Home of the Brave!

I can't tell you enough how this movie touched me and affected me in ways that I never thought possible.

Look, I'm a military wife, I live on a military base and I'm immersed in this way of life daily, I see the comings and goings, the deployments, the hard truths of what it does to the family left behind and the troops going overseas....but for some reason, when you actually SEE what the war in Iraq does to the soldiers when they return home.....it affects you and it opens your eyes to a lot.

Home of the Brave is the story of 4 army soldiers in Iraq and right off the bat you are thrown into the middle of an ambush on a convoy. I don't know, or actually I DO know that they're highly trained for things like this, but to sit there and watch it happen it broke my heart, it made me cry and it made me want to grab them all and bring them to me, to a safe place. I honestly don't know how I would ever react if I was in that moment.


So you watch the ambush and you watch the repercussions of it, deaths and injuries and then you watch them return home and try to go back to a normal life, to a life that is not constantly watching over your shoulders to make sure there's no sniper hiding in the shadows, or a young child with a weapon in his hand trying to kill you, or the noises and the screams.

This movie was so well done and it has HUGE names attached to it......Samuel L. Jackson being one, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, Curtis Jackson, Chad Michael Murray and even Christina Ricci.

I can't begin to tell you how affected I am by this movie, I mean I've told you already but there just no words to describe it, I'm stuck between anger and repulsion for what goes on over there and heart wrenching pain for our soldiers.

One thing this movie showed me is that most of the American public does NOT know what it's like for the soldiers once they return home. Like I said, I'm a military wife and I know some of it but not to the extent of how bad it is, how hard it is for them, it's certainly educational and it's made me aware of what they may be thinking, feeling or wanting.

I urge you to please please watch Home of the Brave if you haven't already.

According to an Army report, one soldier out of three returning from Iraq suffers from mental problems. The proportion of personnel affected is the highest of all recent conflicts, from Bosnia to Afghanistan. "In Iraq, there's no front line," explains Colonel Charles Hoge in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Eighty to eight-five percent of personnel have been witnesses or participants in a traumatizing act: enemy combat, death of an adversary, IED attacks.

"In Vietnam, there were secure zones where people could recuperate," indicates Steve Robinson, director of an association that advocates for veterans in an interview with the Washington Post. "That doesn't happen in Iraq; every place is a war zone."

Do you want to see what I wake up to every morning?

I can count on there being at least one lemon on the ground, just sitting there waiting for the little hands in this house to run out barefoot, scoop it up and rush it back inside, yelling with excited voices "another one fell".

I don't think the kids EVER get tired of seeing the lemons on the ground, they still get so excited over it.

I guess we'll have a lot more of these happy days ahead, look at all those beauties still hanging on the branches? And then there's tons of tiny green ones growing already. Just love it.

This morning we have a bit of a cloudy sky, not that it matters, the temperatures have been in the upper 80's for the past two weeks. In this place we have seasons........Hot or Hot as Heck! Pick one LOL


Now I want to tell you about something really exciting. You know Karon Phillips Goodman right? I mean, if you don't you SHOULD by now, I talk about her books all the time, remember this one?

Well she's starting a new project on her blog and it's something she's really excited about and I think that a lot of us will be too. Go on over and take a look and tell her that I sent you....let me know what you think ok?

She's got a great post today on Grace to Laugh. Her description of her husband looking for the camera he couldn't find was hilarious and made me think of my own husband.

Perfect example....it was 11pm one night and I was already fast asleep. He was up late and comes walking into the room, asks where his PT uniform is because he had to be up at 4am for mandatory military exercise.

I lay there and think "seriously, why didn't you look for this before?". So I quietly answer that I have no clue where his shorts are, I did all the laundry and they were NOT in the hamper. He starts stomping around and throwing out the usual "what did YOU do with it, YOU lost them and I need them" (Yes, because I had nothing better to do so I went out in HIS shorts and did some exercise LOL). I stay in bed a little longer and finally get up to help him search for HIS shorts which I know for a fact I did not see or touch or misplace.
After about 30 minutes I give up and tell him that obviously he must have left them in his backpack....he quickly tells me that is not true, he wouldn't do that.

Would you believe that they were INDEED in there? LOL

Anyway, I urge you to go on over to Karon's blog and join in on her new project, she's such an amazing Christian writer and I would love for her blog to have as many visitors as some of ours do.

If you're looking for ideas for your weekly menus, check out Laura's blog "I'm an Organizing Junkie".

My menu is also on there and there's yummy new recipes I'm trying this week, like....Lemon Linguine Shrimp Salad, Deli Monte Cristos, Garlic Chicken and Gravy. I'm already hungry.


With that I'm out of here, I have laundry to do and floors to mop. Hope you're all having a wonderful Monday.

God Bless,

Portuguese Rice Pudding!

Go make it RIGHT NOW.........I mean it, I'm not joking, just get up off the computer and go make it right this second. You won't regret it, I promise.

PORTUGUESE RICE PUDDING

I'm so glad it's friday!

Ever have one of those weeks where everything drags and when Friday finally comes around you feel this immense joy????? That's how I'm feeling today....I just want this week OVER.

I hope you're all having a great friday.

I've been so busy here lately, I haven't had much time for the blog or visiting yours either, but I'm hoping to change that. My bloglines keep spitting out totals like 430 unread items and it makes me cringe, there's NO way I can get through all of them and I also don't want to just mark it all read but I may just have to do that and start fresh from tomorrow.

So this past week, we've been running around....we got Jasmine's immunization shots done (she was due for the hep and tetanus), we bought our tickets to South Africa. YES YES YES, it's official we are heading home in may and I can not be any happier, I mean I could try but I would probably explode LOL
But I'll be taking a laptop with me because we're actually going through Amsterdam and I want to take some photos and share them with you....plus everywhere I go in South Africa, you'll get updates and photos too :)

We also got the kids passports taken care of, someone to come and stay at our house and watch the doggies for us and Kruger National Park booked for when we're there.

In between all this we've had the usual work/school craziness routine.

We were able to find really inexpensive tickets and I say that lightly because if you've priced flights overseas for 4 people you will know that it's bound to give you heartburn. But anyway, we had budgeted a certain amount and actually got them for $600 less SO we got the kids a Wii, their birthdays are both in April and they've been wanting one for ever.

Don't be fooled though, this is not a KIDS toy, this is a FAMILY toy and Curt and I are thrilled, we could not have found a better gaming system for us all. The past 4 days we have spent every night together as a family playing tennis, Mario Party and bowling. What really gets me with this gaming console is that it's not one of those lazy sit on the couch and hold the remote in your hand, kinda games. You have to GET up and actually do something.

