Next Blog>>>

have you ever used the Next Blog button at the top of the screen?
WOW.
there are some amazing people on here! like Farm Girl Paints, Free People, Life After Elijah...and so many more that i can't remember the names of! there are peach farmers, muslims, ex-mormons, transients and party animals! i've seen food blogs and craft blogs and baby blogs and divorce blogs! i even ran into a Haiku blog where the guy made a post every hour, on the hour!
people are just blogging it up, aren't they?
and all these family blogs...where are these women? these incredibly blonde, thin women who pack up their 5 kids and go on month long vacations to italy and croatia while they're 8 months pregnant with kid number 6? really? what? i'm thinking....is this the candid camera blog? no way people really live that way!

i feel really incompetent when i start looking at some of other people's blogs...especially the food and craft blogs. but...i feel comfort knowing that jeff moss is probably the only person who reads this stuff.

TGIF tomorrow y'all!

The Roaring 20's

well--today is the last day of my 20's.
on the way to work this morning, i was thinking that the theme for my 20's was definitely "Poor Decision Making".  as i'm thinking this (i'm a big thinker, as y'all know), i considered making bad decisions all day to commemorate my 20's. Like...chocolate covered doughnuts for breakfast, whataburger for lunch, speeding down the highway, telling a juicy secret (i actually have several of these that i have never repeated--big change for me over the last 15 years)...
anyway...then i started thinking about all the truly bad decisions i've made, and how hard this past decade has been...how it started off SOOOO different when i was turning 20, and how my own decisions made it SO hard on me...I made it so hard on ME.
i started to get
D
O
W
N
thinking of all the people i had disappointed and all the tears my mother has cried because of me...thoughts like that just tend to build on themselves. i got all the way to Brody's school, and was basically in tears when i pulled up.  i collected myself, and jumped out of the truck to unload him and get to work.
as i opened Brody's door i looked at his face:
those green eyes
those freckles
that little mouth
white legs
that wavy red hair
i thought...SCREW THIS! who's to say that what i've made were "mistakes"? who decides? who holds the point of reference on these things? God? NO-God was in charge always, even then.
So, who? your parents? your friends?
your "potential"? 
i mean, who is going to look me in the eye and tell me Brody was a mistake?

i dare you.

more like...BEST THING EVER!  i'm so happy to have made ALLLL those mistakes! yes it was hard, sure i regret it, and of course it wasn't ideal....but so what? it's ok! and it was humbling and revealing and motivational...it changed me for better...NOT worse.  it changed my family, and my focus and my friends. i brought us together.  Brody brought us together. he brought me closer to God, closer to my mother, closer to my friends and even my enemies!

now, I LOVE my 20's! look at everything i learned! i'll never look back with disdain again. i'll never rake myself over the coals of my past again. and i'll forgive everyone for everything...because I have been forgiven!

SO-in memory of my 20's....of everyone's 20's....i'm not going to give some high-falootin' recipe with some yuppy ingredients. instead...here's my culinary tip for the 20's:

Jello Shots:
one box of jello
a couple ice trays
an ENTIRE bottle of clear liquor

mix it all up, freeze it, and take WAAAAAAAY too many!

Trash Can Punch:

3 oranges
3 lemons
3 apples
3 GIANT bottles of hawaiian  punch
2 gallons orange juice
half gallon rum
half gallon vodka
half gallon everclear

pour it all in a HUGE ice chest filled with ice, let it sit all day, and then drink with all your friends!

and for a snack:
ez cheese sprayed all over a ritz cracker!

HERE'S TO BAD DECISIONS!!!

Adios, 20's!

monday monday

ahhhhh monday.  i'm never excited about mondays. for some reason, the weekends always seem a day short.  18 days til summer and i am counting each one of them!!  i cannot wait to wake up, drink several cups of coffee while i'm still in my nightgown and then cook a big breakfast for all the kids. i love the laziness of summer vacation, and i love the craziness of it...i love going and doing all day long: swimming, then the beach, then games at my moms, then dinner outside in our backyard, then watching movies 'til we can't keep our eyes open anymore!!! 

well----friday we had a summer-ish afternoon...here are some pictures.

well i'm having trouble getting pictures on here so there will just be this one...until i can figure this out!

