Sounds like Blondie

So Tasha over at The Housewife Diaries has a post today called Songs I'm embarrassed to love and I thought I would be a copy cat and do one also! I was shopping yesterday and I heard this song playing and I immediately liked it.......until I saw the stupid video for it! I still like the song but I don't plan on sitting around watching the video, I can definitely say that! She reminds me a lot of Blondie and I have always liked her music.

Tasha, if you are reading this, I think you should make it a weekly thing and then add a Mr. Linkey to you're post so that all of your readers can share their embarrassing songs that they love!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

It's count down time! Actually our Christmas is all over with. The kids and I emailed Santa and asked him if he could come early since Daddy was going to be gone on Christmas morning and wouldn't be here to watch the kids open gifts. And guess what? He made it last night and we were able to spend today opening gifts, making yummy food and hanging out with the kids playing with new toys. It was a great day, and then tomorrow, we can just relax!!!

This has been such a low key holiday this year......it's weird. Usually we are bouncing from house to house and family to family and party to party. Not this year though, and let me tell ya, it's been pretty nice!!! So tomorrow will consist of sleeping in (yeah), being lazy, playing the new Wii and visiting with grandparents. I'm really looking forward to it!

So for those of you who are doing last minute shopping, wrapping and cleaning, stuffing stockings and dreaming of presents.......I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that Santa brings you all that you asked for! If you want, track Santa with the kids and see if he and Rudolph are close to your hometown yet.

Picture courtesy of free digital pics.

Aaaaahhh Panic Mode

OMG I cant believe how hectic it gets this last week before Christmas!!!

There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Let's see, today is the last day of school, 2 classroom holiday parties, cookie party, work, and I'm suppose to go look at all of the misc. things left from my grandmother and uncle since they have passed away. I really don't think I'm going to be able to do it all today! Poor Riley is going to be exhausted this evening! We will be going for like 8 hours straight and will be missing nap time. This should be interesting to say the least!!!

Tomorrow, finish up the last minutes shopping, make an appetizer and head off to the family Christmas party. The kids get to see Santa, so that should be a good time.

Sunday, work and then we head over to my parents to have Christmas early this year. My brother and his wife and baby are headed to Mexico to visit her family for the holidays. I cant even imagine trying to travel during this holiday. I have never done it and I don't think I ever will!

Oh well, after this weekend is over it should be somewhat calm for a few days and then we start it all over again. Unfortunately the hubby will not be able to spend much time with us. He is working Christmas eve (6am-6pm) and Day (6am-6pm) so we are trying to figure out how/when were going to do presents and dinner and all of that good stuff. This will be our first time in 5 years that we don't get to have him home :( it's very frustrating, but we do what we have to do right?!

So, wishing everyone a somewhat calm and hectic free week before Christmas!!!!

Typical Boy

You will need to scroll down and turn the music off for this one.

This is our family entertainment folks! Jaxson is like the master of arm farts and I dont know where he got it from.

For more Wordful Wednesday posts, head on over to 7 Clown Circus and visit Angie. She has a fantastic family portrait idea and a give away!!!

A Family Portrait.....I think I'm going to pull my hair out!!!

LOL, yes we attempted our family portrait last night. I had the living room set up and we were going to sit in front of the Christmas tree and get it done and over with. My plan was to take 15 minutes and come up with wonderful pictures...........Hahahaha, didnt happen. Thank goodness for Photoshop!!!! Here is what we came up with!

For more Wordful Wednesday posts, head over and see Angie at 7 Clown Circus and have a wonderful day!!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree.......

Every year I have holiday excitement and dread running through me all at the same time. Why you ask? Because I love Christmas time, the baking, the friends and family and the happiness it brings to my kids. I also dread it....I dread the decorating and I'm sure many of you have the same feelings; you get the house extra clean, rearrange what ever room you're putting the Christmas tree up in, drag out the boxes upon boxes of decorations and all of that crap and break your back setting up the (artificial) tree and putting the lights on it, just so. That's if all of your lights are in working order, which mine were not! 5 out of 8 strings of lights were only 1/2 working. Not just one half all at once, no it was like 3 would be lit and then 4 would be out, 2 lit, 3 out, 8 lit, 5 out. You get what I mean and to make it worse, it couldn't be the cheapy lites, no it's the expensive ones that have all of the adjustments on them. My favorite ones ( I like it when they slow glow), my only white ones. I was so frustrated, but I put them on anyway, and now the tree looks funny but oh well.