I've gotten quite the workout playing tennis LOL My arm and neck are killing me today, but whatever.....it's worth it to have all of us having fun and laughing together :)

BUT there's another plus to it......because this game is so physical, there have actually been people who have lost weight LOL I kid you not, I tell you after playing tennis I was sweating up a storm and can feel it in my whole body.

Apparently Mickey DeLorenzo, a 25-year-old living in Philadelphia, began a "Wii Sports Experiment" in early December last year, pledging to spend 30 minutes a day over six weeks playing Wii sports. He also intended to keep his other activities and eating habits constant.

On Monday this week when the six weeks were over DeLorenzo, updated his website, wiinintendo.net, with a detailed analysis of his experiment, which was positive and surprising. Apparently he dropped around lbs (4kgs and around 2% of his starting body weight of 82lbs) and went from being in the 'acceptable' category to being in the 'fitness' category".

Hey, I might as well give it a try, so here's my next purchase........by gosh I'll be dancing with the stars. LOL


But enough of games. I've been collecting lemons. Why are you laughing at me???? *snicker*
My tree has taken to dumping down 2 or 3 at a time every day, so most of them are in the freezer, thank you to the lady who left that idea on my blog. It really does help with the overflow of lemons in this house.......problem is that they get so rock hard, I went to open the freezer last night and one fell on my foot and let out this ear piercing shriek.......which I found out was actually from ME, but nonetheless......OUCH! LOL

So now I need you ladies to send me your best lemony recipes, I don't care WHAT it is....breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, beverages, whatever....please just send me what you have so I can start using these babies up.....otherwise you'll start finding lemons in your mail boxes. I'll just start shipping these LOL



My neck pain is still here but I think I've figured out that it's not really my neck persay....it's my right shoulder and arm, it feels really tense, it hurts and I can't even lay on it cause it goes kinda numb and tingly. Definitely feels like a pinched nerve.....and what's even worse is that if I move it up and down or back and forth you hear the shoulder blades snapping and popping LOL
Wow, I'm completely falling apart aren't I???? I think by monday if this is still going on, I'll go and see the doctor, or a chiropractor, or a massage therapist, or a looney bin, I don't know whatever.....just someone LOL

I just finished massaging it with some Tiger Balm and boy is it strong, it smells something fierce but the coolness and tingly sensation feels good AND I can turn my neck without it hurting. Thank you to the lady who suggested the Castor Oil, I'm going to get some this weekend, I tried at the BX and the Commissary today and they had none AND no one knew what I was talking about.
One of the ladies at the BX took me to the Motor Oil section and pointed it out.....I nicely told her that she was very sweet but I really wasn't up for rubbing vehicle engine oil all over myself, as sexy as that may sound LOL

Alright ladies, I'm heading out for now, I have a bowling game to attend tonight in my living room and I believe I was also challenged to some Billiards.....better stock up on the snacks, we'll all be up WAY late today.

Here's one of my favorite songs at the moment, it's David Cook's version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". Just AMAZING.......he has now become my favorite.

Slow Cooking Thursday!

All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.

Cheesy Italian Tortellini

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 (16 ounce) jar marinara sauce
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated or fresh cheese tortellini
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Crumble the ground beef and Italian sausage into a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain.
2. Combine the ground meats, marinara sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on LOW heat for 7 to 8 hours.
3. Stir in the tortellini, and sprinkle the mozzarella and cheddar cheese over the top. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes on LOW, or until the tortellini is tender.

Lemon Bars!

I LOVE lemon bars, it's one of those desserts that I could eat constantly, so here's the recipe I use to make mine.

LEMON BARS

What a pain in the neck...........

Well it's been a while, I have been away since last week thursday.....wow.

See life is crazy and life is busy and then there's stuff bugging me and hurting me so I tend to not get a chance to be on the computer.

About 3 weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and pulled a muscle on my neck....now you know I've always had issues with the right side, my shoulder and arm hurt a lot when I try to sleep on it and then once a year I'll be doing good ol' normal stuff, like cleaning or mopping or something and I will pull a certain muscle and not be able to move for a week or so.

Well this time, I pulled the muscle on my right side of the neck and it hurt for a week, then the move came up and it was just Curt and I doing everything so I think I just made it worse and THEN we took the kids to the carnival on base and I went on 3 rides with them. One of the rides was this ship kinda thing that pulls you to the right side and spins you......the whole time this ride is going your neck is strained trying to stay straight.

So now it's been about 3 weeks and I wake up every morning really stiff and sore on the right side of my neck and upper back, it goes away during the day but it does if I try to look over my shoulders.

I think it also doesn't help that our mattress is 10 years old and my pillow is old too, it's pretty much non existant, it's so flat and so uncomfortable that I throw on a smaller pillow and sleep on that. ALL of this together has made it impossible for my poor neck and back to recover....needless to say I haven't been in the greatest of moods and haven't felt like doing much or being on the computer.

I went out and bought one of those therapeutic pillows for the neck and spine and I've slathered on Tiger Balm about an hour ago and it really does seem to be helping.

Please say a little prayer that this neck strain goes away once and for all, I'm literally SICK of it.




My lemon tree is thriving and almost every single day we have another lemon on the ground, I'm quickly filling up my refrigerator with them......so I realized, it's time to put them to good use.

I just finished making some Lemon Bars and I'll have the recipe up on the food blog later.



Jasmine had a sleepover this past friday, the girls have a lot of fun together but boy is there bickering at times. One minute they're all playing well and the next someone is yelling or fighting or crying LOL

But they did have fun putting on a fashion show and playing Scene It.



WHAT I'M DOING:

Put away laundry



WHAT'S FOR DINNER:

Mexican Chicken Soup courtesy of MJPuzzlemom. It smells SO good, I can't wait to try it.



WHAT I'M WATCHING:


American Idol
Dancing with the Stars Results Show
Primetime: What would you do?

Grab a Broom Lord!

One of my favorite Christian authors is Karon Phillips Goodman. I have most of her books, not only because she makes me laugh while teaching me valuable lessons....but she's also written these books in a way that I don't need to worry about starting it and then having to stop and loosing focus.

The chapters are small so that you can quickly read through an entire one before having to set it down to do dishes, or help the kids or fix dinner.

I got this one last year before we left Idaho and since then life has been crazy busy, I haven't had a chance for much and then lately with my obsession with King Henry and all that history it hasn't helped either.
But while cleaning out my bookshelf today I found it again and I breathed a sigh of relief, I want to read it and I need to read it right now. I don't know why, but I feel that at times the Lord will give us a little nudge in a certain direction for our own good.

