A new year

I cannot believe how smoothly the start to a new school year has gone.

The middle school girl has adjusted well and found her classes without a problem.  She didn't even die during athletics like she feared.... I think she'll make it...

The high school kid is also transitioning great.  Her only complaint is that her computer class she has to take....She is the only freshman in the class and she hates not knowing anyone...
She was telling me that they had to make something on the computer and had to use about 20 words to describe themselves....
One of the boys in the class used words including :  Baby Daddy and Trouble Maker... he went on to explain that he's about to be a daddy...
Great.  Just great... Not only are there two pregnant girls walking around, now there are also some proud "baby daddy's" there too...
If I could do math I would home school that girl!

My year is off to a very smooth start.  I've had less medication and medical problems presented in the nurses office than on other years... Maybe I've just got a group of parents that are waiting on me to find the problems...

The dogs are the only ones not adjusting to the early morning schedule...

To me life has always run on a school year calendar... even before I worked in schools my best friends were teachers so I planned vacations and such around them...
Instead of the New Year being when I feel like we are off to fresh start, I feel that way in Aug.

I have started the new school year trying to start some good habits...

• Getting up early for quite/Bible time before starting the day...

• Mike and I are doing "The Love Dare" book... 

On the first day of school I left it in the bathroom with a note that I was going to read it and try to do the assignment everyday and that I would leave it out if he wanted to read the days assignments also.  That night he brought it up and said he wanted to do it... Of course, we're on day 6 and I'm still waiting on him to read day 4....

• Walking every day

• Trying to have a dinner plan and not eat out everyday... I hope I can stay on track with that after dance starts for the girls every night soon...

I'm enjoying our first weekend off.... Katie and I are about to go to a local church to hear a mathematician/ scientist discuss what the teachers are telling our kids wrong in science class...

How was your back to school week?

Back to School

We all had a great first day of school.  Or in Kellie's words "it was fine but it's still school...."

Mike took the girls to school so I could get to my school on time... This is the outfit that Katie was in when I left but guess it just wasn't right because when I came home that was not what she had worn....

There has been much time spent on picking out tomorrows clothes tonight...

Hope the rest of the year goes as smooth as today...

Queso

The teenager is a very very picky eater!  One of the few things in her repertoire is Queso. 
She chooses which Mexican restaurant we should dine at based on her opinion of their queso...

She does not like the standard Velveta and RoTel combo so I have been searching for a good Queso that we liked and also pleased the Picky One...

Tonight I tried the following recipe to go with our Chicken Quesadillas and it was very well liked by all...
It was even compared to one of the local restaurants queso so you know it must be ok...

The real test will be when I make it a second time and see if she remembers she likes it...

I am linking to the original recipe but I made a few changes...

Mexican Cheese Dip

4 tbsp margarine or butter
4 tbsp flour
1 Cup Milk plus extra to get desired consistency
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp red pepper (optional)
1 C shredded Mexican blend  or cheddar cheese
2 slices cheese

Melt butter over med. low heat, whisk in flour.  Add in milk and seasonings and stir till begins to thicken.  Add in cheese and con't to stir till thickened.  Add extra milk to desired consistency.  I also added about 1/4 cup of salsa at the very end for extra flavor.

Random back to school thoughts

I hate that when they are middle school and older they don't get the supply list till open house or in Katie's case, after school starts...

I hate Jennifer isn't here to do the school supply shopping...

How can all the stores be out of the boxes of yellow pencils and Expo chisel tip markers???

Why did Kellie decide this was the best day to spend her birthday money?  Granted, the tax free week got her more for her money but every store in town was crowded...

Why does only one store in town sell Tom's shoes?  It is the very weird  trendy store by the university where all of the new students and their mom's were shopping today... And the girl waiting on us, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing her yellow bra that was providing little coverage... It's a clothing store, maybe she should shop for a shirt that covers the yellow bra better...

The girls both have their first day of school clothes picked out... I don't yet...

Kellie will be decked out with her new clothes, shoes and accessories she bought with birthday money... Katie has few new things... me, not so much...

Mike asked for us to set him up on facebook... we may have created a monster.
 
He is spending a lot of time on it and then a lot of time whining about how old all his friends look... today he called me over to see the picture of a 17 year old cheerleader and then went on to show me how different she looked now... I had to explain it would be really weird if she still looked like a 17 year old cheerleader married to that old guy (who is also one of his friends)....

Today I let Katie drive down the ally... she's going to need some extensive practice in the next couple of years... Think that will need to be Mike's job if we can get him off Facebook...I'm still recovering.


Enjoy the first week of school!

Back to work....

So, I have been back at work for several days now. 

I'm trying to get used to getting up before 7 again...

I'm having withdrawals from lingering over coffee and the morning news shows...

My office is all put back together...

I'm sitting in a lot of meetings...

Today I was recertified in something that wasn't due for another 3 years... Who plans this stuff???

Tomorrow, same thing...

Last night I explained to the girls that if they were home and I was at work that I expected to come home to a clean house.  I gave specific instructions as to what that meant...

I texted a reminder....

Mike worked from home today and I told him what to have the girls do...

No one remembered me telling them anything...

No one recalled a text...

No one did a thing...

We'll try this again tomorrow...

11 years go by so fast

My sweet baby is 11 today. 

I'm really not liking it at all...

That age is really a big kid... no turning back....not a baby... not a little girl... a big kid... a 6th grader....

I don't have to like it but I am very proud of what a great kid she is....

She is the sweetest, funniest kid I know...

Tonight we will celebrate her birthday with her friends...