HAPPY MONDAY!

TGIF

so this morning when i dropped brody off at school, i was late as always...but something prompted me to get allllll the papers out of his cubby-hole. when i got in the car, a thin, white sheet of paper dropped out and caught my attention. the top of it read "Port Aransas Youth Soccer League".  at first i started to cry---is my child really big enough to play a sport? to be on a team? to have practice? and games? Then i had a vision of him in little black windshorts, with tall socks and a jersey with a number on it. HOW CUTE, i thought! Then i had another vision--this time of that jersey falling into the grass and another kid (probably a Moss girl--haha jeff) running up and mistaking his head for the soccer ball and kicking it with all her might! YIKES! that brought a smile to my face for some odd reason and i realized: i need to sign him up and make sure my camera battery is fully charged!
but seriously--the time flies by and sometimes i feel completely left in the dust.

when did my baby learn compassion?
i say my stomach hurts...
he says "oh momma, i will rub you and make you feel better. lay down and i will rub you."

when did my baby learn sarcasm?
i say look at those clouds!
he says "oh ya that weather is reeeeal nice, huh momma?" 

when did brody learn manipulation?
i say NO.
he says "but i love you momma!"

with kids and dogs and chores and jobs...it can be easy to forget to stop and smell the sweet smell of toddler sweat, and enjoy the rowdy whackiness of a kid learning to jump off the couch, and it's even easier to forget how one year ago, i was desperate to teach him to say "i love you".

and it is the same with Sean and Emma (my step kids-for lack of a better term). two days ago i walked in the door from work and Emma, who's 6 (we have them every other night)...ran up to me and said "I MISSED YOU! Can we watch a Jesus movie!" i was floored! when did Emma start missing me? when did she start craving Jesus! I practically danced right there in the foyer! i have spent a year trying to get closer and closer to these kids and praying for a place in their heart....and it happened!! and i think i missed it!!
but...OH...i am so glad. and i am so glad that Brody is growing up on schedule.
i just need to slooooooow down...and pay attention. because my life is unfolding in the best way possible.
and to steal a quote my good friend jeff moss:
"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
--Dr. Seuss

Haters

so...i have this friend named jeff moss. some of you probably know him. he thinks it's HILARIOUS to "track" my blog on facebook. he seems to be taking bets on when i will abandon it. and, although it's been 3 days since my last post, i think he's WRONG! however, his "blog tracker" group on facebook does seem to be gaining members! so...for that, i am thankful!
today i will be making hospitality dishes for a couple friends who are in need.
i assemble these, write the directions on the plastic lid of a throwaway pan, and then deliver them!

king ranch chicken
-corn tortillas
-can of rotel
-rotisserie chicken (or you can cook your own chicken if you have time) shredded
-mexican cheese
-cream of chicken soup
-cream of mushroom soup.

mix everything but the tortillas and half the bag of cheese, layer tortillas, mixture, tortillas, mixture...then sprinkle on the last half of the bag of CHEEEESE!!!!

put the plastic lid on your aluminum throwaway pan, and write "350 for 35 minutes" on it!

Baked Ziti

-tubular pasta-or bowtie, or corkscrew, or whatever floats your boat. i like NO COOK rigatoni
-spaghetti sauce ( i always season with garlic and put in some herbs like basil and parsley)
-mushrooms--or whatever veggies/meat you wanna add
-mozzerella cheese

mix it all together and cover with CHEEEESE!!!!

put the plastic lid on your aluminum throwaway pan, and write "350 for 35 minutes" on it!

VOILA!!!

Mother's Day

as mother's day approaches, i am feeling that feeling again....that "oh crap i forgot to get my mom something" feeling! well--lucky for me, we are already planning on spending the entire weekend together! actually, she is helping me work all weekend in Boerne, Texas. what an awesome thing for her to give up her entire weekend to help me. there's nobody in the world like you're mother. i see it with our kids too...there's just a certain something there that nobody can ever hold a candle to.
here are some other people's feelings about mothers:

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln



All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. ~Oscar Wilde

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving

Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not. ~James Joyce

so true.

so, to my mother, who has dug through the stinking dunghill that has surrounded me and found the person who i am proud to say i've become! there's absolutely no way i would be here today if it weren't for you!
i love you mom!