So right off the bat I read this:

I've done it, though, and I bet you have, too- tried to "get better" before going to God. I'll just clean up this one mess and then I won't be so unpresentable, we think. And God says "Huh?" The sooner she come to Me, the sooner I can help her." We have it all backward! It's not about getting better to go to God; it's about going to God to get better.

WOW! Ain't that the truth???? These words just hit me like a ton of bricks, how many times have I used the excuse that I can't really devote myself completely to the bible or to the church or to God himself because I don't feel like I'm as spiritually connected as some are?

What a waste of time, to sit here and let precious moments with the Lord go by because I was too busy worrying that I wasn't perfect, that I had to somehow fix my life and my problems before approaching the Lord. Fearing that He would turn away or think less of me for not being as together and organized as some. Problem is that we forget that we are who He wants us to be.

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works" - Ephesians 2:20 NIV

Let's face it, He wants to help, He wants to be there waiting for us to ask for comfort or guidance, He doesn't expect us to be perfect or self sufficient.....He has no limits, He has no set amount of forgiveness or a allotment of blessings we're allowed. Boy does it feel good to remember that, it truly opens your mind and your heart to so much more.


I'm sure you've noticed the template is different yet again. I really enjoyed my beach one but for some reason Mr Linky was just not working with it and I feel awful having to tell my readers to get another browser just to participate in the Slow Cooking Thursday.

This one will have to stay for a while, I don't have the time right now to be constantly changing it.....hope it's ok with you all.

Life is busy, there's just so much going on right now, I sometimes wonder if the roller coaster will ever stop so that I can get out and at the very least take a breather.

I know I've been neglecting my blog visits but I'm hoping to catch up on all of them tonight, the minute I start seeing my bloglines unread posts over 100, I literally want to run for cover or just mark all as read. But I don't....so could you stop writing for a while? Just until I catch up? No???? Oh well, it was worth a try :)

I'm getting ready to go pick up Jasmine at school so this one has to be cut short. So Happy Spring everyone and here you go, this is something I saw at one of my favorite blogs "Cherry Hill Cottage". Tell me this is not the cutest thing ever???

Bird Nest Cake

Slow Cooking Thursday!

All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.

I guess there are still problems with Mr Linky so I've switched to this template for now to make it easier.

SLOW COOKED HAM

Ingredients:

2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 6-8 lb cured, bone-in ham
fresh or canned pineapple slices, optional

Make-Ahead Preparation:

Spread about three-fourths of the brown sugar on the bottom of your crockpot. Place the ham flat side down into the crockpot on top of the brown sugar. (You might have to trim it a little to make it fit.)

Using your hands, rub the remaining brown sugar onto the ham. If desired, cover with pineapples slices.

Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.

CHEESY POTATOES EUPHORIA

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
8 med. potatoes (2 lbs) scrubbed and sliced
8 oz. cream cheese (cut in 1 in. cubes)
4 scallions finely chopped

In one small bowl combine scallions and garlic. In another small bowl combine salt and pepper.

In greased crock, layer 1/4 potatoes.

Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt and pepper and top with 1/3 cream cheese, then 1/3 scallion/garlic mix.

Make a second layer of 1/4 potatoes, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Top with 1/2 remaining cheese and scallion/garlic mix. Repeat with third layer of potatoes, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper, top with remaining cheese and scallion/garlic mix. Make final layer of potatoes and sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.

Cover, cook on high for 3 hrs. Stir to distribute melted cheese, cover and cook for about an hour longer. Stir well to mash slightly and serve.


Cowboy Beans - School in 'R Home
Apricot and Pear Glazed Pork - MJPuzzlemom
Sweet and Spicy Salmon - Crockpot Lady
Green Bean Casserole - My Little Corner of the World

Sidebar HTML Tutorial!

One of the things a lot of you asked about was my sidebar, how did I get the different color block around the menus etc.

It's really simple and once you see how easy it is I'm sure you will all start experimenting too.

Remember the template I gave you the other day?

Scroll down to the code that looks like this:

.side {
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
font-size: x-small;
BACKGROUND-color: #ffffff; border: solid 2px #b8707b;
color: #54556c;
text-align: justify;
line-height: 140%;
}

See the code that is highlighted???? The first part is going to be the background color of your block, in this case #ffffff which is white. The next line is the border around it, that will determine the color of that.
The following line color: is what color the text will be in that box. Go ahead and experiment with that to get the colors you want.



One other thing you can do is the heading for the sidebar menus.

.sideheader {
padding: 3px;
margin-top: 4px;
margin-bottom: 4px;
font-family: Mariah;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: large;
color: #b8707b;
text-align: center;
line-height: 140%;
}


See how the heading is in a different font now??? All you need to do is download the fonts you like, there's tons of free fonts out there. Here's some to get you started, 1001 Free Fonts, SimplytheBest and DaFont. Download the font you like, install it into your Windows/Fonts folder and then you can use it.

All you need to do is insert the name of the font in the code font-family: Mariah; I changed mine to Anglican Text above and you can see the difference.


If you want to add a graphic, first find the one you like, make sure you have the URL for it, then go down to your sidebar links and above each menu you enter the image code.....here's an example:

Click on the image to make it bigger.........the code is highlighted for you.


And there's how it looks, I used a graphic from Country Clipart.

Hope this helped a bit, like I said already, I'm no expert but what I've learned I did on my own through trial and error :) Can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

Absolutely Incredible Kids!

The sweet Mari over at "My Little Corner of the World" is having a really cute meme today.

She wants us to show our incredible kids, you've seen mine so many times but I never get tired of showing them off :)

Here are my sweeties.


Jasmine is about to turn 9 next month, she's smart and funny and can be the most lovable child you'll ever meet. She also has a bad temper, to match that fiery red hair of hers LOL

Nicholas is our miracle baby, after 2 miscarriages he came along and has since then been the light of mommy and daddy's eyes and big sister too. He's a very smart little boy and he's turning 5 next month and starting kindergarten this year.

Sunny Tuesday!

It's such a nice day out, it's sunny with just a little breeze.

Come on in and sit with me for a bit, let me tell you what's been going on here.


Last night I watched a bit of The Bachelor premiere....why? Why do I even bother trying to watch it, it's just disgusting to me what some of the girls will do for attention, I caught about 10 minutes of it and as luck would have it, it was at the point where one of the girls slips her underwear to the Bachelor. How disgusting and how gross is that???? No shame at all!

I did enjoy the Dancing with the Stars premiere, the guys were pretty good, I'm already loving Jason and Mario and I can't wait to see the ladies in action today.


Speaking of tv and shows, this weekend I bought August Rush. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is my all time favorite actor so I knew I would enjoy this movie. It was so sweet and Curt caught about half of it with me and loved it too.

