Spicy Chicken Chili

I haven’t made this yet, but KC really liked it from a church dinner, so I asked for the recipe and thought I’d put it here so I won’t lose it when I get ready to try it out. I’ll have to figure out a way to shrink it, or else I’ll have lots to freeze for future meals…lol!

Ingredients:
1 lb pack of Great Northern Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Red Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Navy Beans (dried)
8 Chicken Thighs
2 Chicken Breasts
5 medium potatoes
2 large red onions
1/2 package baby carrots (sliced)
4 celery stalks
1 bell pepper
Hot Pepper (optional depending on desired heat)
Hot Sauce (optional depending on desired heat)
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Put all beans in crockpot and cook until about 3/4 way done. Season with salt, pepper, & garlic.

Put chicken thighs & breasts in separate pot and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and 3 of the cloves of garlic.

When chicken is done, remove from broth, debone & chunk chicken to add later.

Use 1/2 – 3/4 of broth to cook vegetables.

Take broth and veg mix, add chicken and beans. Mix all together. Add remainder of spices and hot sauce if desired.

Let simmer approximately 1 hour to mix flavors. Add additional broth or bean juice to achieve desired consistency.

Serves 20-25

Leftovers

Seriously, that’s what I’m thankful for today.  *grin*  This week, I have ROCKED the leftovers…lol. 

I hate leftovers normally, but this week, I made them WORK and I LOVE that!  Not to mention, it made suppers this week, like, way easier! 

I took my Crockpot Italian Chicken to the neighbors on Saturday night and we had 4 pieces leftover.  So Tuesday night, I heated up a couple of those and made a pot of rice to go with them.  Wednesday, I shredded up the remaining two pieces and put one of them in the freezer for later, and the other (with a little of the leftover sauce), went into something kinda like Pampered Chef’s Chicken Ring.  I used two tubes of the crescent rolls and instead of triangles, I pinched two triangles together to make squares and put a pile of shredded saucy chicken, a scoop of leftover rice, and a sprinkling of leftover diced peppers (extra from Tuesday’s soup) and then closed them up and baked them. 

My rice hatin’ dislikin’ hubby and son ate them right up and I was in love with the fact that it was yummy and didn’t taste ANYTHING like leftovers. 

And today, I had leftover soup for lunch (Pioneer Woman’s Corn and Cheese Chowder from Tuesday) and it was SOOO good…again. 

And tonight I made broccoli and reheated the rest of the leftover rice from Tuesday night (and made sandwich-y things for my non-green-cooked-veggie eating boys).  LOL. 

If I could do that EVERY week, boy howdy…I might not hate leftovers anymore!!! 

Page 1–March 2011

Kit is Focus Collab by Sweet Tomato Designs, Heather Hess, and PageFrocks.

Font: my own handwriting

Recipe I used for Chicken Quesadillas is here. I didn’t have any onions so I used green peppers instead.  Also, I didn’t have mozzarella, so it was all cheddar.  They were SO good.

Whoa

This anti-inflammatory pill for my shoulder is not making my scale very happy.  Or me either, for that matter.  My MIL wasn’t kidding when she said it’s a pretty common side effect to have increased appetite!  I am stuffed to the gills and I’m still hungry.  Five pounds in five days.  YUCK! 

Anyway, since I’m talking food, we certainly eat better around here when I’m starving…lol!  Here’s what we had tonight:

Crockpot Italian Chicken
(not sure where it came from, it was just typed up in my recipe box…lol!)

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I just tossed frozen ones in…no prep…woohoo!)
• 1/2 stick melted butter (I used a whole stick…I know…naughty!)
• 1 8oz cream cheese at room temp (I used half…to make up for so much butter, plus I only us ed 3 pieces of chicken instead of four)
• 1 10.5oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
• Pasta of choice and garlic bread for the side

Put chicken in bottom of crock.  Pour melted butter over, then sprinkle dressing packet over chicken.  Cook 4 hr on high or up to 9 hr on low.  30 minutes before finishing, remove chicken and place on plate.  Mix softened cream cheese and soup into juice in crock until creamy.  Put chicken back in crock and finish cooking.  Serve over pasta (rice would probably work, too). 

Verdict…AWESOME!  It almost tasted like an alfredo sauce but not quite.  Chicken was SOO moist and tender.  Everybody except K-man loved it…and he’s just weird about what he likes and don’t like, so I didn’t think anything about it.  LOL.  I totally recommend it…I’m doing it again soon…it was so easy! 

In the picture is the leftover portion…I should have taken a picture when it was on my plate…it would have been much more presentable…oh well.  It still tasted great…lol! 

