Showing Off

Paul and his mama showing off his yummy veggie kabobs

Summer Break

Summer Break is rapidly coming to an end. I did get a lot done this summer

- Read 12 books
- Planted flower and vegetable garden
- Organized Pantry
- Painted kitchen
- Trips with nieces to zoo, easton, and COSI
- Two gaming cons

I did some canning today, the taco sauce and pickled peppers turned out great, but my broth was a disaster. The first batch was chicken broth and one of the jars blew the top off and only a few sealed. The second batch was beef broth and only 2 of the 7 jars sealed. I've never had a problem with seals before. I wonder if I got a bad box of lids.

Overall it's been a wonderful summer break. Back to the grindstone in two weeks. Only taking two classes this fall, Foundations of Nursing and Pathophysiology. Should be fun.

Clippers Game

4th of July

We were on our own for July 4th but decided to grill out anyways.

Weirdo

Exciting Night at the R Household

New Flower Garden

My new Favorite Item

This thing is awesome! I saw the commercial for it last night and had to get one today at the store. It's sweeps up pet hair off furniture easily and quickly. I LOVE IT!!

The loves of my life

Max and Reese sharing the new ottoman.

Reese (aka reese cup)

Scottie (aka scottie dog, pee pot)

Max (aka Maxer, Maxamillion)

Shiloh (aka the princess)

The biggest love of my life (aka Paul)

p.s. - no pics of Elroy (the parakeet) but he's definitely on the list.

Spring!

I am grateful today for the beautiful spring day.

photo from dermetnz.org

My mom always called daffodils - daffodowndillys - and I found this great poem today titled Daffodowndilly's which made me smile. Where we grew up there were tons of daffodils in our yard and my brother would always make sure mom had fresh daffodils in the kitchen all spring long.

Daffodowndilly
by A. A. Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour;
"Winter is dead."

Birthday Boy!

I surprised him with a bouquet of cupcakes for the big day, he was very surprised and thought they were real flowers. We spent the day with his family and had dinner together, it was alot of fun. Unfortunately the next day he and I both had food poisoning and were incredibly sick. All is better now.
I'm always excited for birthdays and the promise of another year.

Amazing Space Photos

(Picture from Fox News)

Click on the photo to read the article.

(Picture from Fox News)

RIP

Rest in Peace Ernie!

My dad had to put down our family dog today, she had been declining over the last year and the vet told him today she wasn't going to get better and it was time. She's been in the family for many many years, I can't remember exactly but at least 13 or 14 years. My brother picked her out at the pound but she was always my mom's dog. It's always hard when a good dog like Ernie dies, but it just seems even harder cause it feels like we're loosing the last part we had of mom. Rest in Peace Ernie and go chase some balls.

Elroy

Nothing interesting going on here. We've finally had some sunny warmish days which is a huge boost to our moods. Right now I'm watching a cute kitty cat rolling around and stretching on the floor. It's a good day to be lazy and just enjoy the day.

I got accepted into the summer program at school that allows you to do the entire sophmore year in an accelerated summer program. But we've decided to decline the offer. As nice as it would be to finish up school a year sooner it would mean giving up my job and with the economy the way it is, quitting a good paying job just doesn't make sense. It makes me sad to decline it but it's the best decision.

We've tried alot of good new recipes lately, I will try and put some of them up, some of the best ones that come to mind were crockpot lemon chicken, crockpot oregano chicken, skillet cabbage kielbasa dinner, oh and a great dinner we had was a spur of the moment grilled chicken with lemon and herbs on pita bread with falafel.

The picture above (I couldn't get it too move!) is our newest family member - Elroy. He's so cute, he wasn't hand raised so he's still very skittish about letting us touch him. But everyday he gets more comfortable, jumping around on toys and his swing. He's starting to tweet more and more and absolutely loves shredded carrots! The cats are very intrigued by the bird and are trying their best to figure out a way to get up his cage. We hung the cage from the ceiling away from any shelves the cats could climb on. They like to sit under it I guess hoping the bird will just drop out of the cage. Now the dog, he hates the bird and they have gotten into barking/squawking fights several times this week.

That's about all that's been going on, it was spring break this week for school and I took two days off to work on things. I actually did get alot acomplished, not as much as I had hoped but I had a huge wishful to do list.

Scripture - 2 Timothy

I have been reading this scripture alot lately and it touches me with hope and anticipation.

⁶For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. - 2 Timothy 4:6-8

It amazes me how God has opened my eyes to His word this last year. It is a comfort that I've never known before.

It's a Hard Life

Ice and Snow

I like how this one really shows the inch of ice we got before we got all the snow.

French Onion Soup - Crockpot

To participate in the slow cooking Thursday and see more recipes go to -
http://familycorner.blogspot.com/

With school and work, we've been using the crockpot more for meals. Some of them have turned out well, others not so good. The French Onion Soup turned out really well.

5-6 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 stick butter
2 cans beef broth
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
French Bread slices
Swiss Cheese

In large skillet, cook onions and garlic on low heat in hot butter for 20 minutes, stir several times.

Transfer onion mixture to crockpot. Add beef broth, Worcestershire and 1 c water.

Cover and cook 5-8 hours on low heat or 2-4 hours on high.

Before serving, toast bread slices with cheese on top. Place on top of soup. Or place bread on soup with cheese in an ovenproof bowl and place in oven for a few minutes to melt cheese.

The onions cooking.

I used my homemade beef broth. I rarely use the store bought anymore.

When I went shopping about a month ago, I put the bread and cheese in the freezer for when we were ready to make the meal.

The finished product, our oven is broken so we had to microwave it to melt the cheese. It will look more melty if you can use the oven.

This recipe is a keeper for us. The flavors mingled really well and was super easy.

Check out Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for more great crockpot recipes - http://familycorner.blogspot.com/

Coming Soon

Yes, we are still alive. Just had some computer issues.

Pictures coming soon. Some great crockpot recipes coming soon too.