And speaking of JRM, the new season of The Tudors premieres on Showtime this March 30th, but guess what???? If you go online to this link, you can watch the first episode and OH.MY.GOODNESS is it ever good, I am so excited for the new season.



I'm glad some of you enjoyed the small tips I shared yesterday about templates, I'll share more soon. Jill asked me if there is a place I go to get the color codes, I use my graphics program to get the color I like and the code BUT if you go here, you can find all the ones you want, there's actually a couple of places online for it, I like using this one too, it has so many great colors.

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I've been sharing a lot of recipes lately, I hope you're not getting annoyed with the constant recipes posted, I just love cooking and I love having an archive of everything I make online. I'll share another today for the Mushroom Beef Stroganoff I made last night....YUM and then tonight I'm making Shepherds pie and everyone knows how to make that so I don't think you need my recipe.

You know I still have some of those Breakfast Delights and I think I'm going to just give them away or dump them or whatever, they are so good but such a temptation ..... definitely a recipe to make back in South Africa where there's lots of us to eat LOL



On to something more serious and sad, I'm sure by now a lot of you have watched the news and heard about the pilot we lost this weekend.

Lt. David J. Mitchell, 26 years old, was out on a training mission with his instructor when his F-16 went down over the mountains. This happened friday at noon and we didn't know if he was ok or not, the search teams were only able to get to the area early saturday and that's when they found his body. It's such a sad thing, he had just gotten to this base back in November and was going through his 8 month training to become a pilot.

Being in the military you have this huge sense of community and solidarity and when something like this happens on a base, everyone feels it, not just the airmen but the families too.

My heart goes out to his family and to his friends and to everyone here at Luke AFB. Please say a prayer for this young man.


I don't know what's going on in bloggy land, I've sort of been out of the loop while doing taxes and getting tickets and all this crazy stuff to go home.

I'll be coming by to visit you all later today, just hope you have some coffee and a snack maybe, a little slice of cake or a cookie?

Have a great day everyone, God Bless,

Chicken Rice and Burritos!

Check out the food blog for the recipes.

PORTUGUESE CHICKEN RICE

BREAKFAST BURRITOS

Time to change your templates!

You know I change mine ALL the time, I guess I get bored easily.

I've had a lot of questions on how I do it, where I learnt HTML and if there's a way I can teach you all some tricks to making your own templates.

I pretty much taught myself everything I know, the easiest way is to find one of the free templates you like and then go from there......the more you mess with it, the more you will learn what code does what. I would suggest though doing what I did.....setting up a separate blog for templates so that you can play around and if it gets lost or really messed up, you won't be affecting your main blog.

So first steps:

1 - Make a separate blog for your templates
2 - Find a free template that you like and download it. You can find some great ones at Pannasmontata and Caz Templates
3 - Once you find the template you like, copy it into your blog



Now we're ready to start. I'm going to give you a free template for you to play with, so download THIS template and paste it into your templates blog.

Don't freak out, all that code is actually easier than you think and once you know what it does you will be like me, shocked at how easy it really is.

The first thing you're going to do is make yourself a new header. Use a program like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to make it, just remember to look at your template to see how big you need to make it.

But before we get into that, how about something quick.....like changing your background?

Scroll down on your template to this part of the code:

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-image: url("http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/2743/pattern1402jq3cg0.jpg");
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

See where it says Background-image: the code in bold is where you need to insert the link to your background image. Try a few until you're happy with the one you like.

By changing the way it's worded, you can also make it a solid color.

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

Now, it will make the background white. Just play around with that a bit.

Next thing you're going to learn is how to change the color of your links. Right under the Body Code is this one:

a:link, a:visited, a:active {color: #b8707b; text-decoration: none ;}
a:hover {color: #Ffffff; background-color: #000000; }

The first line will be the color of your links as they will show up on the blog. The second line is what it will look like when you click on it with your mouse. You know how sometimes links will change to a different color when you hover over it???? That's where it's done.

The part that says text-decoration, is also a fun one to play with. If you add text-decoration: underline.......then your links will have an underline. You could also do text-decoration: underline overline......then the link would have two lines one on top and one on bottom. I prefer to use that code under my hover rather than my actual link color. All you do is add that code to the bottom right after background-color.

Go ahead and play around with that one too. Don't forget to save your changes as you go so you don't loose it all.

Next time we're going to make our own headers, so make sure you have a graphics program you can use. You can download free 30 day trials from Paint shop Pro and Photo shop. I use Paint shop Pro for mine.

Remember that I'm in NO way an expert and I'm sure other blog designers use different techniques, I'm just sharing with you what I do know of HTML and how I change my blog.

Hope this helps a bit, I can't wait until you all start doing your own designs.

Stop and Stare!

I come bearing photos, some fun ones some educational ones and some of where we'll be heading in May of this year.

You all know by now that I'm going home, home to South Africa, to boerewors and koeksisters, Nando's Chicken and the Lost City. I'm beyond ecstatic, as the time nears I can't control my emotions, I go from smiling like an idiot to wanting to break down and cry, it's such an emotional roller coaster but so well worth it when I step off that airplane and smell the South African air and get to walk into the arms of my family.

But first let's talk about what's going on here at home. Yesterday afternoon, the kids and Curt decided to play some softball in the backyard, it was fun watching them all laugh and have fun. I even got in there too, though for some reason the minute Curt throws the ball my way I tend to shut my eyes and cover my face. Not very conducive to actually catching the ball, but hey, who said I was perfect??? LOL





Love action photos, they're so much fun to watch :)

While they were playing I decided to snap some more shots of the lemon tree. Do you know that it produces these gorgeous white flowers and when they start blooming the scent is just heavenly, oh my goodness, I could sit out there all day, under that tree just with that wonderful scent all around me.


They are just beautiful!

Here's some baby lemons growing


And there's a few more pinkish buds starting to form.


But now going back to South Africa, do you want to see some of the places I'll be visiting???


We're starting with a trip to the Kruger National Park where the kids will get to see the big five up close and personal, I can't wait for this......I have such fond memories of our vacations there.

After we are heading straight to Mozambique, my country of birth, I can't tell you just how excited I am to return Home, to show my husband and my children the country I was born in, it's one of those beautiful lands that are not very well known, as a matter of fact when I usually tell people where I was born, they look at me like I'm crazy and then ask just where exactly is that.



One of the beaches we want to visit again is Bilene. How can you NOT want to just sit there and relax???

Then it's back to Johannesburg, if we have any time we may go down to Margate but if not, we will most likely be going to The Lost City

My favorite place to go for the day, there's a casino and restaurants, there's an artificial beach and waterfalls and just so much to do.

