I (heart) Sam’s club!

Sam’s has this thing called click n pull. love it!! I’ve used it for well over 6 years now. It is placing your order online and picking it up (or sweet talking your sweetie into picking it up on his way home!) the next day.

It is a little tricky to set up – you have to create grocery lists when you first start and it takes quiet awhile and you despair that the whole system is fatally flawed. But after that- easy cheesy! I can place my regular order in about 5 minutes.

For me, avoiding the temptations is the big plus. Not having the schlep a squirmy toddler though the warehouse is another.

I wish I knew of other places that offered this kind of service. On line shopping is great in alot of cities and I am sure it is the wave of the future but for now – I (heart) Sam’s click n pull!!

Do you know Billy D. Thurman??

   I bought a nice unused leather scrapbook at a yardsale and inside were these two photos. I didn’t notice the photos for weeks and no longer recall where the yardsale was and am trying to find someone who wants these photos. As a genealogist and scrapbooker I know how valuable photos are (fire, flood, divorce – there are countless reasons folks need replacement photos).

I have googled and emailed strangers and posted on genealogy boards. Does anyone have any other ideas for me to try?  

It just seems so sad and I wish I could find someone who wants these photos.

Obamanos!

 

  In honor of our new Prez here is a photo (not taken by me) of then candidate Obama when he came to Austin in February 2008. He did a photo op with the UT football team. I liked this photo because it looks like he is having fun – not awkward or politcal. (He is in the center of the photo- only guy wearing a tie and I think he is indeed flashing a Hook ‘Em sign.)

  I liked it so much that I scrapped it- and this was before all the hype and hoopla. I like to add a touch of the newsworthy every now and then in the scrapbooks. I used a distressed brown background with a torn burnt orange cardstock center stripe, simple double mat and simple journaling with a white gel pen.

 

 

Deanna

A Whole Lot of Scrapping Goin’ On

Saturday I embellished and journaled in a whole TON of pages and today I am "bagging" them. They are going in the albums- whether in the absolute chronological order or not. (Yeah- I got to give props to Flylady for teaching me that sometimes my perfectionism is just me obsessing over a detail and it stops me from moving forward.) Some still need titles so I will be using the cricut later today and tomorrow to finish them up.

Pete found a crock pot recipe and there is a roast in the pot cooking away. Recipe calls for 10 hours on low – uhhh- we are going with 5 on high instead. If it comes out good I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Here is a picture of the littlest one looking all grown up with chongos (translation: pigtails) in her hair, with her bag (contents at the time: a baggie with craisins and a peek-a block with fish in it) ready for a morning of errands.

Deanna

Xmas '08 revisited

A couple of cool things we did that I wanted to keep in mind for next year.
1. The cool snowman ornaments we made. Got the idea from here and bought an enormous amount of white Crayola craft clay. We cheated a bit and used orange clay for the nose and sharpied the eyes on but they came out great.
2. Hand painted tool box - 5$ yardsale find and I turned the kids loose with sharpie markers on it. My favorite bit was where I traced all of our hands on the back and had the kids wriote their names.
3. Santa still rocks! Party at our house again next year!!
D

Chicken Salad and kid books

This is a recipe I stumbled across and love it because it is so adaptable.
It is supposed to be to make a crescent ring on a Pampered Chef stone but when I do that the bottom is always raw. I think you are supposed to preheat the stone but then you would be creating the crescent ring on a hot pan- which doesn't sound all that smart really.
I am not usually a fan of the cream of soups but wowza! I like it in the recipe.

Last night I had some leftover grilled chicken breasts to use up and some crescent rolls I had picked up in the day old bread area of Wal-Mart

Here is the original:
2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls            

1 can water chestnuts- chopped *
3-4 green onions *                

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts - cooked and chopped *
1 can cream of chicken soup            

3/4 c mayonnaise
3 stalks celery – chopped            

3 Tbls butter - opt *
almonds - opt *

Preheat oven to 375F. Brown almonds in butter. In a bowl combine everything except the crescent rolls. Arrange the crescent roll triangles in a circle on a large pizza pan with bases overlapping and tips pointing out. Spoon filling on ring and fold point over, tucking underneath- there will be chicken salad showing. That's ok. Bake 20 mins or until golden. Remove from oven, slice and serve.

* I omit the chestnuts (Pete hates them) and skip the green onions unless I have them on hand. I think I used 5 chicken breasts and I like to use leftover grilled for more flavor. I skip the almonds entirely.

And last night I added 3 small carrots - tiny diced- and half a bell pepper -- all because they were leftovers looking to be used up.

I took the stale bakery crescent rolls, sliced them open, scooped out just a little, put on the chicken salead, rolled them in tinfoil and baked them a little. They were yumm! It made 4 good sized sandwiched with leftovers!!

 
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I ordered some extra copies of my favorite kid books and they all came in yesterday. You know this will be one of my 12 on the 12th pictures! I have this idea that I want to put together sets of favorite kid books for each of the kids and put it in the attic or something and give it to them when they have kids or something. ya - ya- I know, corny to the max! But there ya go.