still struggling

well-i tried to put a picture of us in the title...which you can see...and it didn't work so well. i'm still trying to learn how to do all of this, so bear with me. no recipes today...i had bunco last night and kelly did security at the port, so i didn't make dinner. HOWEVER, i made some migas for breakfast the other day using the leftover shrimp and goat cheese enchiladas...and they were AMAZING! kelly said it was the best thing i ever made!
all i did was whisk some eggs in a bowl with about 1/2 cup of pico de gallo, scramble them, throw in the leftover (and chopped up) enchiladas, mix them all together, then put in a pan and bake on 350 til the cheese melted...oh ya, i put a little more cheese on top. i love cheese, can't seem to ever have TOO much, so i always add a little more! i, personally, LOVE the burnt parts of the cheese on the side of the pan...ohhhhh that makes me want LASAGNA! maybe that's what i'll make tonight...

Scrambled Eggs for Kelly (Hamby)

ok kelly-as you requested:

these should really be called "kitchen sink" eggs, because i basically used whatever was in sling's fridge.

that day it happened to be:

a couple handfuls of mushrooms
some leftover new potatoes from the crazy cajun we had the night before-diced up
green onions
a half a yellow onion
four strips of turkey bacon
4 eggs
half a bag of any kind of shredded cheese ( i think i used sharp cheddar)

first cook your bacon: you can fry, microwave or broil turkey bacon. i like to broil it. get that done, put it on some paper towels to cool.
THEN--you cook the stuff that takes the longest. i used butter, but olive/canola oil would work fine too! sautee the mushrooms and onions in a skillet with the butter.  when they're almost done, add in the diced up potatoes. season with salt and pepper. (never put salt on mushrooms until they are allllmost done). then take out of the pan and put in a bowl.
add another tablespoon of butter to that same skillet. put in all the eggs. get your spatula and start scramblin'! put lots of pepper and some salt on them. when they are allllmost done, dump the mushroom/potato/onion mixture in and the cheese. incorporate it all until the cheese gets all melty!
crumble the bacon into it and drop in some chopped green onions. mix it all together. serve with toast! YUM!

this is hard!

well--i'm trying to figure this all out, and make it my own, but it's not so easy! for some reason the words are over in the "design" part of my blog!
so-one of the things i want to do here is post recipes, so here is my first shot at it...i made this last night:
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas
you'll need:
corn tortillas (at least 15 because some of them will rip)
some vegetable oil
1 and 1/2 lbs shrimp (i like the already peeled and deveined kind)
2 cans of tomatillo sauce or salsa verde (i like el paso brand)
two small wedges of goat cheese ( i like the kind that's immersed in red wine)
a half a bag of monterrey jack cheese
a half of a red onion
a handful of cilantro (chopped)

heat oven to 350.

first you'll make the tortillas soft by getting the vegetable oil hot in a skillet, then dipping the tortillas in it for one second, then flipping to the other side for one second, then taking it out and putting it on a stack of paper towels...do all the tortillas. use tongs for this.

then put 2 tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons oil in a skillet on med-high. pour the shrimp in and season ( i use cavender's greek seasoning on everything, even this). shrimp cook quickly....so don't try to multi-task while you do this. if the oil gets used up, just add some more! after about a minute or two, run your large spoon through the shrimp and try to turn them all. take them out with a slatted spoon and put in a bowl. you can do this in batches.

pour half a can of the green sauce into your 9x13 baking dish and spread around.

then you'll cut a sliver of the goat cheese (i like a lot of cheese, some people don't, so this is up to you) and put it in the tortilla, put 4 or 5 shrimp on top and roll it up! place seam side down in the baking dish. once you've filled up the baking dish, cover with a full can of the green sauce, and then cover with moterrey jack cheese, and chopped red onion.

bake in the oven at 350 til the cheese bubbles. pour chopped cilantro over the dish when you take it out of the oven. let rest 10 minutes before serving.

serve with black beans and sauvignon blanc!!

First Entry!!

well....this is my first time to BLOG! crazy...i will add pictures soon. so many of my friends have these blogs, and i LOVE them. what a great way to keep up!