Another place I'm hoping to return to is Gold Reef City.

International travellers savour the offering of traditional African music, dance and history found throughout the complex. The carefully-documented history of Apartheid, chillingly yet beautifully depicted in the Museum, is a must-see on a South African visit. And nowhere else will the tourist find such a comprehensive and colourful depiction of mining life at the turn of the nineteenth century.

But it's not all about the sights because the food is something Curt and I are dying to get into again.

Calamari Steaks with garlic and lemon......*drool*

King Prawns



Crab Curry

Boerewors

Alheiras - I absolutely LOVE these and haven't had them for about 10 years

Bolas de Berlin - my favorite desserts, you can find them in portuguese bakeries. It's like a donut with a creme filling and rolled in sugar

I think you get a general idea of what a good time I'll be having LOL

Right now I've got laundry to do and I need to mop the floors too.

Spring break is over so it's back to school for Jasmine tomorrow and not a minute too soon, she is bored and getting cranky. The fighting and bickering between the kids is escalating and I'm just done, you know when you reach that point that you can't take another word? They fight about everything and everything is a competition....who gets their food first, who gets to have their bath first, who got what color towel, who drank out of what cup, who watched tv first, even the first one to take a bite of dinner is the winner........UUGGHHHHH!

I left you a great recipe for breakfast, Breakfast Delights and let me tell you, you can't just eat one, they are SO good, good enough that I offered to send a bunch of them to work with Curt in the morning and he quickly denied saying that they are too good and he is NOT giving them to anyone LOL

For dinner tonight I'm fixing a portuguese Chicken Rice, I'll have the recipe on the blog later.

Have a great sunday everyone.

Breakfast is Served!

Well good morning, have you had breakfast yet????

If you haven't I have the perfect treat for you and I've posted it on my food blog.

BREAKFAST DELIGHTS

You gotta try this chicken, because I said so......

I'm serious, you have to make it for dinner, it's so easy and SO SO good.

Go on over to Full Bellies for the recipe.

CHICKEN IN CREAM SAUCE

Slow Cooker Giveaway WINNERS!

Ladies, thank you so much for all the great recipes, wow we had a lot of good ones and a lot of participants yesterday, it was exciting.

This morning I did a random number generator on the list of recipes. Now remember that a lot of ladies couldn't see Mr Linky so I added everyone in individually.........THAT is the list that I'm following for the draw.

So according to Random.org, the winner of the new Crock-Pot Slow Cooker is:


Mari from "My Little Corner of the World" who submitted the Pot Roast with Tomato Sauce. Congratulations Mari, please email me your address so that I can pass it on to Merideth at Crock-Pot.


Now for the two slow cooker cookbook winners, you will each be receiving a new cookbook, I don't know which one yet, but I'll come back later this morning and post them.

The winners are:



15. Blue Cheese Steak Roll Ups - Crockpot Lady - Congratulations Stephanie!

34. Taco Meat Loaf - Annie - Congratulations Annie!


Please email me your addresses so I can get the cookbooks out.

Again thank you all so much, this was fun, who knows, maybe soon I'll personally give away another new slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Giveaway Update!

Boy do we have some amazing recipes being shared, I'm literally drooling over them all.....I just wish I could pick you all and have everyone receive a new cooker, but I can't.

SO, what I'm going to do is this............tomorrow I'll announce the winner of the new Crock-pot Slow Cooker AND I've decided to pick 2 more ladies to receive a new Slow Cooker Cookbook. I don't know which one yet, we'll see tomorrow.

Again thank you all for participating, I'm so excited for someone to walk away with a brand new slow cooker and only hope you love it as much as I love mine.

Come back tomorrow to find out who the winner is.........I'm leaving the contest open until tomorrow morning in case any of you are late with your entries and to also give us all a chance to come by and see what you're cooking.

Slow Cooking Thursday Giveaway!

There seems to be some who can't see the Mr Linky. For some reason it's not showing up if you're using Internet Explorer. Please switch to Netscape or Firefox so you can see Mr Linky. I'm not sure why it's doing this and I apologize in advance.....I'll also add your recipes to this post by hand to help out. :)



All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.


Welcome to the Slow Cooking Thursday Giveaway. I've been doing this feature for a long time and I have some wonderful faithful participants who truly deserve to be rewarded.

Crock-Pot has offered a slow cooker to the lady who shares the best slow cooker recipe this week and since I know it will be hard to pick because I'm sure you're all coming out with your best ones, I will have to recruit the help of the random generator to pick a winner.

The winner will receive a brand new slow cooker from Crock-Pot in the mail. Good Luck!

Lemon Pudding Cake recipe

3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.

Beat egg yolks; blend in lemon juice, butter and milk.

Combine sugar, flour, and salt; add to egg-milk mixture, beating until smooth. Fold into beaten whites. Spoon into crock pot. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours. This tends to over-brown around the edges, so keep an eye on it.

Here are today's participants, for those that are having problems with Mr Linky:

1. Chicken and Biscuits or Crustless Chicken Pot Pie - Tammy 3 Sides of Crazy

2. Easy Meatloaf - Organizing Junkie

3. 40 Clove Garlic Chicken - Living to Tell the Story

4. Slow Berry Cobbler - Simple Country Cooking

5. No-Hurry Vegetable Curry - The McIllece Spot

6. Corned Beef and Vegetables - 2 Peas in a Pod

7. Pot Roast with Tomato Sauce - My Little Corner of the World

8. Mexican Chicken Soup - MJPuzzlemom

9. Lime Chicken Tacos - Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

10. Hobo Stew - Karen's Korner

11. Whole Meal - Just Another Day in Paradise

12. 3 recipes - Michelle's Family Life

13. Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup - Geekypoet

14. Mozzarella Chicken Breasts - A Bibliomane Amidst Butterflies

15. Blue Cheese Steak Roll Ups - Crockpot Lady

16. Crockpot Peanut Candy - Momma's Cookbook

17. Slow Cooker Potatoes - Heather's Brain

18. Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole - The Homeschool Way

19. Crockpot Corn Chowder - Kay's Simple Life

20. Pizza Dip - Jewlsntexas

21. Easy Chicken - Girl Fisher

22. Tamale Pie - Lories Stitch In Time

23. Stuffed Peppers - Becca

24. Honey and Orange Carrots - Eleisia

25. Corned Beef Brisket - Melonie Workerette

26. Chicken in Mushroom Gravy - Terri

27. Buffalo Chicken Dip - Creative Triplet Mom

28. Bison and Sweet Potato Stew - Angela's Kitchen

29. Sweet and Sour Beef Stew - Big Blueberry Eyes

30. Chicken Dressing - K C's Cafe

31. St. Patty's Noodles - School in 'R Home

32. Pepper Steak - 4everMom

33. Easy Beef Vegetable Stew - Kristi

34. Taco Meat Loaf - Annie

WHO Bread and Tuna Pasta Salad!