Then comes the kids turn to do the decorating, the part that I love to sit back and try to just enjoy it. When I say try, I mean try not to freak out when they start tearing through the glass ornaments, not being anal when it comes time to put them on the tree and not stressing about the house looking like a tinsel bomb went off in it when I just cleaned the damn thing!

LOL, I can hardly stand watching my kids decorate the tree! I have learned to just laugh at them and after they go to bed I move everything around the way I like it! It's not that they do a bad job, it's that they pick one spot on the tree and see how many ornaments one branch can hold! 80% of the tree gets totally neglected and the other 20% gets bombarded.

This year, the oldest finally figured it out and began dispersing them throughout the whole tree, middle man found his specific area and little man found everyone else's ornaments and took them off. Only 2 ornaments were broken and luckily the dog (puppy) has left it alone!

It is and always will be the cats favorite place to sleep during the holidays. I think it's a cat thing, my cat growing up did the same thing. It must be all warm and comfy???

In about a month and a half I will be really dreading it. I despise taking down all of the holiday decorations. Luckily (but sadly) I didn't get around to putting up outside lights and decorations. I just didn't have it in me this year. I do have a set of lights waiting to be put up in my front window, I just need to figure out a way to make them stay! I wish I could find those little suction cups that have the hooks on them, that would be perfect!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a very merry holiday season and enjoys their decorations once they are up!

Week in Review

Phewww, I'm so glad this week is almost over! What a whirl wind ride around here. I feel like I haven't even had time to breathe. So let see, where do I start?

First off my hard working hubby got a promotion at work and started his first week as patrol Sgt.!!! Very exciting and I'm very proud of him; he was recognized as the only officer in Aurora to move up in ranks as fast as he did; he'll have his 7 year anniversary in February. He has worked so hard for it, but little did we know how much it would change things around home.....we knew that he would be low man on the pole again and we just assumed that he would end up with the crappy shift for the upcoming year (didn't help out in my job search at all). Well we lucked out, he got almost the same schedule that he's had for the last 5 years!!! Different days off, but hey, it works for us. What we weren't expecting was for him to be recruited as a temporary Sgt. for one that was taking paternity leave for the rest of the year. So from now until the 10th of January, he will be working 12 hour days from 6am to 6 pm. YUCK!! He's not a morning person and I'm not used to having him gone so much and the kids are just freaking out. All I heard from them this week was "wherrrre's Dadddddyyyy?" in that god awful whine that they do. So, all we have to do is get through this year and we will be back to smooth sailing!

I've been helping my parents at their pizza restaurant and taking the kids with me since the hubs isnt home. That has been interesting to say the least. But, it did get me back into the swing of working again and thats good since I finally found a job and I start Monday. Definitley NOT what I was looking for though. I'm back in another restaurant waiting tables......maybe some day I will gain some other experience to get me out of this business all together but for now, it pays the bills.

We went Christmas shopping (and no, I didn't even have the mind to do black Friday), we spent way too much money on these kids and now we have to find room for it all! Thank goodness I have a job again, cuz that credit card is looking really scary! Thank goodness for tax returns.

My nephew turned 1 and learned to walk. He is so stinking cute, I just cant stand it some days. He is such a good baby and has one of the best personalities! I offered to make his cake for him and handed down some of our toys as his birthday gift. I got to kill 2 birds with one stone...get rid of big baby toys and make the little stinker happy!

Thanksgiving went pretty well, although it was weird not having my hubby there. He did get to show up later in the evening and have LOTS of leftovers. We had 2 turkeys, 1 ham and 1 pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, Brussels sprouts, squash, stuffing, salad and lots of desserts! I was soooo full and couldn't even think about cleaning it all up. It did get cleaned up though.