Menu Plan Monday - 4/6/09

Gotta hit the grocery, so I'll make this quick.

• Monday: Ranch Chicken Tacos (per request by hubby, who LOVED these last week...as did the rest of the family...and I love finding recipes that are this big of a hit with the entire family...LOL!)(nts: need chicken)
• Tuesday: Sister's Night Out = Hubby gets to do dinner (probably frozen pizza)
• Wednesday: Taco Salad (another hubby favorite)(nts: need hamburger)
• Thursday: Spaghetti/Meatballs (nts: need spaghetti)
• Friday: Crockpot Chicken (you know, the easy one....can of cream soup and a packet of something dumped over the chicken...with a side of rice maybe)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho....it's off to shop I go....

Monday Messages

Dear Monday,
I'm so tired and worthless today that I don't even feel like writing. But I will. Because I'm not a quitter. Even though sleep is really sounding good right about now.
Truly,
Sleepy

Dear Hair,
I think it is interesting to note that you are still falling out at a rate that is...yes...still alarming. Considering that I emptied the animal from my trash can last week and a new one is rapidly forming, I am giving serious thought to another doctor visit. I will wait a few weeks while I keep trying the other things that my wonderful blog readers suggested. I think I've reached the end of all the suggestions, so now I guess I'll wait and see if any of them worked. Changed shampoo - CHECK. Taking hair and nail vitamins - CHECK. Get a trim (actually they layered it to make it look fuller but it still feels really thin even though it looks a little better now) - CHECK. Possible iodine deficiency...read a book about it and taking supplements to see what happens - CHECK. Taking a multivitamin - CHECK. So come on now, hair. How bout sticking around for a few more years, huh?
Sincerely,
The Head You're Supposed to Stay Attached To

Dear Camera,
I will get all those un-downloaded pictures off of you very soon. I hope. And maybe they will even make it to the blog. Maybe.
The Shutter-Bug

Dear internets,
I found lots of fun stuff this week....for instance....did you know that if you subscribe to a bunch of blogs in Google reader, you can put a 'next' button in your bookmarks at the top of your browser and every time you hit it, it goes to the newest post in your subscriptions? Not only that, but directly to the blog post so no more having to click over to make comments. AND it marks it as read in your subscription list. How cool is that? Here's where I found out about that nifty little trick...they can tell you how to do it, too! And get this...when you hit the 'next' button and you have no more new posts to read, you find the end of the internet!!!!! I didn't even KNOW there was an end to the internet. Hahaha. Pretty funny, that. Then I spent more time reading about home management notebooks on one of my new favorite sites (simple mom) and thought about the fact that I should totally be more organized. *SIGH* THEN, I checked my email and found one of those cooking newsletters with a yummy sounding recipe. So I added it to this weeks menu and tried it tonight. And it was so good, that I'm going to add it to my recipe box as soon as I publish this post. Oh and yesterday I spent a zillion a few hours checking out a top quality free blogger template site (at least I haven't found any secretly downloaded viruses attacking my computer YET) and then picked one out for KC's friend because KC asked me to....and then I re-wrote (or copy/pasted, as the case may be...hey, that STILL REQUIRES TALENT, let me tell ya!) about half of the code to make it blogger fonts & colors compatible so that KC's friend could just "plug and play." Yes...I'm so nice.
And really....I could go on forever (wanna hear about worm farms? surfed by some interesting posts on THAT, too....LOL!)...the internet has been SOOO intriguing this week. But I'll stop. Sleep calleth. So, my dear internets. Go forth and click.
Love,

Menu Monday

Well, here we are again. I was looking at some of the other MPM'er links and I liked one lady's disclaimer (I don't know which one it was cuz I can't find it now) but it was something like this: All meals are subject to change without notice due to unexpected circumstances, migraines, or meltdowns. LOL. I can totally relate. Hah. Anyways, click here for more Menu Plans...

