Apple Fritters and Ants!!!!

My life seems to revolve around alphabet letters lately, it's actually quite amusing to realize that most of the things I do in one day start with the same letter......weird or freaky???

It's a slow saturday for me, one of those just spent laying around and doing pretty much nothing, not that I need to do anything because for once I can say "my house is spotless and I have no Mt. laundry threatening to take over the house". Right now the kids are eating their lunch, good ol' Ramen Noodles.....I don't know why some people turn their noses down at these, I for one think they're cheap inexpensive and the kids love them......well I do too, but that's besides the point.


Anyway, they're eating their lunch and I'm standing to the side like a Terminator on the lookout for ants (see that happy one above, that's what I think they do to me every morning LOL). I have NEVER in my life seen such an invasion of ants like we have seen since moving to Arizona. I wake up every morning to hundreds of them on my kitchen floor, God Forbid you leave one measly crumb and they're like vultures all over it. I need your help fellow blog friends and ant hunters...........how do I get rid of these??? I don't want to use anything on the floor that the pugs can ingest or even the kids can get to but I also can't keep going this way. So Please, I implore you, leave me your ideas and advice or whatever you think will help me get rid of them.

The other A going on today is Apple Fritters, I first saw this recipe at Kelli's blog and decided to give it a go. So I got out the recipe and started it only to realize that I had forgotten to read the recipe ahead of time, sooooooooooo I didn't realize that the batter needs to be refrigerated for about two hours.

There I was, knife in hand and my pretty apples chopped all up, now you know if you just leave them out they turn brown and yucky....what to do what to do....well I did the only thing I could, the kids and I ate them


Through the magic of blogging, you won't have to sit through 2 hours of waiting, you get to enjoy them straight away. Help yourself to some and if you want to try them, I posted the recipe on my food blog here, or you could go to the original recipe from Tina here.


Yesterday I went to get my mail and had a box waiting for me from the wonderful lady Elizabeth, she knows how much I love books AND cooking AND slow cooking, so I opened it up to this beauty......I'm sure you heard me all across the country for I was jumping up and down and screeching my heart out. LOL




She's a wonderful lady and right now she needs your prayers for her and her family after her son received news that his best friend had been killed over in Iraq. Please go on over and show some support for her family and also the soldier's family left behind.

Dinner tonight is Sirloin Cheese Burgers on the grill and I have these wonderful potatoes cooking away in my crockpot, all I did was wash some potatoes, prick them with a fork and then rub them with butter or margarine, sprinkle some garlic powder and thyme over them and set it on high for 4 hours. They smell DIVINE!

Of course for dessert we have the scrumptious apple fritters, Yummy!

Tomorrow will be Slow Cooked Smothered Steaks with Garlic Mashed potatoes and some veggies. I have a couple of errands to run so this will be perfect, it can cook while I am out.....actually I'm heading to Michaels but shhhhh don't tell anyone. LOL

Hubby is going with me so that I behave myself, because if I'm there alone I will most certainly walk out with way more than I can handle and way more than my bank account is willing to spend.

I'm getting a really bad headache so I think it's time to step away from the computer and maybe catch up on a little bit of reading or even a little nap if the kids are willing to lay with me....doubtful but I'll try my luck.

Hope you all have a wonderful saturday.

God Bless,

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.


Morning ladies, it's thursday and time for another Slow Cooking Thursday. I'm sporting a new SCT banner so go ahead and update your old ones when you get a chance.

Thank you again to all the participants, I've gotten such a wonderful collection of recipes already and can't wait to see more.

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.

Last week was all about slow cooking and boy was it good..........I think I'll have another slow cooking week themed menu coming up soon.

For dinner tonight I'm having Slow Cooked Smothered Steaks and Mashed potatoes, it's one of those tried and true family favorites :)

Here's today's recipes:

GREEK CHICKEN PITAS

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 t. lemon-pepper seasoning
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. allspice
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 c. cucumber, peeled and diced
4 rounds pita bread, halved and split

Place onion and garlic in a slow cooker; set aside. Sprinkle chicken with seasonings; place in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high setting for 6 hours. Stir together yogurt, sour cream and cucumber in a small bowl; chill. Fill pita halves with chicken and drizzle with yogurt sauce.
Makes 4 sandwiches.