This morning I finished my book and I loved it! I was reading The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. I think this book was my favorite of her so far. Now I'm on to another one of hers called the wise woman, I think. I'm very excited to start it.

Well that's all for now, so I hope everyone had a wonderful week with their families and starting the Christmas shopping season off with a bang.

Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory....If you know who she is then you have probably read her books. If not, let me tell you, she is a wonderful author and her books are entertaining, educational and a little risque.

My cousin turned me on to her after suggesting that I read The Other Boleyn Girl (aaahhh, now you know what I'm talking about) and I fell in love with her as an author. Not only did I fly right through the book, I also learned a few things. I was never one to be interested in history but when you add a little mischief into it, it can be very interesting!!! Just kidding, but her novels are based on the history of England and the times of King Henry and the many Queens to rule after him, religious battles and treason.

I have read 3 out of 7 of her 16th century series. The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance, and now I'm on The Queens fool and from what I have heard they only get better. So, get your booty's out there and read one or more of her books!

Photos courtesy of Philippa's website.

Chicken Stew with a Little History

When it's cold outside and you're hungry, the first thing you think of is comfort food. Comfort food can be different for each person but in my mind, it has the same base or beginnings: hot, hearty, stick to your ribs kind of food.

It's snowing, again, and I'm in the mood for my comfort food! What is my comfort food? I love pot roast, soups and stews and casseroles. Today I'm making chicken stew, on the stove, but you could do it in a crock pot too for convenience. Chicken stew is one of those dishes that can have so many variations, you could have it every day and it would taste totally different each time. You can also customize it to the liking or dis likings in your family. Some of us were blessed with children who tend to stick to what they know. If it's green or looks funny, they aren't going to eat it! For a whole lot of different recipes, click here.

So when you are sitting around bored out of your mind and watching it snow you tend to let your mind stray and you start thinking and asking questions. My question of the day? Where did stew come from? Who invented it and when?

Well come to find out stew is really old!!! It's been dated back to 1 B.C and even further with tribes using any meat they can come across and boiling it with whatever else they could find. Essentially, stew is a mixture of two or more ingredients that are boiled together. There are variations of chicken stew from every corner of the earth. To read up on this oh so interesting information, click here!

But if that doesn't interest you just read on and learn how to make it

1 lb chicken breast

3 tbsp oil

1 tbsp chicken bouillon base

5 c water

3 celery stalks, cut into large chunks

4 lg carrots, cut into chunks

1/2 stick butter

1/2 c. white wine

1/3 c. flour

1 c. milk

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. basil

garlic powder (sprinkle over chicken when before saute)

onion powder (sprinkle over chicken before saute)

In a lg stock pot saute the seasoned chicken in the oil until browned. Add 5 cups of water and the chicken base. Let simmer over medium low heat for an hour and remove chicken to a separate plate to shred in large chunks and put back into pot. In a separate skillet, melt the butter and add the flour to make a paste. Whisk well and cook for 1 minute then add the wine. Let it cook another minute and add about 3 ladles full of the broth from your stock pot and 1 cup of milk. Whisk again and cook until thickened, making sure to stir constantly. Add the mixture and veggies to your stock pot along with all of the spices. Simmer another 30 minutes on low, serve hot with some really good bread and enjoy.

A day at the farm

Yesterday I went with Jax and Tiley on the preschool field trip to the Littleton Historical Museum. It's a cool place that has 2 different farms from the 1800's, an old house, a metal shop and lots of barns.

It's fun to see how we would have lived back then but I dont think the kids understood it. They had fun exploring the old buildings and seeing all of the animals and it was a beautiful day for it!

Catching up on a Wordful Wednesday

Yes, I know I suck. I am so not into blogging and I dont know why! So todays post is all about catching up. Hmmmm where do I start?

Halloween was just ok, it's my favorite holiday and I just wasnt into it this year. Maybe it was because it was cold, wet and sloppy out! We had a major snow dump (2 feet of it) 3 days before and then on Halloween it was like 70 degrees out. Made for a very sloppy and wet night!