I think this is the 3rd official birthday celebration in the last week...

She's loves the attention and is squeezing every bit of birthday party out of this year that she can...

I'm off to pick up the cake she picked out weeks ago... you know the one with the tiara and wand on it...
she was quite certain it was designed just for her...

It's yummy and a pretty color

 

Years ago while shopping in Canton, I had watermelon juice.  It was wonderful. 

I've dreamed about ever since.

Today when I was cutting up a watermelon I decided I would try my hand at it...

I scraped out all the watermelon, poured all the juice into the blender and added chunks of watermelon and blended, then strained.

I added about 1/2 cup of sugar.

I mixed mine with a little Ginger Ale. 

I think tonight it might be the makings of a watermellon margarita...

It was just like I remember....

When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat - Mark Twain

2 more weeks, that's all I need...

Our summer is quickly coming to an end...

Too quickly...

It has been a very good summer...

I don't mind going back to work but...

I can't take the kids to the pool when I'm at work...

I can't keep up with the laundry from school...

I can't cook at school...

I can't read magaizines or stay in comfy clothes all day....

My kids will really be a 6th grader and a 9th grader if school starts....

I really thought the 9th grade thing would be what bothered me but instead I'm way more worried about my baby being in 6th grade...

and I still haven't watched the whole last season of Lost I have DVR'ed...

I still haven't painted the dining room furnature...

I need a couple of more weeks of staying home with my big babies...

A couple of new favorites

Last week when the sister and family were coming in I tried a couple of new recipes. 

The first recipe I had at my sweet friend Jennifer's house when I visited in June and was waiting for a crowd to make it for....
She served it for dinner one night while I was there...
When she described what we were having,  I didn't get very excited.  But when I had them... they are magical little sandwiches!

Ham and Cheese Rolls

1 1/2 sticks butter
2 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 onion chopped very fine
1 lb deli ham
1 lb Swiss cheese
2 packages Hawaiian rolls

Melt butter and add next 4 ingredients.  Whisk.
Cut rolls in half and place ham and cheese on each roll and place on baking sheet.  Drizzle butter mixture over all the rolls.
Bake at 350 for 15 min.

I'm usually not a huge sandwich fan but pouring that buttery mixture over these makes them like no other sandwich I've had... Quick, easy, casual, feeds a lot of people...

The second recipe I had seen on a web site  I frequent and had also been waiting for people to make it for... I've discovered now though, that I may just make this for me.  All the time.  And eat them all myself....

Bacon Peach Pinwheels

4 oz. blue cheese, plus more for garnish, crumbled
1 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
8 slices of bacon
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup peach preserves
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 8 oz. pkg. refrigerated crescent dough
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped ( I forgot these and it still was great)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Thinly sliced green onions


In a small bowl beat cheeses on medium to high until fluffy.
In a large skillet cook bacon until crisp; drain and crumble. Reserve 1 Tablespoon drippings in skillet; cook and stir onion in drippings over medium heat until tender. Remove pan from heat; stir in preserves, dried basis and vinegar. Set aside.


Unroll dough and press 2 triangles together at seam to create a rectangle.   On each rectangle spread a third of the cheese mixture to within 1/4 " of one long side.  Spread preserve mixture over cheese. Top with bacon and pecans. Beginning at a long side roll up each rectangle. Press seams to seal. With a serrated knife cut each roll in slices.  place cut side down on baking sheet.  I put parchment paper down or spay with Pam. 

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm. Top with blue cheese crumbles and green onion.

I made one without onion or Blue Cheese for Jennifer and Kellie...

The original recipe places the preserve mixture over the cooked roll ups but I put it inside and it made them extra gooey and yummy...

They are wonderful.  Even left over and cold... there was only one left over and cold, but it was good!  They were a hit!

What's a vacation if you don't have your tiara

My sister and brother in law and my niece Jennifer came out for the weekend and we all went a couple of hours north to the Texas Panhandle 'where you can see further and see less than any place on earth'. 

Mike and my brother in law Ted are history, western, etc. buffs... so the reason for the trip was to see the Palo Dura Canyon and the play "Texas". 

We had been to the canyon and looked around last summer and decided we needed to go back for the musical with the rest of the fam...

We started our day at the Cadillac Ranch on old route 66 to spray paint a little...

On a side story, Kellie's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and she had asked if we could celebrate early while the family was with us... We gave her the standard "we'll see" and never mentioned it again.  

They had brought her birthday gifts and we had planned to do her birthday at dinner but never told her.  She asked about it right before we were about to leave the hotel for dinner and when we told her we were, she replied "I brought my tiara just in case, let me get it..."  I love that kid!

We took the free limo ride to the Big Texan restaurant... well, most of us did... Katie thought it was "embarrassing" and rode with Aunt Jan....

 it was an old limo but a fun ride...

Dinner was fun.  We got to see two people try to eat the big 72 oz steak in an hour... both failed...

There were calf fries on our appetizer platter... Mike made Jennifer try one... she wasn't thrilled...

Funnier though, was when my sister got a big fried jalapeno rather than a mushroom... she thought her "insides were on fire"

The birthday girl was a little put out that they didn't sing to you for your birthday at this place... think the huge dessert made up for it...

Then it was off to the canyon.

  a sweet man took our picture but left his shadow for us to enjoy...

the boys really wanted to go look at caves that had been used for hide outs etc... luckily there wasn't enough time for that...

The play was great, the night beautiful and a good time was had by all...

Having done almost all the touristy things we all headed home today....

We did have to make a little stop to visit with this lovey "mustang cowlly"