Labels: death, Veronique

What is it about spending time with him that I want? Yeah, ok, the eyes and the ridiculous dimples. But so what? I meet guys all the time who are good looking, I thought I was over that part of my life where looks dictated the way I felt about a person.
How much does his interest in me play a part? I think it has almost double the power because someone like him shouldn't be interested in me. Single mom of three? He was only ten when I had Amanda. He should be interested in hot twenty something's with a gym membership that they actually use and a permanent VIP pass to any hot club you've never heard of.
And I tell myself every day that he is. And that I am just another one of those girls he is trying to conquer before he stops being a young guy and meets the woman who makes him decide to be a man.
Now I feel like very few of us older women are that girl who makes them stop. And I feel like when we are it is because we have a purpose to be. We want to change that guy, we want to be the ones who make them grow.
I don't want another kid. I don't want to mold anyone. I want a finished peice with a few rough edges and maybe a chip or two, but done.
You know what I am scared of? I'm scared that he actually likes me this much and that the longer he likes me this much, the more I want to spend time with him. I like him. We have a good time. He's funny and... I think real. Or he's really good at pretending to be genuine.
See that? That is me not wanting to give him a chance. I think it all the time, that he is just playing me and once I sleep with him, he'll be done. And I've been too careful with my heart this time... waiting and waiting and waiting until I started to feel right about him. And now I am starting to feel that and I keep pushing it away.
Am I pushing it away because I know deep down it's wrong or am I pushing him away because I am scared of falling for him and it is just easier to not take him seriously.
He keeps asking me why I won't take him seriously.
I don't know.
But I think we are going to find out this weekend.

Labels: My pathetic excuse for a love life

Below is a repost from Real Hope For Haiti's need list at this time.
Our local dollar tree sells most of these items for a dollar, does yours?

Donation of goods to Haiti
By haitirescuecenter
We have a friend that is collecting donated good for us at a warehouse. These items are to be shipped to Haiti. If you have items you can ship them to

Debbie Woodward
Main Office
Northrup King Building
1500 Jackson St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Current needs list
infant formula
powdered milk
ensure milk
oil
other staples
canned meat
canned vegetables
canned beans
canned tomato products
juice mixes

triple antibiotic oint
vitamins
tylenol
ibuprofen
antibiotics
hydrocortizone cream
anti-fungal cream
oral hypoglycemics – metformin, glyburide
seizure meds – pheno
gauze
gloves
kerlex, cling
IV fluids
angiocaths
casting materials
cast saw
surgical blades
sutures – all kinds
syringes

tents
tarps
mattresses
sheets
pillows
hygiene items
laundry soap
disinfectant
copy paper
bug spray
garden seeds – corn, beans (lima, black, etc), watermelon, tomato, eggplant
garden tools – hoe, machete, pick-ax, sickle (digo)
buckets
flashlights
rechargeable lanterns
batteries
dishes
cups
spoons
cooking pots

nails – 3″, 4″, tin
wire
paint
doors
boards – 2×4, 1×4
plywood
shovels
hammers
wheelbarrows


generator
inverter
electric wire
batteries
water pump – 4″
bulldozer
back-hoe
ambulance-like truck

If you would like Debbie’s phone number please email me or if you have any question please let me know. We know some of these needs are big but we want you to know what we are looking for. Thanks so much for all you help.

When you go shopping next, take this list with you and just grab whatever you can grab and get it in a box! Let's do our part :-)

They sure didn't find any help here :-)

Labels: My pathetic excuse for a love life, statcounter

How is it even possible that five years have passed since we've spoken? Five years of not talking to you on the phone, not discussing boys and their drama, not telling you stories about the girls, not gossiping about our friends... Five years of missed Christmases and missed birthdays and missed anniversaries.
Five years.
Your pictures sit on my dresser and the other day Triniti was asking me about you and it broke my heart that she will not even know you. I pulled up this picture of you to show her that she had known you... That you had been there, held her, bought her clothes, watched her sleep, laughed when she got curly hair and loved her.
You loved her. I wish she could know you. I wish you could see how surprising she is. How she leaves everyone notes everywhere telling them she loves them.


