Weekend Chit Chat!

I'm tired and it feels like I've been saying that a lot lately *snicker*

But I guess that comes with the territory when you have two sick kids at home, Nicholas has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics and Jasmine just has a cold but she's been running a low grade fever. Mommy is exhausted and if I don't hear "mommy can I get?" again for at least a day, I'll be fine.

Isn't it always like that though when one or more of your children are not feeling well? I'm starting to believe that just the mere mention of the word "mommy" brings them comfort. Although for us who hear it constantly it can drive you quite insane at times LOL

Now is is just me or has this cold/flu season been absolutely horrid? I don't think I've seen so many people sick at the same time, I just hope and pray it passes fast.



You know I love weekends. The slow pace, the waking up late, the unplanned days before us. I used to live for a schedule and I wanted every single minute of my day planned, but as I got older I realized that I was happier on the days where there were no plans, there was nowhere to do go and nothing to do.

So we've started leaving our weekends open to just lolligag around the house and do whatever feels good at the time.

Like waking up late and sleepily moving into the kitchen to whip up a batch of pancakes, and drop big goops of butter on the hot cakes, watching it melt and drizzle down the sides.


I try to get a little bit of house cleaning done after breakfast while everyone else is still laying around in PJ's.

Then it's on to whatever I'm in the mood for that day. For me it's been watching tv and catching up on all the shows I've been meaning to watch.

I am almost done with Little House on the Prairie and maybe it's just me, but I haven't enjoyed Season 8 as much as the previous seasons, I'll even go as far as admitting that there have been a few episodes I completely skipped. Please tell me there's others out there that either did the same or know exactly what I'm talking about?

With that said, I realized that it was time to clean up and update my Queue on Netflix. I had so much stuff on there that I'm just not interested in anymore, so I spent about an hour deleting and moving items up on the list and find new things to watch.

- Like Lost in Austen. I was blog browsing yesterday and one of my favorite blogs had mentioned it so I immediately made mental note to find it, and I did. YAY!

After a dispute with her boyfriend, Amanda lands in the 19th-century world of author Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. While helping the Bennet sisters find husbands, Amanda accidentally causes problems that could alter the course of the tale. Throughout this British series, Amanda must balance her feelings for Mr. Darcy (Elliot Cowan) with her responsibility to the one of the world's greatest love stories. Jemima Rooper stars.

Here is the trailer for those that may be interested in watching:

- I've also started watching the Stargate SG1 Series. Curt loves it and has all the Seasons from 1 to 10 and he's mentioned them a couple times but I had yet to get around to watching, so last night I popped in the first Disc and I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed it.



But I haven't just been watching TV because I've been surrounded by some great books that I'm reviewing, starting with one you'll see tomorrow called "White Picket Fences" by Susan Meissner which I'm sure you all know her from the amazing book "The Shape of Mercy".

There's also a vampire book and some Christian kid books and all sorts of other goodies you'll be seeing popping up in the blog the next couple of weeks.

In between I've been sneaking in some other reading that is not for reviews, just my own books like the Night World Series by L.J. Smith the same author that wrote "The Vampire Diaries". I've enjoyed them, they're pretty light reads and nothing majorly dark and heavy, which is just fine right now, if I want craziness I just have to look around my life at the moment LOL

Oh and I've managed to catch up on all my blog reading, I can now say that when I go on over to Google Reader, it says something like (7 new posts) instead of (1200 new posts). Yeah, you can laugh but it's true, it was so overwhelming at first I actually thought of just deleting everything but I'm so glad I didn't because I have so many wonderful blogs on there and obviously I don't comment on them all being that they're so many, but I like reading and catching up with many.

I did find a few new ones too which I'm enjoying looking through. Do you ever go back to the beginning of a blog and look through all their posts? I love doing that.

One of my new favorites is in England and has the most beautiful pictures, makes me sigh and smile and wish I was there.

Anyway, I have babbled enough for now, I need to get the kids backpacks ready for the morning, do the dishes, grab myself some hot tea and get kids ready for bed.

Have a wonderful night.

Slow Cooking Thursday - Brisket in Ale

I apologize for this post going up so late today, I have two kids home sick from school. Nicholas has a horrible cough and a bad sinus infection and Jasmine is coming down with something too.

I've been running around all day and just got back from the doctor. Anyway, better late than never right?

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.

Credit: diabeticlivingonline

BRISKET IN ALE

1	3- to 4-pound fresh beef brisket
2	medium onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1	bay leaf
1	12-ounce can beer
1/4	cup chili sauce
2	tablespoons no-calorie, heat-stable, granular sugar substitute (Splenda)
1/2	teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/4	teaspoon salt
1/4	teaspoon black pepper
1	clove garlic, minced
2	tablespoons cornstarch
2	tablespoons cold water

1. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut brisket to fit into a 3-1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker. In the cooker place onions, bay leaf, and brisket. In a medium bowl combine beer, chili sauce, sugar substitute, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic; pour over meat in cooker.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours.