SPICED CHOCOLATE COFFEE

8 c. brewed coffee
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. chocolate syrup
4 4-inch cinnamon sticks
1-1/2 t. whole cloves

Combine first 3 ingredients in a slow cooker; set aside. Wrap spices in a coffee filter and tie with kitchen string; add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 2 to 3 hours. Remove and discard spices. Ladle coffee into mugs. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

What Fairy Tales are made of!!!

Soft moss a downy pillow makes, and green leaves spread a tent, Where Faerie fold may rest and sleep until their night is spent. The bluebird sings a lullaby, the firefly gives a light, The twinkling stars are candles bright, Sleep, Faeries all, Good Night. ~Elizabeth T. Dillingham, "A Faery Song"

Yesterday we finally got down to making the Fairy Houses, I haven't seen the kids this excited since Christmas morning.

We stepped out into the back yard and started collecting what we needed, branches and rocks and twigs and leaves and whatnot. Amongst the cries of "Oh look mommy" I heard squeals and laughter and little mouthes talking a mile a minute, bubbling with excitement and eager to make their own Fairy Houses.


They picked the spot in the yard that they wanted to use, both were against the wall right beneath their bedroom windows, and they set to work. I helped Nicholas with his but Jasmine did hers all on her own.



I honestly had no idea that the Fairy Houses would be such a HUGE hit, watching them build them and talk about Fairies and nature, asking questions and using their imagination and not to mention being outside in the fresh air. It was just wonderful and it did my soul good, I tell you!!!

Once they had the main part of the house structure done they both ran inside to find furniture and decorations to use. They came out with fake flowers, beads and tiny little furniture.

Nicholas Fairy House

Jasmine's Fairy House

Aren't they just the cutest things?? You won't believe how into them I got too, it was like taking a trip back in time to my childhood, I felt like a kid again and I enjoyed myself which made me realize that we tend to forget what it's like to throw caution to the wind and just have fun.

It's definitely taught me to allow myself to be a kid at times and do things that normally adults wouldn't do.

Alright well here are the kids finishing up their houses.



And here are the final houses, look how proud they are of their accomplisments LOL
I love their little faces :)


I'm telling you, if you want a fun project to do with your kids and not have to spend money or gas to get there, this is IT. It's the topic of conversation in our house since yesterday, Jasmine even asked me to leave her bedroom window open a bit so she could keep an ear out for fairies that may come and see the houses.

I've added more of the pics to my Flickr Account, so if you want to see them just head on over there.

Since the kids are into Fairies right now, they're devouring anything to do with it, books and movies etc. So we have lots of Fairy themed things going on here at the house, I'll share the links with you all in case anyone else is interested.

I'll be making some of the Fairy Dolls for Jasmine, she's going to freak out when she sees them LOL


Fairies World - Images, coloring pages, poems, books etc.

Fairy Fantasy Party - Great ideas, games and activities, themed fairy food etc

Fairy Ribbon Doll

Calista Fairy Doll

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Easy Fairy Costume for Halloween

Time to relax!!!

After a crazy weekend of running around and cleaning and unpacking the last little bits of stuff, I'm done, at least for today.

I plan on putting everything off until tomorrow, the kids have today off school too so I don't need to be running around which means I get to do whatever I wish...........catching up on all the blogs, catching up on my reading, playing some games on the computer, building that fairy house which has yet to be done, eating, monkeying around with the kids and just throwing all worries and caution to the wind. I think I deserve a day like that!!!


We had a wonderful day yesterday, Curt's Uncle Dave and Aunt Jean are vacationing about 2 hours from us and drove out to spend the day. We had such a great time, we didn't do anything extravagant but there's no need because for us the best part of this is sitting down and chatting and catching up, playing card games and laughing with the kids. They'll be by to see us again on friday before flying back to North Carolina early saturday morning.......it will be sad to see them go but we treasure all the time we spend together.

Here they are playing a game of "Back Alley Bridge", it's one of those family card games that has to be played whenever they get together.



My kids are growing and with that comes all the funny and not so funny remarks and comments.

Nicholas is 4 years old and just drives us insane at times, he's very independent and assertive and wants things done his way. I could almost see a tattoo engraved on his forehead "it's my way or the highway". But beyond all that he is just as sweet as can be and says the funniest things.

This weekend Curt went out and surprised them both with some new toys, they each got a new pokemon, and I kid you not, these toys are tiny but cost $20 EACH. Yes I actually want to heave when I say that.....but anyway, he also got them some toys from Ben 10.
While attempting to open the toys and set them up, you know we have the box with the gazillion tie things and then because apparently that wasn't annoying enough for parents and frustrating enough for kids, they decided to go a step further and actually add SCREWS..........seriously, if you're a toy wrapper/packer whatever, could you give a parent a break?!?!?!?