You loved her. I wish you could see the amazing person she is becoming. The way she wants to give everyone everything and the way she laughs and how smart she is.


You loved her. I wish you could see how she is becoming a young woman. The way she is boy crazy and yet grounded, you would love to talk to her and hear how she is living and learning and growing.


You loved her. And she misses you more than words can say.

Labels: Amanda, death, Emilee, soul sisters, Triniti, Veronique

are making my work day surreal.

Labels: At work, my crazy life, My pathetic excuse for a love life

~Train

(I haven't found this to embed yet but the lyrics themselves are wonderful...)

I'd give anything but I won't give up on you
I'd say anything, but not goodbye
I will run with your changes and I'm always on your side
And there's not a word I've ever heard that would make me change my mind

Words they'll try to shake you
Don't let them break you
Or stop your world from turning
When words keep you from feeling good
Use them as I would and let them burn

Like stones in your pocket people try to wear you down
Someone always wants to take the love you've found
So let's runs with these changes and I want you by my side
And there's not a word I've ever heard that would make me change my mind

Words they'll try to shake you
Don't let them break you
Or stop your world from turning
When words keep you from feeling good

Use them as I would and let them burn
Let them burn
Let them burn
Underneath every word somebody's heart been broken
With or without words we try to forget

Words they'll try to shake us
Don't let them break us
Or stop our world from turning
When words keep you from feeling good
Use them as I would and let them burn

Words they'll try to shake you
Don't let them break you
Or stop your world, stop your world from turning
When words keep you from feeling good
Use them as I would and let them burn

Let them burn
Let them burn

Labels: music, song of the day, stuff I like

Today I am going to have my coffee, work out, do housework, take a shower, go into Boerne and pick up cards for the two babies I get to see today, take Emilee and Trin to my mom's, maybe stop by work for no particular reason and get the whole seeing the cute boy out of my system, smile, go see brand new baby #1 who was born Thursday, hang out for a little while, go see brand new baby #2 who was born last month, pick up the daughters, go to Home Depot and get dirt and maybe pots for my new berry plants, and come back home and plant them.
I believe I will take pictures while out on this adventure.
Have a great day people.

Labels: my crazy life

I am so glad that I am not thirteen.
It is one of those deceiving ages that you are so excited to reach and then once you are there and all of the drama starts happening, you want to get away from it as quickly as possible.
You, much to my... (what's the word? Surprise? Dismay? Utter terror?) have just broken up with your second boyfriend. I use the word boyfriend loosely here since it doesn't really mean what you want it to mean yet... in fact sister, it may not mean what you want it to mean for a long time. And when it does finally, you may want it to mean something else entirely.
Relationships are tricky.
And they are going to stay that way for awhile.
I have always been a little afraid of the day when you would come to me and then not want my advice since, for the majority of your life, I've been single. And hey, what do I know right? I'm just your old spinster mom...
Oh the things you don't know :-)
And one day we can have a long chat if you feel so inclined but for now, I just feel like I need to remind you that I am here.
When you came home yesterday afternoon and you went straight to your room instead of poking your head into the kitchen to ask me what we are having for dinner because you are STARVING, I knew something was wrong.
I waited a few minutes to see if you would magically emerge but you didn't... even Emilee came in and asked me what was up. I decided to give you some space, after all you'd been surrounded by people all day and maybe you just needed ten minutes of time to yourself. But when I called you for dinner and you said you'd eat later, Emilee and I looked at each other and knew something was up.
Emilee, being a little sleuth, got online and started chatting with ya'll's facebook friends and in two minutes had the news. You and Gabe had broken up.
We got you out of your room but you barely ate and you didn't want to talk about it yet, just said you were sad.
It wasn't until last night when we were getting ready for bed that you told me what had happened and it wasn't until I came in to tuck you in and saw you crying in your room that I really understood the enormity of it all that you were feeling.
It's easy for us, as adults, to roll our eyes and make your one week relationship ending so small in our minds. But the reason it is easy for us is because we've experienced it as being huge. And then we experienced the next huge thing and the next and the next and before we knew it, we could look back at the first handful of boys who hurt our feelings and roll our eyes because in comparison to everything that has happened since, it is little to us. But it became that way because we experienced it and it hurt and then it hurt a little less when the next thing hurt a little more.
So, Amanda, as much as I hate to say it and as much as I hate to see you going through it, it's all necessary. You have to feel this way so that later you will know that you don't want to. And you have to "go out" with these stupid boys because that way you will learn that you don't want these traits in boys.
I hate watching you go through it all. I wish I could hand you a book and say after you read it, you will understand and you can skip all the bullshit, but the fact is - you have to experience things.
But, the promise I am making you right now is that I will be here for you every single time you get your feelings hurt and I promise to always, always remember the enormity of what you are feeling.
I love you.
~Your Mom