And here's mine:

• Monday: Taco Salad -- a KC favorite (note to self: need ground beef)
• Tuesday: Cheesy Beef & Rice only I think I'll alter the recipe just a little, but it sounds good, so we'll try it. (nts: need ground beef)
• Wednesday: Wheat Spaghetti in Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce, Mesquite Chicken (from freezer), Garlic Toast -- this past week, I used half the package of wheat spaghetti, and half the jar of sauce, so this week, we'll just finish it off. It was delish, and I added cayenne pepper and a few other spices to the sauce to give it an extra kick. I couldn't even tell that the spaghetti was healthy. HA. *GRIN* PS, you should totally check out that sauce (see the link above) because it is AWESOME! (nts: need garlic toast)
• Thursday: Pepperoni Cheese Ravioli, Garlic Toast -- to make up for being so healthy the night before. LOL. Kidding. Actually, I'm just craving that flavor right now. Haha. (nts: need sour cream)
• Friday: Turkey Leftover Casserole, can of green beans (for me and Munchkin), frozen biscuits -- the casserole is already in the freezer. Yay! (nts: put in fridge to thaw on Thursday)

My favorite part of Menu Planning is that I am spending much less on groceries. I mean, look at the grocery list I have after writing down the meals for this week: ground beef, ground beef, garlic toast, and sour cream (of course, that doesn't include the weekly staples of bread, milk, etc) And everything else is stuff in the pantry that needs to be used up. Before Menu Planning, I would go to the grocery store and try to think of something to fix for the week, so I'd pick up this and that and this and that and oh, we might have this one night this week, so I better grab the ingredients for that, too. And I'd bring it home and then not remember what I was thinking of at the grocery store, so it wouldn't get eaten and then months down the road, it'd still be sitting in the pantry. Huge waste. I feel so much better about it now.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy eating! I have a good feeling that we will be. *GRIN*

Menu Plan Monday

You know, there is actually a pretty popular regular meme of folks who do this...I really should just link up with them b/c this is definitely something I am going to try to do regularly now that I have realized how much easier it is to sit down and plan out the week's meals.  Maybe I'll get a chance to do that next week. 

On to this week: 1/26-1/30

• Monday: Freezer Dinner Raid (pizza, chicken fries, and pepperoni poppers)
• Tuesday: Garlic Lime Chicken with a side of Macaroni
• Wednesday: Pizza Calzones (note to self: need pizza sauce, pizza dough)
• Thursday: Frozen Mesquite Chicken Pieces (to use up more freezer stuff before it gets old) and uh....I think there is some Whole wheat Spaghetti in the pantry that I should use up.  So Chicken and S'getti.  (note to self: get a loaf of bread to make fresh garlic toast)
• Friday: TaDa...Chicken's on sale this week so I think I'm going to experiment with this Chicken & Corn in the Crockpot recipe...and maybe use whatever's left of the fresh garlic toast from Thursday
• Saturday: leftovers (if I make an extra bit of chicken in the crockpot on Friday, then I can shred it and leave it in the sauce and that will make excellent sandwiches for Saturday)

Eventually I'll get all this old food used up.  By making the menus, I sure feel like I have a better grip on using it to make decent meals that don't feel like you're just trying to use up old food.  LoL!

Garlic Lime Chicken

Man alive...this stuff ROCKS!!!  WOW.

So I was asked where the recipe was for this one, but since it was one that was given to me by my friend, Susan, I wasn't able to link it in my menu, and I didn't have time to type it out when I was making the menu, so here we go.

Garlic Lime Chicken

• 1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp each: paprika, cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp each: onion powder, thyme
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp each: olive oil, butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 4 tbsp lime juice

In a bowl, mix together spices.  Evenly sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts. In a skillet, heat butter and olive oil over med/high heat.  Saute chicken until golden brown on each side.  Remove chicken, add lime juice and broth to pan.  Cook until sauce has reduced slightly, add chicken back, to thoroughly coat, and serve.  (for spicy chicken, use 3x the amount of each spice listed) 

My variations were: I used onion flakes because I had no onion powder, and I also had no thyme, so I substituted oregano (I think).  Mine turned out the spicier version since I made the full recipe of all the ingredients except the chicken.  I also only used 3 chicken breasts and they were frozen, but I think next time I make this, I might make sure they are thawed and possibly even partially cooked b/c I ended up sticking them in the oven for a few minutes in the middle of the process because they weren't cooked all the way through.  So the turnout was probably browner than it should have been because I was trying to get the chicken to cook all the way through.  LOL.  Oh well.  The taste was HEAVENLY...KC said it was awesome so this one is another one to keep in the recipe box for future menus.  This one is highly recommended!  Thanks, Susan!!!

On The Menu This Week

This week is a use up what I've got in the pantry week....

• Monday: Garlic Lime Chicken with a side of Mac & Cheese and salad (note to self: need salad)
• Tuesday: Pepperoni Cheese Ravioli (note to self: need 8oz can tomato sauce)
• Wednesday: sandwiches or eat out (church night)
• Thursday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas (note to self: this time try beef and need the beef, cream soups, & mexican cheese)
• Friday: Crock Pot Ranch Chicken with a side of frozen corn (note to self: need cream soups)

Saturday will be the flex day again...if we end up not eating one of the weekday meals, Saturday will pick it up.

