher. I cant wait to go to the grocery store and use my free coupon and try this product. I think it will come in handy on nights I don't feel like cooking. I snapped a pic of everything they sent me:

Thursday

2008-09-18T08:47:00.005-04:00

I woke to a nice cool morning today. The temp thingie on my computer says it is now 57 degrees here in Richmond, VA. It is supposed to get into the upper 70's today.
I've been sitting here trying to think of something to make for dinner and I keep thinking about spaghetti, so I think I'll cook some hamburger and throw it and the spaghetti sauce into the crockpot. I aways like to throw in a bay leaf or two into my sauce while it is cooking. My Mama used to do it like that and her sauce was so good. Years ago she used to make it from scratch and we didn't have spaghetti often when I was growing up, it was a treat to have it and she mainly made it in the winter. As she got older she started using the jarred sauces. I make spaghetti all the time. I cheat and use the jarred sauce. Sometimes I cook it in the crockpot and sometimes I just cook it in the microwave, sometimes I don't add hamburger to it, but no matter what method I use I always add the bay leaves. I'll make some biscuits like Red Lobster serves to go with the spaghetti and a toss salad if I still have any lettuce left.

Here is how I make my Red Lobster biscuits:

I use Bisquick, mixed with a little milk, then I grate some cheddar cheese and throw it into the dough, then I add some garlic and parsley and mix well with a fork. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake. I don't measure anything and I don't really time it, I just keep checking until they are done.

I have laundry to do today and I have started on one load so far, I have about 3 more to do, I also have a few baskets of towels to fold. I got behind in my laundry because of the migraines. My boys do their own laundry so I just have mine and Keith's, plus our towels and the kitchen towels and wash clothes. My laundry life got a lot easier when my son's started doing their own laundry. ;)

Wednesday

2008-09-17T15:42:00.002-04:00

I didn't post at all yesterday (Tuesday). I had a horrible migraine the night before and was up all night. Tuesday I wasn't good for anything and started getting another migraine so I slept a lot. I did manage to make dinner. I threw in a pork roast into the crockpot and dumped a bottle of BBQ sauce into it, I served it on hamburger buns. I have to say it was the best BBQ we have ever eaten! I used a bottle of BBQ sauce that is sold at a local grocery store that has a section of dollar items. I think the name of the brand is Den's. I use that brand for my marinating sauce, it is only a dollar (the BBQ sauce was also a dollar) and by far better then the other pricey brands that are sold in the store.

Dinner tonight will be roast with potatoes and carrots cooked in it. I added two cans of Golden Mushroom soup to it for the gravy because I am still feeling wiped out and drained from the migraines and didn't feel I could stand up and make gravy. I'll open a can of peas and a can of biscuits and that will be dinner tonight.

Pictures Of All Four...

2008-09-15T23:41:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures I took of all four of my grandchildren when I watched them all back in late August. I forgot to post it here. It was a rare treat for me to have them all here at the same time. :)

Wesley, Carter, Alyssa and Mallory

Monday Happenings With A Touch Of Weekend Happenings

2008-09-15T08:54:00.007-04:00

I hope I can get this posted. All weekend my internet connection has been coming and going. I was to scared to try to post because I wasn't sure how long I would be connected and I didn't want to type up a post only to lose my connection and my post, so I didn't even try to post. So far this morning everything seems to be working. I think it may be my wireless router, in the pass it has been the problem.

Saturday I went to the grocery store, CVS and Walgreens. I got a few good deals at Walgreens, two bottles of sea salt for $.75 cents each, 4 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, $1.49 each, 3 bottles of nail polish for $.50 cents each, a few other things that for the life of me I cant remember what they are. :x

Saturday dinner was supposed to have been Italian sausage, green peppers and onions. I didn't get that made because I was so late getting back from shopping. I ended up eating a salad, Matt had Chinese take out and Keith had a sammie, I don't remember what Eric ate. Sunday I had a really bad migraine and slept most of the day. I did manage to fix the Italian sausage, green peppers and onions for dinner.

Today I have tons of laundry to do today. I need to get the sheets on my bed changed, clean my bathroom and dust everything in the house and vacuum. I think I'm making roast cooked with carrots and potatoes, gravy and peas for dinner, that is subject to change. It's hot here and I wanted to make homemade dinner rolls, but I don't know if I'll get to make them. I'm hating this heat. Over the weekend our temps were in the 90's. I sure wish fall would get here so we can hurry up and get to winter!

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Friday

2008-09-12T09:45:00.005-04:00

It's hard to believe that it is Friday already. Seems just like yesterday we were starting a new week. I didn't cook dinner last night. Keith call on his way home and he wanted to try this new sandwich place that just opened up across the street from the airport. I hadn't started dinner so it all worked out. I had a ham and cheese sandwich which came with a side order of chili. I'm not sure that kind of sandwich Keith got, it had a lot of meat on it and he said it was pretty good. Mine was good but it had way to much meat on it and it also had coleslaw and some kind of sauce that reminded me of the sauce on a Big Mc. I don't care for either coleslaw or the sauce on a Big Mc. I just picked what I could off of the coleslaw. ;) I ate a few bites of the chili then gave it to Keith.