Gus Was a Friendly Ghost, Walpole and Doctor Dan the Bandage Man – classics!! I am going through my kids books and finding other books I want multiple copies of. My thinking is to let the kids write their own name in them and to box them up after a bit. Has anyone else done this? I have a handful of books from when I was a kid. Wish I had more.

Deanna

12 on the 12th

well- I keep forgetting to take pictures but just took some. Cute idea and one of my New Years Resolutions.

d

Yummy Corn Bread!

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c corn meal
1Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c milk
2 lrg eggs- slightly beaten
1/3 c veg oil
3 tbs melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Good for muffins or in a cast iron skillet. Line or spray pan or cups. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in small bowl and mix well. Add to dry stuff and mix until just blended. Pour into pan or cups (cups 2/3 full). Bake 18-20 mins for cups or 25 min for pan or until tests done. Cool 5 mins. Serve warm.

Layout xmas 07

Here is a layout and it needs something. This is for a portrait album. I was thinking of just Xmas 2007 cut on the cricut.
Thoughts?

Eating Lip Gloss, Bows cont & Layouts

  Sooooo, I am on the computer and realize it is *really* quiet. I find the 18 month old with a lip gloss I got for xmas - she has eaten part of it and is applying it- liberally - all over her face!!
Had to snap a picture (blurry because she was walking) before cleaning her up.

 

 

~~~

  My bowmaking is paused until the ribbons I orders come in. I did buy some dowels at Home Depot today. Got 3 for less than 2 bucks. Gotta have my sweetie chop them into lengths for me. But here is a picture of what I have made so far.

~~~

Here are 2 scrapbook pages I am stumped on.

This one- I am happy with it but not sure it is "done". Think it needs anything (other than journaling)? it is a single page and I had been hanging onto those icicle stickers *forever*.


This one I like the simplicity and the contrast but am clueless what embellishment to use. I was thinking of cutting something on the cricut but am drawing a blank.

Thoughts?
Deanna

Horns Win Fiesta Bowl

No chance for a split title, but that is OK. It was a great season and only 9 months before next kick off!

--P.

Corn Chowder

I found this on another blog and am glad I printed it out because the blog is no longer there to use as a reference.

Chicken Corn Chowder
1 small onion- chopped
1 lb chicken breasts- boneless, skinless, boiled and cubed, chopped or shredded
(I use leftover grilled chicken breast or leftover rotisserie)
2 14 oz cans creamed corn
1 14 oz can chicken broth (I use my own)
1.5 cups milk
4 Tbls butter
16 oz cream cheese
3 tbls pace chipotle picante sauce (I use whatever is on hand or skip)
opt- few dashes of tabasco (I probably need it since I skip the picante sauce)

In a pot melt the butter, add chopped onion. Saute on med heat for about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add cubed cream cheesse. When that melts add creamed corn, broth, milk, picante sauce and chicken. Simmer until ready to eat.
- I use full fat versions but the original recipe said you can use lower fat versions.
-I like to serve this with tortilla chips or breadmaker bread or cornbread and I garnish it with bacon. Sometimes I add cooked bacon crumbles into the soup (if there is leftovers in the fridge etc)

Deanna

Starting Over, Bows and Killer Cats

Imagine my surprise when I went to get an account so I could comment on Billie's blog only to discover we had our own blog sitting unused for over 4 years!

So, revamping it to make it purty and posting stuff to share.

~~~

The 18 month old's hair is long enough to make tiny pigtails (or chongos). Too cute! And so begins the foray into bows and clips.

I bought some snap clips from ebay and have been covering them in ribbon from my scrap booking stash. I used tacky glue (worked fine), sticky backed ribbon (Colorbook brand from Walmart, again, worked fine) and have ran ribbon (pre-cut to size) through my mini Xyron with permanent adhesive - this seems the cheapest and easiest to me but I wonder about the durability factor.

I also bought some single prong alligator clips from Sally's.

Now I am baking ribbon wound on a dowel to make korker ribbon to make korker bows. There are some gorgeous bows on Etsy and Ebay and I am wondering if I can make some that are at least ok to wear in public.

 

~~~

So, our cat Chloe (pictured here in beads- artwork by 10 yr old) has turned into quite the critter catcher. Kinda surprising because she is petite and delicate - unlike her muscular brother- and the sweetest cat around (one of only a couple who tolerate the attention and affections of the kids!).

One night a couple weeks ago we were watching TV and notice her outside the livingroom window. She was on the windowsill outside with a "present" for us in her mouth meowing to come in and share. Uh, no thanks!

A few months ago she caught a Coral snake (red on yellow, kill the fellow-- and, sadly, we did) and now she seems to be working on helping my neighbor (who has 3 outdoor dogs, 1 indoor dog and a handful of cats) with a mouse/rat issue she is having.

So- today I learned a lesson: Do not open the backdoor and send the 11 yr old to put out the trash without first looking out the window and checking for "gifts" left by Chloe's right by the backdoor. Uhg!! We were both kinda freaked out by the headless corpse of a rather large mouse (what is the size qualification for "rat"?). I covered it with plastic bags and an overturned flowerpot saucer and called the hubby to notify him of his cleanup duty when he gets home.

Deanna