So.  Now I'm off to get these few items to go with what I have for this week's dinners, along with the staples of milk and bread, and then to pick up the K-man and get tonight's supper started.  Later, mater!

Where Do I Start?

Why do I still feel like I have way too much catching up to do??? LOL. Why am I full of questions today??? Haha.

Anyways, I guess I'll just start with an update from last weeks menu items.

Speaking of last weeks menu, this is Monday, so I guess that will be a separate post for this week's menu since it seemed to work well last week. I liked having it planned out so I didn't have to think about it.

So Friday was supposed to be Beefy Taco Joes...we ended up skipping it on Friday and had sandwiches and soup instead, because we took the kids out to the local indoor playground and didn't want to have a full scale meal that night. Which worked out well since we had company on Saturday night so I moved the full scale meal to that night instead.

So I made them on Saturday. KC liked the beef stuff, just wasn't crazy about it being on the bread. I thought the bread was the best part, but next time I make it, I'll probably serve his part on chips instead of bread. I also added taco seasoning to the beef mixture when I was cooking it although it didn't call for it. It made it taste more like tacos and less like sloppy joes, which I liked.

They were DEFINITELY sloppy though, and KC gave them the new name that cracked us all up and by which I shall henceforth refer to them. These SLOPPY JOSE'S were extremely quick and easy and most definitely will have a place on future menus. *GRIN*

In other news, Munchkin's closet racks are installed now, but the organization of it is still a work in progress. I have to go get some baskets to organize her stuff in and in the meantime it still looks kinda rough, so I'm not doing an after picture just yet. *grin* Next closet that shall receive a makeover with the leftover closet pieces from the kits from our closet and munchkin's, will be the coat closet in the hall....I am REALLY looking forward to having a low bar in there for the kids to be able to reach it to hang their own coats up. *GRIN*

This was the weekend of haircuts, too. Well, "trims" would probably be more accurate. I trimmed Munchkin's bangs again (they were growing out because they had gotten so thick it was taking up too much of her hair and the old layer of bangs was not quite chin length) but this time I trimmed a much thinner layer than they used to be and she looks really cute. She is a bit of a ham when it comes to pictures though...in case you couldn't tell. HAHA. At least she is cooperative...K-man is impossible to get a good pic of. LOL.

Then this weekend, K-man had an ear infection and I had to take him to the doctor, so while we were out I decided to take me and him into the chop shop and get both of us taken care of at the same time. He was good as gold while they trimmed him up and when he finished and was watching as they finished mine, he kept telling me, "Be STILL, mommy." "Don't move, stay still." "Good job, mommy." ROFL. Anyways, his hair was a little uneven so I spiked it up until it grows out a bit. He was adorable. Can't post any pics of his face on here, but here's a pic that kinda shows his hair and I just blurred out his face.

Anywho, sorry...I didn't get any pictures of my trim...but then my hair didn't change any, just a little trim to get the ends healthy again, so it looks the same.

I think that's it for now....I know there is other stuff I could post about but I have to get going...need to get the laundry caught up, the house needs cleaning, got to plan the week's menu and then run get groceries, the munchkin is home today (school's out for 3 days) so I have to get her lunch and nap in there somewhere....anyways...busy day. See ya...for now. =)

FYI: For those of you who don't use google reader to keep you up to date on current blog posts, I just wanted to give you a heads up that Brother's Keeper has been updated and the family could use all the encouragement and prayers you could send their way right now.

Another Day

How do they just disappear so rapidly? Seems like I just woke up.

Today was full of fun stuff though. This morning I went to a friend at church's house and took pictures of her not quite three week old baby. I asked her on Sunday if she would let me do it for practice because I haven't gotten to do any that little yet, and she was totally fine with it (YAY!!). It was fun...he is sooo tiny and adorable. And I got a few shots that I was happy with (and hopefully she'll like them, too). A few of my favorite edits are posted on the photography blog.

After I did that, I had to run some errands in town and picked up groceries for the rest of this week's menu and then came back home to do the picture edits. Then of course, it was time to pick up the kids from school and while they were playing this afternoon, I worked on another project.

I just have to tell ya...I'm REALLY good at taking "before" pictures.....only I get to it sometime in the "middle" of the project.

That being said, here's the "before" shots of today's project:
Then another little sidenote that this project was actually started last night... and this actually WAS the TRUE "before" shot when I started today. LOL.