Labels: Amanda, Being a Chic, Being Mommy, unsolicited advice

Labels: Daisy Dog, photography

~Train



Hey, Hey, Hey,

Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains
I knew I wouldn't forget you and so I went and let
You blow my mind
Your sweet moon beam
The smell of you in every single dream I dream
I knew when we collided you're the one I have decided
Who's one of my kind

Hey soul sister ain't that mister mister on the radio stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister I don't want to miss a single thing you do
Tonight
Heeey Heeeeey heeeey...

Just in time I´m so glad you have a one track mind like me
You gave my life direction
A game show love connection we can't deny
I´m so obsessed my heart is bound to beat right
Out my untrimmed chest
I believe in you like a virgin your Madonna
And I'm always gonna want to blow your mind

Hey soul sister ain't that mister mister on the radio stereo
The way you move aint fair you know
Hey soul sister I don't want to miss a single thing you do
Tonight

Way you can cut a rug
Watching you's the only drug I need
So gangster I'm so thug
You're the only one I'm dreaming of you see
I can be myself now finally
In fact there's nothing I can't be
I want the world to see you be with me

Hey soul sister ain't that mister mister on the radio stereo
The way you move aint fair you know
Hey soul sister I don't want to miss a single thing you do
Tonight
(Repeat)
Hey, Hey, Hey, Tonight

Labels: music, song of the day, stuff I like

The word of the day is: perspective.
Yesterday, in our quarterly meeting, I was enjoying the constant praise that our location was receiving. I can't help it, I'm human and humans like to hear that they are kicking ass.
Despite the fact that I had a really rough weekend with the girls contracting head lice and the warrant for my arrest that had just been issued for a speeding ticket I got in 2001 (Nine. Years. Ago.), the former of the two having forced me to take a day off that I really needed to work, I was in really good spirits.
I had a really good attitude because I had pushed myself to finish all of the work I needed to get done before the meeting. I'd helped out in areas that I hadn't really needed to help out in because I'd wanted to.
In short, I'd done a good job and I was pretty happy with myself.

At about two o'clock, my boss leaned over and said, "did you hear about what happened in Haiti? They had another earthquake this morning, a 6.1..."
I hadn't heard.
Suddenly, the lady from marketing was fading out and all I could think about was how was Haiti going to survive another earthquake? How many more people were going to die? How many more were going to be brutally injured? Who was going to help them?
My eyes started to well up right there in the middle of the marketing section of our quarterly meeting. I wanted to go the bathroom and just sit down and cry.
I don't understand everything you know? I don't understand how things like this happen. I don't understand the why.
I didn't excuse myself.
I shouldered those tears and tried to focus on the meeting that suddenly felt empty and ridiculous.
By the end of the hour, I'd managed to push Haiti into a corner in my mind and put my participation in the meeting back in the forefront. After marketing, it was time for awards.
Awards.
Plaques.
Checks.
I've been with my company for two and a half years.
In the last two years, I have implemented systems that our entire region is now required to use. I've trained other office managers on them. I've helped out with everything I could possibly think to help with. I've set the standards of office management on many levels.
I really thought that I was going to get an award.
And I didn't.
And it stung.
And it's stupid.
Because people in Haiti are trapped and dying and without water and medical attention.
Because other stores in our company are closing, people are fighting for their jobs.
And I am sitting there pouting. I had the audacity to pout. To be angry.
Lola reminded me yesterday that my feelings are valid. That I'd worked hard and I deserved to be upset that I hadn't been recognized. My feelings were valid.
But without perspective I think.
I am lucky every single day that I have a home, a job, security in both of those things. That my children are healthy and that head lice, no matter how icky and inconvenient, was the worse thing to happen to them this year. They are happy, they have bright futures.
I am lucky.
We are, all of us, lucky.
So today, I am refocusing. I am not focused on the fact that I didn't win an award yesterday. I am not focused on the head lice or the stupid hundrend and twenty bucks I had to pay for a warrant for a freaking ticket from nine years ago. Today I am having perspective. I am grateful for the things I have and I appreciate them.