But going back to the story, Curt pulled out the toy and the little paper booklet thingy fell to the ground, Nicholas reached down, picked it up and happily announced to the room "Hey my toy makes underwear" LOL
This is what he saw and I have to tell you, it really does remind me of underwear LOL

I don't think I've laughed so hard, the look on his face was one of amazement and confusion, I mean a toy that makes underwear is kinda neat but also unnecessary right??? LOL

Jasmine on the other hand is growing up, 8 going on 18 years old and we're already seeing the beginning of the teenage phase, it seems nowadays they become older younger.....if that even makes sense to you.

So she's been begging us for a cellphone and quite frankly we don't even have one ourselves. Other than for emergencies, I see absolutely NO need for cellphones, it's just my personal opinion obviously.........so when we told her that there's no way she's getting one, at least not right now because she's EIGHT.YEARS.OLD........her reply was calm, collected and unexpected "You guys are SO old fashioned". LOL

I had flashbacks of myself saying pretty much the same thing to my parents and though at the time I thought I was all that and a bag of chips, now I'm not finding it very funny. Guess what goes around comes around right???

And life goes on, everyday learning something new but hey, if others can do it so can we........or as Nicholas likes to say now "It's a doozie" LOL

My Saturday in S's!!!

Image copyright: P. Buckley Moss

There's soup, there' sickies and there's scenery.....yep, all rolled into one.

I'm feeling like I was handed a cold but told to hold off on it as long as I possibly can....I have the sniffles and the headache, the congested nose and the ill feeling, but no cold in sight, YET and I used that term lightly because usually it means within the next day it's slamming into me at full speed and knocking me onto my tush.

While it's not here I just continue on my way, it's almost like I'm packing for a vacation, running around and getting as much done as possible so that I'm ready to go, only this time the furthest I will be headed to is the bed if it really gets that bad LOL

As promised yesterday afternoon, after getting the house in order, we set out to the Historic Sahuaro Ranch. Imagine if you please driving in the city and then pulling into this park, you're driving through these beautiful huge black iron gates and suddenly surrounded by palm trees, a rose garden and a beautiful ranch house built in the 1890's.

We set off walking around the grounds which is littered with chickens, rabbits and peacocks, oh and we can't forget the pigeons that coo and rest upon the rooftops.

I'm only going to share a few pictures with you, the others you will have to go check out at my Flickr account, just follow this link Historic Sahuaro Ranch, I didn't want to overwhelm blogger, we all know how antsy it can get at times.

If you're interested in the history of the ranch, you can go here and read all about it, it's very interesting.

The main house

The Foreman's House

The kids outside the packing house

A view of the rose gardens

Beautiful roses

It was such a great day, the outing concluded with a tour of the Main House, for free, we got to go inside and take pictures and learn more about the history of the ranch and the family that lived there, in the main bedroom they still have the original sleigh bed that belonged to the family. A great afternoon, a learning experience and a promise to return to the ranch for a picnic.

Just before we left we noticed this hen digging a hole in the dirt, it was the funniest thing ever and for us, a first! I didn't know that chickens kicked away at the dirt like that. LOL

How funny is that?!?!?!


We've spent the day cleaning and redoing the house, we still had a box of pictures to hang up and some other odds and ends needing attention, so today was the day. I love looking around and feeling like I've accomplished something, every nook and cranny has a homely touch and it warms my heart, I think I'm finally seeing a HOME where just a HOUSE used to be.

We have a breakfast nook and I HATED the way the back of the benches looked, they were unfinished and didn't look good at all, so I got out some of my fabric and attached some panels to the back. Not only does it look much better but I now can use the space underneath for extra storage and no one will even notice.

Now this area was an empty wall that had some boxes still to be unpacked, we cleared them out I moved my little bench there, added a bookshelf and a plant, some pictures above and I have myself a cute little reading nook. I just love this little corner.

And the family pictures are finally up on the wall, well at least what you can see of them, there's more just around the corner.

So as you can see we were quite busy, while all this was going on I had a wonderful Split Pea Soup cooking away in the crockpot, I've shared the recipe over at my food blog if anyone is interested in trying.


We have family coming over to spend the day with us tomorrow so we're thrilled but it also means I need to get going, have some things to finish up and kids to bathe and read to.

I hope you're all enjoying your long weekend and having fun with the family.

God Bless,