In case you can't tell by the pictures, this project was cleaning out my spice cabinet. That little round thing that is empty, is a revolving spice rack and all those white canisters sitting on the stove snap into it. This was a wedding gift to us seven (YES, SEVEN) years ago. When we were in our first house, I filled the jars with what I figured were "standard" spices and stuck it on the counter. Only one problem. I never cooked back in those days. For one, it was just the two of us, and two, those were the days when I was still capable of burning water...microwave dinners were my specialty (and really, who uses oregano on a microwave dinner?).

SOOO. Several years passed. We moved. Spice rack moved to that shelf where you see it now. Same spices in it. I finally started cooking occasional REAL food but nothin' fancy and still rarely used spices. Then we had kids and I started staying home and cooking much more regularly. But when I tried to use the spices in it, it was like trying to chip rocks out of those jars. I thought. Hum. Maybe the spice jars are just not airtight and moisture got in there somehow. So I went and bought the spice I needed and stuffed it in the cabinet as best I could fit it.

That scenario happened several times (as evidenced by the above picture of all the fresh spices sitting in front of the empty and freshly washed containers...).

Finally I decided to clean out the cabinet. But when I got in there and found some jars and seasonings in the very back of the cabinet that were still in the bottles and had expiration dates of 2005, I put it all together and realized that the problem with those spices in the rack were that they were OLD. There were two canisters that were frequently used and refilled a couple times but all the rest had been in there since the original filling (in 2002). Yikes.

I'm sure there could be some kind of marriage application here...like don't let the spice in your marriage get old, or don't think that the spice you put in your marriage at the beginning doesn't need to be freshened up every now and then....or SOMETHING, but I'm not up for wading that deep right now. LOL!!!

Anyhow, so in my grocery shopping today, I went and picked up the spices that I didn't already have to refill the empty canisters and then set to work filling them. I had another reason for completing this project this afternoon (I needed the stovetop to cook supper). LOL!

So anyways, there is the "after" picture and I have to tell ya, this is MUCH better than the (true) "before" picture. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Let's see, there was one more thing....OH YES.

Supper. Tonight was potato soup. I actually remembered to take a picture before I ate it. KC (an avid soup HATER...and I DO mean hater) actually had seconds, and while I'm pretty sure it won't hit his favorite meal list, he said it was good. Actually, he said it tasted like mashed potatoes, but whatever.

K-man wasn't a fan (he might be tomorrow though...ya just never know with him) but Munchkin had seconds.

Personally, I thought it was every bit as good as Fatz loaded potato soup. And yes, those are bacon bits on top. It was awesome. I have to say though, I followed the linked recipe VERY loosely. Mostly because I was trying to use up some potatoes in the pantry that were beginning to look like they should be planted in the ground because their root system was outgrowing the bag. But anyways, I ended up with 8 good sized potatoes instead of 5. Which isn't quite doubling the recipe...so I just kinda guessed at the amounts for the other ingredients since it wasn't quite double. And I didn't have any steak seasoning, so I used worchestershire sauce, and I also left out the carrots and celery because I was running out of time. I'm not sure if that was quite the right thing to do, but ooooh well. It turned out yummy and that was the main thing. I also have enough leftovers for lunch the next couple of days. Wahoo!

Well....again...it is VERY late. So I'm off. I might actually be off in time to go to bed with (meaning "at the same time as") my husband tonight. *GRIN*

Night!

On The Menu This Week...

Instead of getting those recipes posted, b/c I'm very behind on my updates anyways and don't know when I'll get to it, I thought I'd just try to start posting my menu plans for each week and link the recipes I'm going to try. These posts are purely for my own benefit b/c I am doing a lousy job these days of trying to get myself together at suppertime.  *SIGH*  Or at grocery shopping, for that matter. 

Anyways, if you see a recipe you'd like to try, go for it, and I'll try to post when I try them, how they turn out. 

Week of 1/12

• Monday - Slow Cooked Ravioli  (in the crock pot cooking as I type)
• Tuesday - Cheesy Potato Soup  (note to self: get another type of cheese)
• Wednesday - Sandwiches (church night)
• Thursday - Slow Cooked Enchiladas (note to self: need ground beef, 12 oz jar of salsa, taco seasoning, and another bag of mexican cheese blend)
• Friday - Beefy Taco Joes  (note to self: need 1 can Tomato Soup, the ground beef, and buns for this one)
• Saturday - leftovers or pantry/freezer raid

Last week's recipe that knocked our socks off: Baked Spaghetti (even the kids loved it!)