Labels: At work, Being a Chic, being a Home Owner, being American, Being Mommy, daughters, my crazy life

I usually buy my chicken at Sam's Club.
You can get a ten pound bag of boneless-skinless frozen chicken breasts for $22.00.
Yesterday when I went grocery shopping though, I was really hoping I wouldn't have to go to Sam's.... I was really hoping I'd find a good deal on chicken at HEB (our local grocery chain).
And you know what?
I totally did.
First of all, regular boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.99 a pound. PERFECT I thought. That is going to save me a trip to Sam's for today.
But then, my little school skipping daughter says, "hey Mom, look at these, they are marked down."

The "this" she was referring to was the all natural chicken breasts that sit next to the processed, additives added chicken I was buying.


Here's the thing, dear reader, I love organic. I love all natural. I buy it whenever I can possibly manage to because I know it's better for us. But most of the time, it is twice the price and I just can't afford all that.
This time it wasn't twice the price, it was less than the regular chicken I had been about to buy. Why? Because it's sell by date was two days away.
I care not for sell by dates because I freeze everything in my trusty stand alone freezer in the laundry room.
When I started loading up, I almost chickened out (pun so totally intended) because I saw that about half of them were bone in, skin on. Now, I can debone a chicken breast pronto, and I will if I need to. But mostly, I am all about convenience. I don't want to have to mess with it all.
I hesitated.
And then I had the shocking realization that by buying these, I would not only save money on the chicken, but I could also cross the organic, four dollars a quart chicken stock I had on my list off. Why? Because I could make my own.

Here is the break down of the cash:
I bought 19.57lbs of chicken for $28.67, roughly $1.50 a pound!
(That is almost twice the amount of chicken I would have got at Sam's for only six bucks more!)
Additionally I was able to make almost a gallon of all natural chicken stock using the bones and all of my veggie scraps. A gallon of all natural chicken stock would have cost me about $16.00 at the store.

So, as you can see - I SAVED.

BUT what did I do with all of it?
Well, first I took it all off the bone and removed the skin. I had three large bowls. One for the skin (which I don't use or keep), one for the bones (for the stock) and one for the chicken.

Once I had it all separated, I threw away the skins and put the bones on to cook in a big pot of water.


Then I had to figure out what to do with the chicken.

In a few quart sized bags, I put about six cloves of minced garlic...


and a half a cup of buttermilk and about eight chicken breasts cut into two inch chunks. This will be for me to fry chicken nuggets with later. Labeled and into the freezer it goes.


I then cut the whole breasts in half, length-wise, creating two smaller but still whole chicken breasts. (I find that the girls and I can very rarely eat a whole chicken breast by ourselves.) Then I grabbed the bottle of Italian dressing I had bought just for this very purpose...


And put about six to eight of them into a labeled bag headed to the freezer....


Then I put the remaining chicken, six to eight breasts at a time, into quart sized bags unseasoned (I don't know what I might want to do with them later)...
By the time I was done, I had EIGHT bags of chicken in the freezer and three breasts left out for the dinner I was making that night.

I went through my veggie drawer and grabbed anything that was about to get bad and chunked it into the pot, I also started cleaning all of the vegetables I had bought, throwing their stems and extra parts into the stock. Additionally, I cleaned up the kale I was using for my two experiment dinner/snack items I was making that night and threw the kale stems in.
This is what it all looked like when I turned it off to cool.


It smelled amazing. The girls kept coming in to tell me as much. I let it cool for about an hour and then strained it and poured it into a gallon pitcher. I wanted it to cool completely before I put it into bags and into the freezer.