3. Using a slotted spoon, tansfer meat and onions to a platter; keep warm. Discard bay leaf.

4. For gravy: Skim fat from cooking liquid. Measure 2-1/2 cups of the cooking liquid; discard remaining cooking liquid. In a medium saucepan stir together the cornstarch and cold water; stir in the 2-1/2 cups cooking liquid. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Pass gravy with meat. Makes 10 servings.

Arizona Sky!

The clouds started rolling in around 2pm, and have remained throughout the evening, which has resulted in one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever witnessed here in Arizona.

Thought you would all enjoy it too. :)

Sick of Candy....

Look I love Halloween just for the whole dressing up and Trick or Treating, but honestly, after a day or two I'm so sick of the candy all over the house.

It's not only a temptation for the kids AND me but it's so bad for you, I just wanna dump it all. Maybe I should? Do you think my kids would notice if they woke up tomorrow and the huge bucket of yumminess is just POOF? *snicker*

Anyway, so Saturday we had a lot of fun, we went trick or treating which was an adventure all it's own considering Mr Nicholas was a Werewolf and couldn't see through his mask Hahahahahahah

I've never seen a kid trip over so many things, he was getting so frustrated and kept saying "For Pete's sake, I can't see in this mask" LOL

Here's some pictures and fair warning, Jasmine's Reaper was pretty scary, even for me.

Nicholas as a werewolf, he looked so cute but from behind it was like watching a little Mufasa running around LOL

I got in on it too, nice little witch that I was *hahaha*

My girl wanted to be the Reaper...I don't know why, but goodness, she was scary looking.

I tell you, she scared a couple of adults and teenagers LOL

And here's Curt, the big daddy Werewolf, he scared quite a few little kids too

It was fun, but I think I already said that, it was all great and good and dandy until we were about an hour into it, then I realized that just because I want to look good in a costume, next time I say I'm wearing boots, someone slap me upside the head.

I am still in pain today, especially on my left foot LOL

But I do have to say, I think what made it worse is what we did on Sunday morning.

We grabbed the kids and headed to the Track on base, at first I thought the kids would get bored and not enjoy it but I was surprised, not only did they have a lot of fun they begged to go back and do this every weekend, so that is what we're doing.

As a family, we have vouched to hit the track every Saturday and Sunday morning and run/walk/jog, whatever....just get some exercise.

So there you have it, you're all caught up on what is going on here, other than the fact that I have a sick Nicholas at home, and no, it's not H1N1, it's just a cold. I took him in this morning just to be sure and everything is fine so he's headed back to school in the morning. Yippee!!

Now I'm off to eat dinner, you ladies just go on over to Full Bellies and see what we had tonight, it will knock your socks off, or is it blow your socks off? I can't believe I don't remember LOL

Lookie, here's a little hint....YUMMY!

Happy Homemaker Monday!

<a href="http://familycorner.blogspot.com" title="hhm by jasnicmommy, on Flickr"><img width="150" alt="hhm" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3608789834_4d1bac04e0.jpg" height="150" /></a>

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Beautiful blue skies but nippy outside.


One of my simple pleasures:
Baking, whether is a cake or just a simple loaf of bread. It's relaxing and calming and I love it.


On my bedside table:
Night World by L. J. Smith - The same author of the Vampire Diaries. Love this series, just picked up the 3 books at Walmart yesterday.
Almost done with the first book, I'm really enjoying them, they're light reads and all centered around teenagers.


On my TV:
Little House on the Prairie Season 7


On the menu for tonight:
Penne with Sausage - I'll have the recipe up on the food blog later.


On my To Do List:
Mop and sweep
Post office


New Recipe I tried last week:
No new recipe last week


In the craft basket:
Wrist warmers and crochet birds


Looking forward to:
Thanksgiving, I think it's one of my favorite holidays, maybe because I can eat as much as I want without feeling guilty LOL


Homemaking Tip for this week:
Get the family involved, especially the kids. On Sunday's we all clean together and everything gets done faster. The kids love dusting and cleaning so the don't complain and actually have fun.


Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
I read so many last week, I finally caught up on my Google Reader but I can't pick just a single one.


Favorite photo from last week:

Me and Nicholas, I love the way the photo turned out, we were goofing off in front of the camera.




Lesson learned the past few days:
Your children will mirror everything they see and hear. It's up to us as parents to show them and lead by example, they learn from what they see around them and there's nothing better than witnessing them being kind and thoughtful towards others. It makes me so proud.


On my Prayer List:
All my friends and family
Troops overseas
Friend of mine going through Breast Cancer


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”- 1 Peter 2:9