Ha Ha Ha Happy Holidays!

This wasn't the best Christmas ever...we've definitely had better, and I have high hopes that next year will be one of the better to make up for it.  LOL. 

If you continue to read this post, please don't think I'm complaining.  For real...I'm laughing about it now.  I'm just stating the facts...and you know...sometimes you just have the perfect storm.  LOL.  At least this one didn't kill nobody.  *grin*

But first, I have to say that MY Christmas was SWEET.  KC got me the Wii Fit (that I was totally not expecting...at ALL) and I LOVE it.  He also got me a killer plate set with HUGE bowls.  He's been wanting "MAN-SIZED" bowls for ages, so I'm not sure who was happier about this present, but I still liked it very much!  Anyway, THAT part of Christmas was delightful!  LOL.  And we still had fun at my parents in spite of the other issues.

Christmas Eve, we were at a family dinner when the K-man started puking.  All over his sister.  His sister had no spare clothes and there was no rescuing the dress that was puked on, so she left there wearing her undershirt and tights.  LOL.  Good thing she's four.

Well, his puking ruined plans for Christmas day (poor guy...it wasn't his fault).  My parents were fine to carry on, puke and all, but KC's mom just had two major surgeries and couldn't risk the possibility of catching another infection, so we had to cancel that half of the day.  (It actually worked out better that way, in the long run, since it made the day much less rushed and stressful and we were able to just relax a bit.)

Anyways, back to Christmas Eve...so we brought the K-man home and got him out of the car and walk down the sidewalk up to the house, when the hurl started flying again.  Unfortunately, I was in the path of it that time, but thankfully the sidewalk caught the majority of it and bless my hubby for rinsing it off.  I could not for the life of me get him to turn around and puke into the grass.  And I had my hands full, so I couldn't give him a gentle turn either.  I couldn't really do anything, poor guy.  I had to leave him on the sidewalk and go on in the house and empty my arms and then go back and help him out.  Then of course, it was all down his shirt and on his shoes, so all our clothes had to be washed.  And he went to bed with a bucket. 

Then he didn't rest well.  I guess his stomach still hurt, but he kept stirring and whimpering and every half hour or so, he'd start crying and I'd hop up to go make sure he hadn't puked in the bed.

So I go to bed at 11:30.  I was up at 12, 12:30, & 1, and then at 1:30, KC was like, "Honey, he is going to throw up, just take him to the toilet and I bet he'll just do it." 

Guess what I said.  "Uh...why don't YOU take him?"  LOL.  Do you know what he said?  "I'll go if you'll go."  Hello, what's the point then?  If you're going to get up anyway, why don't you just go ahead so we both don't have to get up.  Well, I bet you can guess what happened.  We both laid there for about five minutes half out of it, then K-man starts moaning loudly again, so I gave this huge sigh when it was apparent KC wasn't getting up and then rolled out of bed.  Of COURSE, as soon as I did that, KC got up, too.  So the TWO OF US got up and took K-man to the potty, where he tinkled and then stood there and started crying...I was like...yeah, here we go.  And then....what do ya know.  There it went.  And he got mad and didn't want to lean over the toilet after the first little bit, so then I had to clean up the back of the toilet cuz he wouldn't bend over and do it in the toilet.  UGH.  KC was there for moral support, bless him.  LOL. 

So that was from 1:30-2.  Then we put the K-man back to bed and after the puke session, I guess his stomach felt better, because he slept for awhile without whimpering or crying.  We were like zombies at this point and both fell back asleep rather quickly. 

HOWEVER.  Our beautiful Christmas Eve/Morning was far from over. 

3am: PLUNK (like something popping out of the wall)  I vaguely heard it, but it didn't really register.  I remember thinking...huh.  K-man's not crying.  I'm not getting up.  Then about 3 minutes later, I wake up and KC is turning on the closet light and doing something to his clothes in the closet.  I'm thinking...it CAN'T be morning yet.  So I look at the clock and it's 3.  "What in the world, honey?"

Well, do you remember THE CLOSET EPISODE??????

Here we go with round 2.  LOL. That little plunk that barely registered in my sleep deprived brain was the rack coming off the first couple of buttons that held it to the wall -- the buttons were also starting to pull out of the wall, too.  Luckily KC registered a little bit more than I did and recognized the sound and hopped out of bed and started unloading the heavy clothes off the rack and trying to re-attach the rack to the little buttons so that it wouldn't actually become a disaster zone again. 