In the midst of all of this I cooked two different recipes which I will be posting later and I also prepared beef in a marinade for something I will make later this week and froze it as well as a meatloaf which I also made and froze.
Pictures got scarce about four hours in ;-)

Labels: Being Mommy, cooking, shopping

I can't explain how it happened... Haiti was like a friend I hadn't met yet... Several months ago, I saw a link on Facebook that led me to a blog called Watching the Waters. I love this blog. I read it several times a week. The strength that Corey shows daily just blows my mind.
At some point early on, she linked to another blog called Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center.
You may remember a few months ago that I posted this... that was from that blog.
It was the children.
The children kept me coming back.
The children deepened that feeling I have inside of me that makes me want to do more to help out in this world, a world where what I have is unfathomable to these people. Where a dollar a day really does save their life.
I'm humbled.

I heard about the earthquake in Haiti the same way you did... and I knew right away that it was going to be catastrophic damage. Life destroying damage. I didn't want to turn on the tv and see the footage, I didn't want to google it and see the photos. I didn't want to find out that the amazingly wonderful people that run RHFH Rescue Center were hurt or worse.
I went there first. Got onto my computer and pulled up the website that shows me every day what it means to really devote your life to making a difference. That shows me every day how they save the children.

"We are okay. The wall are cracked in several places. We have heard town is worse. There are lots of aftersocks and tremors happening right now."

They are posting more now.
Photos of the damage, photos of the injured, photos of the dead lining the streets... but they are also posting photos of the lives they are saving... it is those photos I would encourage you to go and see. Go and see the good that they are doing and when you feel compelled to, and I know you will, click on the little paypal button and donate something, anything. Five dollars if it is all you have because five dollars will go further than you can imagine there.
Make a difference... even if it is a little difference because it is a difference any way.

This post should be titled: How I didn't follow the rules while attempting to duplicate Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Veronese recipe.
For starters, I didn't EVEN have time for the two hour marinade time the chicken required since I decided to make this yesterday right before I left work. I get off of work at 3:30p. So I ran to the store to get a few things that I didn't have at home that I needed for this. Like gnocchi... because I wasn't even about to attempt to make that from scratch on a Tuesday.
I am not Super Woman people.
I got home at 4:30p.
My girls get home, starving and cranky at 4:45p... Clearly, two hour marinade was not happening.
I threw the chicken in a bowl with the lemon, rosemary (mmmmmmm rosemary) and garlic (which I wanted to add SO MUCH MORE OF... I love garlic) as soon as I walked in the door.
Like before I even unloaded the groceries.

Then I got to work julienning (Is that even a word?) my zucchini...
Now, a month or so ago, Ryan over on This Is Reverb did a post about a breakfast casserole and he used a mandoline slicer.
That is what I retained: MANDOLINE SLICER
I did not retain: JULIENNE ATTACHMENT
So for Christmas, Emilee got me a plain old, no attachments mandoline slicer. I naively thought yesterday that I could use it for this soup.
Oh, the things I learn.

Now here is where I really just threw the directions out the window.
This recipe calls for two things that I did not want to do:
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced (julienned)
Ok, let's start with the onion. While I was IN Wal-Mart, I called my mom. The conversion went like this:
Me: Hey, what the hell is a vidalia onion?
Mom: It's a sweet onion, like a Georgia onion.
Me: Uhm, ok. Do they have those at Wal-Mart?
Mom: Sure.
Me: [standing in front of the onion selection] Uh... what color are they?
I usually buy one of the three major onion types depending on what I am using it for: Yellow, White, Purple
I didn't know Yellow = Sweet.
Now I do.
Additionally, onions make me cry when I cut them.
A LOT.
So, I usually try and scam a daughter into doing it for me... usually Amanda because she says if she chews gum, her eyes won't water. And guess what! I have gum she can chew. But here was the dilemma: I needed the onions VERY. FINELY. CHOPPED. so that the daughters wouldn't bitch about them being in the soup and I knew Amanda would do a rough chop so I wasn't sure how to proceed.

Then I looked over at the stupid red bell pepper. Here's something you may not know about me - I loathe and abhor bell peppers, any color. I know that when a recipe calls for them, it is important to include them because they bring flavor, but I don't want to bite into them.
Not at all.