If you want to know what we had for lunch today, go on over to Full Bellies, Happy Kids and check out the recipes I just posted.

Easy Pasta Tuna Salad

WHO Bread

Enjoy!

The day kids start asking questions......

You know that day? The one where you're sitting there enjoying a cup of coffee and out of the blue "Where did I come from?". You choke on that sip and then pretend you actually meant to do that and try to act all cool so your kids don't see that you're stumped and you're scared. Worst thing for a parent is when the children smell that fear.....boy do they capitalize on it.

So I'm sitting there thinking "Oh Lord, please help me, I'm not prepared for this conversation". What do I tell them, what exactly do they want to know? Could it be that they just wonder where they were born, what state, or is it that they're actually asking the details and how they came to be in this world.....because really, with my luck, I would go on about the birds and the bees only to have the kids ask me what that has to do with Idaho????

Yesterday Nicholas asked to see some photos, he wanted to know what he looked like when he was born....so I brought up the labor pictures (bad bad mommy) completely forgetting that there is one in there of my heart shaped placenta. Yes cause you see, I'm special like that, his placenta was shaped like a heart and the doctor thought it was so neat that out came the camera, we have to save that for prosperity, who knows if some placenta loving person out there will one day marvel at such an amazing sight. *snicker*

So we're scrolling through the photos and BAM there it is, I quickly look over at Nicholas and watch his shocked expression, followed by his tiny hand jumping to his mouth, I honestly thought the boy was going to get sick. I fumbled for the mouse trying to quickly pass this one by but hey, it was too late, the trauma had been made. Through some talking and comforting I was able to calm him down and now he's fine with it, he doesn't want to ever see it again "EVER" but he's ok. He's embraced it LOL

After about an hour I was sweeping the floor and humming "I want to break free", don't ask, I have this habit of belting out whatever song comes to mind and wow are they weird ones at times. From the couch I hear this little voice "Mommy, how did I get in your tummy?"

So I gripped the broom harder, my knuckles turned white and I did what any other parent would do.......I pretended I didn't hear. And again he asked, this time louder "Hey mommy, I said, how did I get in your tummy?".
Dagnabit why can't the 8 year old be asking these questions, why is the 4 year old so obsessed with this? I didn't know what to say, so I said "Well mommy and daddy sat up one night and made you" (Idiot!).

Then comes his reply "no.....God made me". You know I love my smart kids but sometimes it can be a royal pain in the behind. I kept looking at the clock hoping Curt was about to walk through the door from work so I could pass this hot potato to him, but alas, it was only 2pm and he wouldn't be saving me for the next 2 or 3 hours.

Me - Nicholas, yes, you're right. God made you, but he asked mommy and daddy what he wanted you to look like and we told him. Want a cookie? (look I'm not below bribing with a snack if it gives me some time to come up with the right answer)

Nicholas - No I'm not hungry. But how did God put me in your tummy and how did I get out?

I was literally sweating by now, I don't think it takes a scientist to figure out that I'm NOT prepared for this talk yet and don't even know where to begin.

After about 20 minutes of back and forth talk where I told him that God took mommy and daddy's love and made a little Nicholas and then placed it in my tummy, he was finally content with the answer and proceed to play Yoshi Island. Little bugger!

So please, for all you parents out there who have had to do the whole Birds and the Bees talk, I need help, I need to know exactly what to say and how to say it without going red and stuttering. I want them to know the truth but I don't want to traumatize them LOL



Now onto something else, I hope you haven't forgotten the giveaway happening tomorrow on my Slow Cooking Thursday. It's open to all my SCT participants who have been so faithful and have stuck by me even when we were down to like 5 people LOL

I want to see your best recipes and then I have decided I will do random generator because honestly I can't just pick one, I can already tell that they will all be awesome and I am not one to make people feel bad. How can I just pick one of you????? I'll let the random generator do it for me. Good Luck!


Bonnie asked me if I could do a tutorial for the blog templates, I'm more than happy to do that so in the next few days I may be posting a few lessons on HTML and blogger templates.

In the meantime if any of you would like a new header for your blog, just email me and I can help you with that, I love graphic design and if you just give me the colors you want and maybe a photo or an idea of what you want, I'll see what I come up with.....and best of all, for FREE.

Now I'm out of here, my kitchen calls me "bake bread.....bake bread" so guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to bake some WHO Bread......don't look at me that way, it may sound weird but it's really good and I'll be back with the recipe for you, I may even throw in a warm slice with butter if you're good. *wink*

When life gives you lemons......

I never really took notice of lemons, I mean, I would go to the grocery store and buy lemons and bring them home to use in my cooking, but I hadn't the foggiest idea of what the tree looked like, how they started growing etc.

Since moving to this house and having the beautiful lemon tree out back I've become fascinated watching the lemon evolve from this tiny little pinkish bud into huge gorgeous yellow beauties. So I figured I would take some pictures to show you exactly what it looks like.

Who knew the tree would become so educational, especially to the kids.....so come with me out back and take a look:

These are the tiny little buds that you first see sprouting all over the tree.....

From those tiny ones they start developing into these longer ones.....


When I first saw this guy I thought "poor thing is bad" but I realized that it wasn't, that was an actual lemon developing from that longish bud. See the fully grown ones in the back?

How amazing is that?


I have a couple prayer requests for you, not for myself but for some dear bloggy friends and family.

If you could go over to Heidi and say a prayer for her and her baby.....she really needs our comfort and support right now.

Susanne has had surgery for her hand and now begins the process of healing, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

My sister in law's sister, Roxanne, just had a baby girl, she was born premature and is still in the hospital in the incubator at least for another 4 to 6 weeks. Please say a prayer for Kyara and for Roxy.


There's not really much going on here, nothing very interesting, the house is finally done so I've been enjoying reading and watching my Netflix movies. I'm frustrated though because I sent in the "Address Change" to the Post Office about two weeks ago and I'm still waiting for my mail to be forwarded to this address, in the meantime I have 3 Netflix movies sitting somewhere in limbo.


One of them is the last one for "The Tudors" Season 1 and I'm just DYING to watch it. I really got into the series after I read "The Boleyn Inheritance" and I have to tell you, if you're thinking of watching them, just know that they are brilliant but there is quite a lot of sex scenes in there. It's crazy how there was so much sleeping around and mistresses and cheating in those days, even worse that it seemed to be accepted and condoned by some. But setting that aside, Jonathan Rhys Meyer does an excellent job as King Henry VIII and I absolutely love Maria Doyle Kennedy as Queen Katherine of Aragon.