So. from 3-3:30, that's what we were doing instead of sleeping.  Then we crashed again and I actually got to sleep until six when K-man started up with the crying again.  I got up and patted him and shushed him and when he was quiet, I went back to bed and we crashed again.  We ended up sleeping in (thank goodness we didn't have to try to fit in two events, like I said, it worked out well that we didn't have to get up early in order to stay on schedule) and I called mom and told her we were going to be late because we were exhausted.  She was fine with that.  LOL. 

It was not a pleasant night.  And last night I didn't fall asleep until midnight and the K-man got us up at 4:45 this morning.  He went back to sleep after I put him back in his bed, but I didn't.  I was super grouchy at the way I woke up, too...because what woke me up was the cat and when I woke up, I had an instant splitting headache. I think the cat must have been startled b/c he jumped and landed on all four feet right in my belly right as KC was coming into the room with K-man.  Until I got up this morning and asked KC about it, I thought KC had brought the cat into the room and tossed him on the bed.  This was the fat cat, too.  Talk about a sucker punch.  It was a major bad combination of events.  Argh.  I did take an hour and a half nap today while the kids napped, though, and my stomach finally felt better after that.  

Other stuff...here's a pic of KC and I and Scott...he came over Tuesday night for supper (Taco Salad -- YUM) and visited for a little while before going off on his rounds...LOL. 

I got a couple other pics, too...but he made me promise not to ever use them to blackmail him with, so I better not post them. HAHA. 

I think these two pics are safe to share though....LOL.   

First is my honey and then the pic of Scott...one that got his grudging approval...LOL!

I thought they turned out decent though...

These two guys are super picky about their pics.  LOL. Bless'em.

In other stuff, I made a cheese ball to take to my parents for snacking and it was SOO yummy.  Matter of fact, we're still enjoying the very small bit that was leftover.  Cheese balls are my new favorite thing.  Haha.  I didn't have a real recipe for this one, but I wanted to try one like my friend, Kelly, made for choir night, so I guessed at the amounts and tried to remember everything she said she put in it.  *grin*  I guess I could have called her but it was Christmas morning and I hated to bother her.

So here's what was in my cheese ball:

• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese
• eyeballed about a cup and a half of shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/4 of a bell pepper (very finely chopped)
• 1/3 of an onion (very finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp worcheshire (or however you spell that) sauce
• 1/3 package of pecans (chopped)

Oh my goodness.  YUM-MY.  Actually, I think I've talked myself into going and getting a few crackers and cheese ball for snack.  LOL. 

Tomorrow is the day we had to reschedule with KC's family for Christmas, so I need to hop off here and get a few things taken care of before then. 

Thanks for reading this extremely long post.  =)  Oh yeah, and the kids are better now. =)  Thank goodness!

Later!

My Poor Neglected Blog

I just realized that I have seriously not been posting very many updates.  Brace yourself.

On the gall stones...the test Thursday took two hours.  But I finally heard back from the doctor on Friday and the results of the test were good.  Basically my gall bladder is fine, I just have stones, but they are not affecting the normal functioning of my system, they are just going to irritate the fire out of me until I do something about them. 

I haven't figured out what foods I'm eating that is triggering the pain, this is mostly since it hurts EVERY time I eat and it doesn't really matter what I'm eating. 

However, since my gall bladder is still functioning normally, the doctor will not force the issue of surgical removal of the stones/body part, it's entirely up to me. 

At this point it isn't hurting bad enough to make me want surgery, just enough to drive me nuts. 

And that's the major update. 

The mini issues like the medicine making me sleepy was resolved...mostly by the fact that I'm not taking it like it's prescribed...now I take it ONLY when I can't take anymore of the part where it drives me nuts.

Other stuff:

I've done really pathetic on my attempt to take one picture every day in December.  Mostly this got sidetracked by all the sick in the house.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

K-man is driving me CRAZY.  He's gone from sweet thing to rotten booger in a matter of a few weeks.  Fits, bedtime madness, potty regression, hateful responses when you're just talking to him...not even anything he should get mad about.  UGH.  Like you say, do you want your drink? and the response you get is UHHHHRRRRRGHHHH NO! (*EMPHATICALLY*).  I had to go back to diapers because I (and the daycare) got tired of having to change his clothes every time he DIDN'T do it in the potty (like every other time...which ended up being like 5 times a day).  AND THEN the other night at 10:30 (he goes to bed at 8:30) I heard something so I put down my computer and get up to go check and he is sitting right outside his door IN THE HALLWAY with his stuffed animal and drink and is just talking to himself and playing.  I'm like WHAT in the world are you DOING?  He NEVER gets out of bed...we have been so lucky with that.  Not anymore, apparently, since this is like the second or third time he's gotten out of bed in the last few weeks in protest of his having to go to bed.  *SIGH*  He's a great kid, and seriously I love the fire out of him, but I am READY FOR THIS PHASE to be DONE already.  I liked having an angel for a kid. 