So, as it happens, I received a Bullet Express for Christmas. I love my Bullet Express. We use it just about every day. And I had the brilliant albeit not following the recipe idea to throw my onion and red bell pepper into the food processor attachment and chop them up that way. Into teeny tiny pieces.
It didn't go down like that.
It turned them into an onion and bell pepper smoothie.
So, you know, do with that what you will.
I did what any fly by the seat of your pants cook would do and say Oh Well and moved on. I threw the zucchini into my oil and started to saute it. As it was cooking, I slowly added the onion and red bell pepper mix to it. It smelled heavenly.


As it was cooking, I mixed my heavy cream, ricotta cheese and parmesan together into a bowl and checked the directions.


And realized I had a problem.
The problem was two fold. First, I had doubled the recipe. Second, I didn't have a pan large enough to combine all of my ingredients. I had a pot, sure, but the recipe called for a pan.
I also realized I needed to start boiling some water for the gnocchi.
And start my chicken.
I did both simultaneously. Because I rock.
When the little gnocchi started to float, I poured them into my strainer and then took the pot I had cooked them in and put my cream and cheese mixture in it with my sauteed veggies and the gnocchi and turned it onto medium.


The chicken with the rosemary smelled so good.
It didn't brown though because I was cooking it too low.


I stirred the cream and veggie mixture pretty constantly to keep it from sticking or burning or exploding. As the cheese melted, it went through some interesting texture changes.


I added the chicken pieces as they cooked since I had crammed so many of them in there and all...


Then it was done... and so very good. We ate it with HUGE chunks of garlic bread with parmesan melted on it. There is no picture of that though because WE WERE HUNGRY.


I, being such a good follower of recipes and directions and rules, didn't add anything additional of course.


What? I didn't do that! Who put that picture there?
I would never do that... even if it's...


From the Olive Garden recipe website...


Ingredients
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced (julienned)
½ zucchini, sliced, (julienned)
Salt to taste
4 chicken breasts, sliced in ½” strips
2 small branches rosemary
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of ½ lemon

Veronese Sauce
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup ricotta cheese
14 fl oz heavy cream

Gnocchi
2 qt water
6 oz all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2 lbs russet potatoes
2 tsp salt
OR (if you are in a hurry and can't cook worth a crap, like me)
1 lb gnocchi (potato dumplings), cooked according to package directions

Procedures
NOTE: You may make your own gnocchi by following the steps below, or you may purchase them already made.

Gnocchi
WASH potatoes and place in water. Cook potatoes until soft (cook time will depend on size of potatoes). Remove potatoes from water and cool in refrigerator.
PEEL cooled potatoes and push them through a fine grater (rice grater) until mashed; do not over-mash potatoes or they will get tough.
COMBINE potatoes, flour and eggs in a mixing bowl. Mix well until dough does not stick to hands (add small amounts of flour at a time if needed).
DIVIDE dough into 4 sections. Roll out each section into a long rope. Cut each rope into ½” pieces. Push fork tines on each piece for the classic gnocchi appearance.
BRING water to a boil in a sauce pot. Drop in gnocchi and cook until they float.


Chicken & Sauce
COMBINE garlic, lemon juice, rosemary and chicken slices in a mixing bowl. Let marinate for at least 2 hours.
COMBINE Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese and heavy cream in a mixing bowl and set aside.
HEAT sauté pan on medium high. Add extra virgin olive oil, onions, bell peppers, and zucchini. Saute until onions are translucent (do not brown).
ADD marinated chicken slices and cook until slices are brown on all sides and internal temperature is 165°F. Reduce heat and add sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer.
DRAIN cooked gnocchi and add to pan with chicken, vegetables and sauce. Stir to coat gnocchi with sauce.
SERVE gnocchi topped with extra Parmesan cheese.

Labels: cooking, recipes, stuff I like

On the weekends, when the sun comes up and through my windows, I LOVE being able to take pictures. There is just nothing as lovely as early morning sun. Usually this is when I will take shots of Triniti because, let's face it, she is the only kid I have that wakes up early in the morning. But this past Sunday, when the sunlight was streaming in, I had a livingroom full of doggies :)

You will of course remember my baby girl, Madame Chicita Puppy...


Chica is a sunbathing gal.


My "new" baby is Daisy Dog.