The new Season starts March 30th on Showtime, I'm so thrilled.

In between all these movies I'm also reading a lot, practically devouring anything to do with the Tudors and historical books, but I also picked up one that I can't wait to read.

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

Before Green Gables is the story of Anne Shirley's life before her arrival at Green Gables-a heartwarming tale of a precocious child whose lively imagination and relentless spirit help her to overcome difficult circumstances and of a young girl's ability to love, learn, and above all, dream.

Published in 1908, L. M. Montgomery's coming-of-age classic Anne of Green Gables has enchanted generations of readers, both children and adults. The story of the spunky red-haired orphan from Prince Edward Island is known to millions, and copies of the eight titles in the series have never gone out of print.

But when readers first meet Anne, she is eleven, and has just been sent from an orphanage to meet her new family. No one ever learned the events of Anne's life before she arrived at Green Gables.

Until now.

And that's it, I'm going to do the dishes from lunch and clean up a bit around the living room before I go exercise, it's been a week since I did my last Slim in 6 Weeks and I don't want to completely stop it.....this is what happens when you move, things tend to get put on halt or left behind.

Have a wonderful day. Please don't forget about the giveaway on Thursday, for my readers who participate in the Slow Cooking Thursday specifically.

God Bless,

Spring Break.....YAY!

New Template, because, well, because I want to be right there on those chairs. I've been missing the ocean something fierce, I don't know what it is but I really really want to go and get my toes in the sand, smell the ocean and feel the the water wash up over my feet. I miss it, since I have to wait until May to finally make this need a reality, I thought "hey, if I can't go to the beach, why not bring it to me?"..........hence my header, this way I can open my blog every morning and just imagine that I am right there, on that chair, with my family or one of you, sipping a cold drink and chatting.




I have to tell you, this move has completely confused me on time and days, I'm lost and I don't know whether I'm coming or going.

Example, last night Curt and I were telling Jasmine to go to bed, she asked why and we replied "because it's a school night". We kept insisting and she actually started crying "but it's spring break this week, I don't have school" LOL

We had to go check the school calendar to make sure, and low and behold, she was right, they're on spring break this week *snicker*

So anyway, as weird as it seems because I would have thought spring break would be in april some time, it really IS here, just letting you all know before you start sending kids to bed early or dropping them off in an empty school in the morning. LOL

Don't forget on thursday to share your best slow cooking recipes, the winner will be receiving a new slow cooker from Crock-Pot. For more details look here. It will be hard to pick one great recipe from all the ones I'm sure you will have, so I may just end up having either hubby pick the winner OR doing a random generator. Either way, one of you will be a very lucky winner.



I haven't done the Menu Plan Monday for the past 2 weeks, meals have been a jumble of whatever is on hand and I tell you, I'm freaking out. I am a creature of habit and I've been planning meals and grocery lists and whatnot for about 10 years now and it's so helpful to me in keeping this household running smoothly.

I can't wait to get back into it next week, I feel completely lost without my meals planned.....not to mention you tend to mess up and eat out more or buy things you don't need......if you want to see what others are doing for their menus, go on over to Laura and join her "Menu Plan Monday" feature, just be sure to take a huge cup of coffee with, you will be there for a long time.



I haven't had much chance to visit your blogs but I'm hoping to do that this afternoon. The house is finally unpacked and in order and I can sit down on the computer and relax a bit, I've certainly earned it.

So what are my plans for today you may ask:

Put away the last load of laundry
Call south african consulate to change address
Drop off boxes at Airman's Attic
Visit blogs
Plan menus and grocery list for next week

See it's not that much at all, the rest of the time I'm going to be reading my "Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII". It's a HUGE book but I'm really enjoying it.

And that's pretty much what's going on here, for dinner tonight I'm making "Chicken in Wine Sauce with Garlic Mashed Potatoes".......I'll have the recipe up on the food blog later tonight or tomorrow.

Right now, it's time for lunch, Nicholas' choice.....scrambled eggs with cheese and cut up hotdogs. Jasmine says she's picking tomorrow's lunch which will be Honey Mustard Chicken Salad. Yum!

In the mood for some Wings???

Last night's dinner was Moist and Tender Wings, they are the best, easy to make and they cook all day long in the crockpot so by the time you are ready for dinner, they are falling away from the bone. YUM!

If you're interested, I posted the recipe on my food blog.

MOIST AND TENDER WINGS

Base Carnival!

From thursday until tomorrow, there is a carnival set up on base. It's pretty much for the kids, lots of game stands and rides specifically made for them.

We decided to go today and $140 later, here we are at home, the kids are tired and slouched on the couches resting, but as they said "this was so much fun". They made out with about 5 prizes each so I guess it's not too bad, I'm still wincing at the money spent there but really, nowadays you can't go anywhere without blowing a ludicrous amount of cash.

Before I show you the pictures though, I want you to take a look at Jasmine's new haircut, she had been begging me for a bob haircut for weeks now and finally on thursday night I gave in and cut her hair. I was a little apprehensive at first but it looks so darn cute on her, I'm glad I did it.


Boy does she look cute :)

Alright so let's head to the carnival, I went on 3 rides with the kids....a small roller coaster which has always been my absolute favorite ride, some weird spaceship one that flies you around really fast and the person sitting on the inner side of the seat comes slamming into you and can't get back up. Needless to say, I was on the edge, my hip cutting into the side while BOTH Nicholas and Jasmine were glued to my side. We laughed until we cried but by the time the darn ride stopped I was almost crying from pain LOL



They weren't very thrilled with this bee ride, it didn't really do much at all and didn't go fast enough for them. Of course for me watching on, I was glad, but I won't tell them that LOL

I decided to sit this one out, so Curt and Jasmine went. Bwhahahahahah
If only I could have taken a picture of Jasmine's face when it started going really high, it was the funniest thing on earth.


And here we are, the four of us on this ride called "The Tornado". This thing goes really fast and high and then you have the middle round thing that you're supposed to spin and your whole little pod starts spinning as it goes.

We started off spinning it but I tell you by the time the ride was coming to an end, both Curt and I were a little green LOL

This just absolutely did it for me, I couldn't possibly gone on anything else. Gosh I still feel queasy and what's funny is that I remember being a teenager and going to the carnival and riding all of these and even worse ones and being just fine.....sad how we age LOL

The kids LOVED this Speedway ride, they laughed so hard.

And this was just a.....I don't know......like a kids obstacle course kinda thing that ended with a slide.