Munchkin is doing good in general...back in the arguing and not listening stage again, but she's been taking her naps like a TROOPER...which is a huge switch.  Glad SOMETHING is going right!!!  *knock on wood* cuz I don't want it to suddenly go away.  LOL. 

I put the K-man's Yukon Express train station together and wrapped it during his naptime today.  I thought it would be a simple snap together thing, and it ended up taking all of naptime and had screws and two page instructions and everything.  It's the wooden kind and it's solid, so hopefully it will stand the test.  It is also compatible with Thomas trains, so we got that set and then I got a couple of Thomas trains to go with it, so he will in seventh heaven. 

Somehow, after all my protests about going overboard with gifts for the kids, there is still a huge pile of things for the kids to unwrap on Christmas morning.  Only we're having Christmas the day before, cuz it's not like it's all about the day anyways.  And we have too much else going on ON the day, so it makes more sense. 

Anyways, on the overload, my opinion is it is too much -- simply for the fact that it drives me nuts to watch them try to decide what to play with and then they play with each thing for 2 minutes and go through all of the new stuff in half an hour and then they're bored again.  I'd rather give them one thing and have them play with that one thing for 2 hours happily and satisfied with what they have.  TOTALLY MY OPINION.  Not worth much. 

However, I do know that once they get over the overload, the things we got them will provide hours of entertainment in which they WILL be satisfied for (hopefully) several hours at a time for the rest of the year...and then some.  Because we (and by we, I mean KC, mostly) picked out some great deals on things we already had in mind to get them to occupy them for hours, they will just have to deal with the overload in order to have those things. LOL.  And by they, I mean ME, cuz I'm pretty sure it bothers ME more than it bothers THEM.  *grin*

Oh well.

Made more goodies for friends and neighbors using the recipe I found here: http://www.chex.com/recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=19919&CategoryId=342

Only I doubled the recipe, added random cups of miscellaneous cereals besides Chex (I think I used Golden Grahams and Cheerios as my random cereals).  And I used a lot more powdered sugar than the recipe said...LOL.  Oh well.  It seemed to be a hit.  Munchkin was helping me and she was holding the bag and I wouldn't swear to it, but I am pretty sure she kept moving the bag on purpose so I would keep dropping pieces on the floor.  And the reason I think this, is because she would POUNCE on the dropped pieces and eat them almost before they hit the floor.  LOL.  I'm pretty much assuming it must have been good.  HAHA.

Oh and I've got all but 5 things wrapped. I'm on the ball this year.  Go me.  I even have KC's birthday present and wrapped it, too.  Yay. 

I still have a couple of things to pick up and finish making and a couple of homemade cards to make...BUT I'm still way ahead of the game...since last year we had a pile of presents NOT YET WRAPPED and it was like CHRISTMAS EVE and we wrangled my parents into helping us wrap b/c we were in total panic mode.  Yeah.  I'm doing good this year.

Kay.  I'm done now.  I have nothing else to say.  Sorry, that's not quite true...I do have more I'm sure I could say but my goodness....my fingers are tired!!!!! 

Thanks for reading...and for bearing with me through my absence.  *GRIN*

Later!

More Cookin'

Trying out a new recipe...Baked Ravioli. Decided to do a spin on the usual throwing of the frozen ravioli in a pot of boiling water and bake it instead.

This recipe had high reviews, and it was pretty basic, so we'll see how it turns out.

Baked Ravioli

• 1 jar (26 to 28 ounces) tomato pasta sauce (any variety)
• 1 package (25 to 27 1/2 ounces) frozen cheese-filled ravioli
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1.Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of rectangular baking dish 13x9x2-inches, with cooking spray.

2. Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in single layer over sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered 15 to 20 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in center. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Do-Ahead -- To make this super-easy recipe ahead of time, layer the ingredients in the baking dish, cover tightly with foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Bake as directed.

My alterations: I didn't have any shredded cheese, or anything other than cheddar that could be shredded to use, so I used sliced provolone instead. Baking it in the oval pampered chef stone casserole, so I wasn't sure if it would be okay to grease it or not, so I may have a mess on my hands after the fact. Hopefully it will be yummy though.

*EDITED TO ADD: Smashing success!!!!  Highly recommend this one...easy and delish!