She is still slightly confounded by this whole having her picture taken thing...


But she has learned, as all that reside in my house eventually do, to just give in.

Labels: Being Mommy, Chica, Daisy Dog, photography

The Cast -
2.25 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, cool
.75 cup packed light brown sugar
.25 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant lemon pudding mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
12 ounces white chips

Rehearsal -
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
Mix the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add the eggs and mix well. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Stir in the chips.
Acting tip - You want your butter to be slightly softened but not warm. It should be chilled enough to piss your beaters off when you mixing it. When your dough is done, you should be able to form cookie balls with your hands. If it is too sticky, then your butter was too warm. You'll want to refrigerate the dough for twenty or thirty minutes.
I like my cookies big so I usually use about a third to a half a cup of dough and roll it into a ball and then flatten it a little to make it like a thick disc. That will make the cookie about six inches in diameter when done.

Performance time - 350 for ten minutes or so. It really is going to depend on your cookie size. Keep checking them and when they've spread out and poofed up and browned slightly, they are ready.

Headshot - (note: yes, I know I need new baking sheets...) This is probably an 11x15 holding eight cookies so you can get an idea of how big they are... next time I will take pics of the process and update the post :)

Labels: Daisy Dog

When I was in Dallas last year for New Year's Eve, my aunt made Hoppin John on New Years Day and I just loved it. She substituted the ham for little smokies which were cut into slices.
This year, my mother was pretty upset with me for not buying any lucky blackeyed peas to eat on New Year and when she was griping at me, I suddenly remembered how much I liked the Hoppin John we'd had at my aunts house.
I haven't had them since so I am seriously hoping that they aren't hangover food.. you know, when you have something to eat after a long day of being hungover and it tastes like the best thing you've ever had.
I googled the recipe and decided immediately not to use ham... I'm just not a ham person. I realize it is usually left over at most people's houses the week after Christmas, but not at mine. Echk.

What you need:
Two cans of blackeyed peas..
One box (12oz) of Zatarains Jumbalaya mix
Two packages of smoked sausage
Celery (optional)


Now traditionally, you would have the pork, celery, blackeyed peas with plain white rice, so if you are feeding more than just a couple of people, you could make two or three cups of white rice and mix it in to fatten up the pot :-)

Bring four cups of water to boil, add Zatarain's jambalaya mix and cut up sausage...


Cook covered and simmering for about twenty minutes.... When all of the liquid is almost gone, turn down to low and you want to add the blackeyed peas.


I just put them on top and cover it up for about five more minutes and then stir it all up. Test your rice and make sure it is cooked all the way, if not add like a half a cup of water and cover again for another five minutes.
Turn off and leave covered for about ten minutes.
If you have additional white rice, add it.
Serve. Enjoy.


Feel good that your family is eating blackeyed peas and that the whole meal only cost:
Blackeyed Peas at .80 each, $1.60
Zatarains - 3.00
Sausage mine was on sale, two for 3.00 but it is usually two for four or five dollars
Celery if you use it, less than a dollar
additional rice if you use it, less than a dollar
That is under ten bucks!!! :)

Labels: cooking

The year I turn thirty.
What is going to change?
I will be thirty this year... Amanda will turn fourteen, Emilee will turn twelve and Triniti will turn eight.
Today I got to hold my boss and his wife's new little baby boy. They let me keep him while they left for lunch and for a blissful hour I got to smell his little head and watch the faces he made in that state of half awake, half asleep that two week old babies are prone the staying in.
I remember the girl that was pregnant eight years ago. I remember that Christmas when he burned all of the cards and it didn't even matter any more because everything was over anyway. I remember packing and leaving and being this girl who was alone and scared with little girls who were about to start school for the very first time. That girl didn't know the answers.
This girl doesn't know them either. But this girl, this almost thirty year old girl? She's got faith in herself.
Faith that there will be good choices and smiling and enjoying my girls and plans and friendships and sometimes it will be hard but this girl is happy.
And this girl doesn't plan on that changing anytime soon.

Labels: Being a Chic, Being Mommy, my crazy life

Had to bump this one up again.

Labels: music, song of the day, stuff I like

This is going to be a good year.
Things are changing, I can feel it.
Love you guys!!