One of the last rides on the way out. Believe it or not, by this time the kids were ready to head home.

But NOT before a quick slide down the FUN SLIDE. Poor Nicholas was having a hard time climbing all the way to the top carrying his little carpet thing. *snicker*

He did really good though and Jasmine came flying down, there was a lady next to me who just started laughing and said "wow your daughter came down fast" LOL


But what's a carnival with no Funnel Cakes covered in powdered sugar and cinnamon???


See that ride in the distance? When I was younger I went on one with my sister in law Hayley, we loved it but now you wouldn't get me on there even if you paid me LOL


Love this photo, the blue sky and the colors from the ferris wheel are gorgeous.


We ended off the day with the kids bouncing in the castle for a few minutes.

It was fun, we spent way too much money so thank God for the move we just did and the money we'll be making off of that.

Oh and I almost forgot I had my first fender bender today and I feel awful. It wasn't even huge, I was backing out of the post office and another lady decided to back out too from behind so I hit her back bumper and dented it a bit. I felt really bad though, gave her all my insurance info and came home. But really, what is it about something so small that just gets your nerves going????

Anyway, it's time for me to start dinner, I hope you're all having a wonderful Saturday.

Because everyone deserves a little chocolate....

I just finished making some chocolate mousse, guess all the moving and unpacking created a craving for this delicious and yet so simple dessert.

If you're interested in making some for you family OR if you've suddenly developed the said craving.....just go on over to Full Bellies, Happy Kids for the recipe.

EASY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Special Surprise to my readers!

Guess what?!?!?!?!

I've been doing the Slow Cooking Thursday feature for a while and I've never had a HUGE amount of participants, but the ones that I do have are the loyal sweet ladies who have come back week after week to leave their amazing recipes.

Because of that, I think you deserve something in return, so this is what I want you to do.....grab your best Slow Cooking recipes and make sure to share them on next week's Slow Cooking Thursday and then I'm going to pick a winner and you know what you will get???

A brand new Slow Cooker from CrockPot. YES the wonderful Merideth who sent me mine, has offered to send one to one of my readers. So go, go start getting ready and I'll keep reminding you until next week.

Thank you again to Merideth and Crock-Pot for their generosity, because of them one of you lucky ladies will be receiving a NEW slow cooker in the mail. I'm so thrilled!

Slow Cooking Thursday

All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.

APPLE GRANOLA DESSERT

4 medium tart apples, peeled and sliced
2 cups granola cereal with fruit and nuts
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream topping, optional

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine apples and cereal. In a bowl, combine honey, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg; pour over apple mixture and mix well. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with ice cream or whipped topping if desired.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Hello Sunshine!

As the sun started rising this morning, I climbed out of bed, threw on my robe and walked through my new home....... as I padded barefoot through the hallway to the kitchen, I looked around at the boxes mixed with furniture and all our things and realized that no matter where we go, it's not the house that makes it a home.

It's US, it's the family and it's the personal things that we bring with, so I'm happy, I'm content and I'm ready to start this new chapter of our lives.

The picture above is of the sunset last night, gorgeous beautiful vivid colors splayed across the sky, it literally took my breath away and made me smile, big big smile.



So are you ready to see some of my house? It's slowly getting unpacked and set in order, but like I said......s l o w l y. Curt and I are still really sore from the move, I tell you every step I take my calves are killing me, so we're taking it slow, doing a little at a time.

Come on in and take a look around and please be careful, I don't want anyone tripping on a box or slipping on a stray toy on the floor.....yes those pesky little toys that seem to fall out of boxes and flow into the hallway, kitchen and living room.....even the bathroom.

Of course the first place I'll take you to is the kitchen, it just wouldn't be me if I didn't right? If you're good and behave I may even give you some Gingersnap cookies that I'm baking today.

Here's another view of my kitchen....
Looking from the kitchen into the laundry room.

In my laundry room there's a pantry, or maybe it's not but I just turned it into one, who knows? Here I have my extra appliances and most of my cooking books.....

Eating area, you'll notice a spiderman mask sitting on the bench. What?!?!? Doesn't spiderman eat? *shrug*
Living room. I just have to shake my head here, there's so many boxes and odd stuff laying around. There's a drill and a couple toys on the couch, there's a video game drawer set just sitting there and yet more boxes. Oy.....someone save me from this unpacking LOL
Here's my bedroom, the only one that is pretty much done and that's because the kids are still getting used to the new house so we've been letting them climb in bed with us at night.

And this is the honeysuckle right outside my kitchen window, I can NOT wait until the hummingbirds come visiting.

In between all this unpacking, one thing I've really been enjoying is my clothesline. Goodness gracious, there really is nothing like the smell of air dried clothes. I won't be hanging my underwear out there though LOL

I mean, there's no fence in the backyard and I don't think the neighbors need to see my unmentionables LOL

But comforters, tablecloths, towels etc...pretty much whatever I can get away with, is going out there.

I'm in love with a clothesline!

And now I have to head out, back to the other house to finish cleaning all the appliances and get it ready for inspection in the morning.

We're also having our old refrigerator switched with this one, the one in this house is so tiny I can barely fit anything in there.

Have a great day everyone, I'll be back in the morning with my Slow Cooking Thursday.

I'm in pain!

It took us 15 hours to move the whole house and two 24 foot truck trips. We had no one to help so it was just Curt and I....I'm exhausted, I'm in a LOT of pain, there's muscles I discovered I had no idea existed.

My hands are swollen, cut and scraped and my body is covered in bruises.....I won't even mention my feet, after being on them the whole move and then today unpacking the new house, they are DONE. I literally get shooting pains up my legs with every step I try to take.

I've missed blogging and staying in touch with everyone, not sure if I'll be back in business tomorrow but I should be by wednesday and then I'll tell you all about our new house and the HORRIBLE neighbors we were unlucky to be settled with.

See last night, Curt and I were unloading the last of the things into the house, it was 10 pm and next thing we know, we have the cops at our house. Some very UNFRIENDLY neighbor called them because we were making too much noise moving in. I'm sorry but that really irks me, do they honestly think we LIKE being out there hauling heavy stuff??? The cop was very nice and actually said that the words the caller used were "there are some loud noises and bangings from there". Gee ya think? I'm sorry they haven't invented silencer U-Hauls. Even the cop thought it was ridiculous that they would call it in, but he had to come do his duty and we completely understand. Just don't get a very good impression from the neighborhood you know.

Way to welcome a person to the neighborhood. Needless to say, I guess I'll stick to myself around here, sad but oh well.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, I'm physically and emotionally beat and I think I need to sleep it off for a few days.......oh I wish!