Thursday morning I woke up and turned the TV on in the living room to watch the news and my TV wouldn't come on. The screen was black and I could hear a steady beeping sound. I tried turning the TV off and it wouldn't turn off, so I unplugged it and it went off. We knew the TV was dying a slow and painful death because it has been acting weird for a while now. When we would turn it on it would take a few minutes for the picture to come on, all we were seeing were black and white lines, after a few minutes the picture would come up. I talked to my daughter Tina and she told me to have Keith and the boys go over to her old house (which is 4 houses down fro mine) and get her TV and use it until we get a new one. She left all her furniture in the house because my grandson's father moved into the house when Tina moved out and he didn't have any thing. He hasn't been staying there, long story, but he wasn't using the TV so Tina wanted us to use it. It is a big screen and when I say big screen this thing is HUGE! It's way to big for my living room and I don't like it, but it will do until we get another. Keith wants to buy the TV from Tina so I might have to just deal with the bigness of the thing. lol It's almost 58' inches wide I don't know how tall it is but it is pretty tall and it sits on the floor. Our old TV wasn't that old, we bought it when we moved into this house in 2002.

My youngest daughter April finally took my granddaughter Alyssa to have her picture made, she got them back the other day. Here is the picture she gave me for my wall of family pictures. Alyssa will be 3 in March.

Dinner tonight will either be take out or we will go somewhere to eat, we haven't decided yet. I normally don't cook on Friday's. I'll have to go to Walmart by myself tonight because Linda has a sorority event she has to go to. I might be able to talk Eric into going with me. I have to stop at Petsmart and get Emma some food also.

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend everyone!

September 11, 2008

2008-09-11T09:09:00.001-04:00

Update: Wednesday DInner

2008-09-10T17:41:00.002-04:00

We just finished dinner and the Cheesesteak Soup is amazing! I will be making this again for sure. It was so filling and I think it would taste even better on a cold winter day. If I lived in a state that got a lot of snow I would have said a cold snowy day. ;) The bread was very good with it too. The soup was super easy to make, although I will confess I messed up after I cut the steak up I forget to drudge it in the flour so I has to take it out of the cooking onions and drudge it into the flour mixture and then put it back into the onions. lol It didn't seem to hurt it any that I had to do that, but in my defense I had mixed up the flour mixture and sat it on the other counter behind me (I have a galley style kitchen) and I totally forgot about it until I turned to answer my granddaughter Mallory and just happened to see the bowl of the flour mixture sitting there, I guess I had put one half of the steak into the onions when I noticed what I had done. lol

Wednesday Dinner

2008-09-10T15:48:00.005-04:00

I am making the Cheesesteak soup for dinner tonight. I was going to take pics of all the steps of the prep work and all but I got half way through it all and remembered I wanted to take pics for my blog, OOPS! I'll try to take a pic of the finished soup. I didnt buy the bread bowls, but I did buy a round loaf of Artisan Bread, Multigrain Boule, I've never ate that kind before so I hope it is good. I'll slice it up and warm it up a little and serve it with the soup. I'm making a carrot cake for dinner. It's box mix, Duncan Hine's Decadent Carrot Cake http://www.duncanhines.com/carrotcake/. It is in the oven now and my house smell SO good. I didn't even know they made a cake like this. I just happened to be looking in the cake mixes the other day in the grocery store and there it was on the bottom shelve. I got a can of cream cheese frosting to on the cake. In case anyone missed the Cheesesteak Soup recipe here it is:

Cheesesteak Soup Recipe
courtesy Aaron McCargo
See this recipe on air (Food Network) Sunday Sep. 07 at 1:30 PM ET/PT.Show: Big Daddy's House Episode: Mentor Madness

1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 large onions, diced small
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin sliced lengthwise and cubed
6 cups water
1/4 cup beef bouillon cube powder
8 ounces sliced American cheese
Bread bowls, hollowed out, for serving
Sliced chives, to garnish
Chopped parsley leaves, to garnish
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat oil. Add onions and saute for 2 to 3 minutes on high until fragrant and tender. In a large bowl, mix salt, pepper, flour, onion powder, and garlic powder together. Add meat to seasoned flour. Dredge to coat and add flour and meat to pot with onions. Cook until meat is lightly browned, stirring frequently for about 8 to 10 minutes. Add water and beef bouillon to pot and continue to cook and stir on high until soup begins to thicken. Bring to a boil. Turn heat off and add cheese. Cover the pot with a lid and allow the cheese to sit and melt. Pour into bread bowls and garnish with chives and parsley.