I have been on a field trip with my son. We went to Roxborough state park and went on a muddy hike with a guide. We actually learned quite a bit and it was a beautiful day for it.

For more exciting Wordful Wednesday posts head on over to 7 Clown Circus and say hi to Angie!

Wordful Wednesday, weather change

I'm trying to get back into the blogging swing! I'm managing to do a wordful wednesday post. Maybe it's the weather that is making me so.....blah. It's not warm, it's not cold, it's not rainy, it's just blah weather!

The other morning we had really cool fog though. I just had to get the camera and head out to take some pictures. This is what I found!

For more wordful's head on over and visit Angie at 7 Clown Circus! Happy Wednesday.

MIA

Yes I know I have been non existent but I'm just in a slump right now.

I will be back, I just dont know when.

I'm unemployed now and I have been spending ALL of my time looking for a job, with no luck I might add.

See you all in the near future!

Potato soup and random thoughts

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I hadn't really noticed until my mother in law pointed it out to me! I just haven't had anything really exciting going on. It's just been the usual stuff. So I guess I'll share a recipe with you and some random pictures showing how boring we are. The only excitement we have had is me quiting my job and kicking myself for it! Now I'm just stressed.

So here goes...................

We went to the cemetery to see if we could get some neat pictures for Halloween but it just wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to see some really old headstones and maybe some mausoleums, but there were none to be found. I need to find a much older Cemetery than that one. I would love to go to the sleepy hollow cemetery. For some of those picture click here.

Fall came and went in a hurry. Not only did we not get a "real" summer, fall passed us by as well. I think it lasted a week. We got our first snow today and it is FREEZING. But the good news is that it will be in the 60's again by Wednesday. Thank Goodness!!!I helped out at Shays school last week. They are learning about the earth and erosion. It was such a nice day that we were able to do the science experiment outside. The kids got to play with water and sand to create an experiment like what a river does and how the soil, rocks and sand move and shift. It was hilarious, you would think that these 4th graders had never played in the sand before. All screaming, squeeling and playing. I had a fun time and I look forward to helping out, I just don't know how the teachers get all of those kids to listen! All teachers get major props from Sanity Check.I found this guy in my house the other day. Couldn't figure out what the cat was trying so hard to get at. We rescued him and put it back outside.

Baked Potato Soup

4 lg baked potatoes peeled and cubed

1/2 gallon 2% milk

1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp chicken stock paste

1/4 Onion chopped fine

1 clove of garlic pressed or minced

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp rosemary

1 Stick of butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 c. flour

1/2 lb of bacon cooked crisp

shredded cheddar cheese

green onions, chopped

sour cream

Cook the bacon in a separate pan until crisp, drain it and set it aside. In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat, add the onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add the flour and stir until smooth, let it cook for a few minutes to get the flour taste out. Add 1/2 gallon of milk, chicken bouillon, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and then add the already cooked potatoes and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and serve. Garnish it with more cheese, crumbled bacon, green onions and sour cream.

Well that's all I have for now, so wish me luck in the job search and hope that something sort of exciting happens around here. Nothing too exciting, unless it's winning the lottery!

Wordful Wednesday - Navratri

Navarati means nine nights. It's a celebration throughout India of the Mother Goddess. She has 7 well known forms and is the protector of her worshipers and the destroyer of evil. For 9 nights worshipers visit temples, bring gifts and dance into the early morning hours. There are 2 dances, the first one is the Garba, a circular dance that starts out slowly and gets faster and faster with the music. The second dance in the Dandi-Ros or the stick dance; men, women and children continue the circular dance striking polished sticks to the beat. I was honored to attend the final night (the hubby was working it off duty, so I went with him) of this celebration to take photographs. Every person that I met was generous, peaceful, beautiful and delightful! I had a lot of fun and couldn't have asked for a better group to take pictures of. It was amazing to see so many people dancing the same dance all dressed in their traditional clothes. I'm sorry I missed the stick dance, but by then it was midnight and I had to get home to the kids and give the babysitter a break. I did manage to get a lot of pictures, so here they are!
For more Wordfuls visit Angie at 7 Clown Circus.