September Hostess Club

Tonight was Hostess Club night and it was my month to be hostess. I am so sorry to say that things got crazy and I got very few pictures of the food. But it was all delicious! Try these recipes. Today. I promise you will not be sorry.

We started with a corruption of Pampered Chef's Fall/Winter 2007 Season's Best Recipes Cran-Raspberry Fizz. I'll put down the way it was SUPPOSED to go and then what I did.

4 limes, divided
1 can (12 ounces) frozen cranberry juice concentrate
3 cups cold water
1 pint raspberry sorbet, softened
2 liters (8 cups) chilled ginger ale

Slice two of the limes and set aside. Pour cranberry juice concentrate and water into a gallon sized pitcher.

Juice remaining limes into pitcher. Scoop sorbet into pitcher; combine. Add ginger ale and lime slices. Mix well. Serve over ice.

Okay, I went to two different stores in town and nowhere could I find frozen cranberry juice concentrate. I guess the rednecks around here don't drink it. (Kidding - I like rednecks. Really.) So I omitted the limes and lime juice and substituted limeade concentrate. I don't know what it was supposed to taste like, but it was delicious!!! I did pick up some 100% cranberry juice and I'll make another half-batch tomorrow with that instead of the concentrate and the water. My guess is that it won't be as good, but we'll see. At the least, I might could get a pretty picture. :^)
Then we had tortilla chips with guacamole (made completely by Morgan, who did a bang-up job, I tell ya) and black bean and corn salsa.

Connie's Best Guacamole You'll Ever Eat So Make Some Right Now

2 ripe avocados

1/2 small red onion, minced

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp. jalapenos chili, minced

4 tsp. lime juice

1/2 small tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)

1/2 tsp. cumin

3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Halve and pit the avocados. Scoop flesh into a bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in other ingredients. May be made two hours in advance if surface of guacamole is covered with plastic wrap. Yields: 2 cups.

While Morgan did almost every single thing for the guacamole, the one thing she didn't do was seed and chop the jalapenos chili. A friend had arrived early for Hostess Club, just in time to see me have an episode of laryngospasm from the chili. In case you are wondering what a laryngospasm sounds like, you can click here for a little movie. It really freaks people out when I have one. It is quite embarrassing, but it's also very scary. Thankfully my children know to immediately bring me a glass of something to drink, as the act of drinking helps to relax the spasm. Chopping chilies ALWAYS brings on an episode. So I try to chop a couple at one time and keep it in the freezer for easy, spasm-free guacamole making.

Alas, I have no pictures of the guacamole. It disappeared. I think there was something in the air. :^D

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

1/3 cup cider vinegar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon coarse-grained mustard

1 teaspoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 small red onion, diced

2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh sweet corn kernels, cooked and cooled ( or frozen) (I used canned)

1 large red bell pepper, trimmed and diced
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, corn syrup, oil, salt and pepper. Add the onion and black beans.

Cook the corn kernels in a small saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the kernels with a slotted spoon and plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Pat dry and add to the onion mixture. Or use canned and skip this step.

Add the red pepper to the onion mixture along with the parsley. Toss well. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

This is an AWESOME dish. I made two and they BOTH disappeared. One is supposed to serve 16. I had 14 people here and this is what is left.....

2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken (about 12 oz) (I bought a rotisserie chicken)
1/4 cup chopped pitted ripe olives (I like sliced)

1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheese blend

1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies, undrained

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp Pampered Chef Southwestern Seasoning Mix

2 plum tomatoes

1 lime

2/3 cup finely crushed corn tortilla chips, divided

2 packages (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls (I used low-fat - like it really mattered)

1 cup salsa

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375°F. Chop chicken and olives (I left mine sliced). Place in a large bowl. Add cheese, green chilies, mayo, and seasoning mix.

Seed and chop 1 tomato. Slice lime in half. Juice one half of the lime to measure 1 tsp of juice. Reserve remaining lime for garnish (did NOT do this). Add chopped tomato and lime juice to chicken mixture.

Reserve 2 tbsp. crushed chips; add remaining chips to chicken mixture and mix well.

Sprinkle reserved chips over large cutting board. Unroll crescent dough. Place dough, sticky side down, onto chips; press lightly so chips adhere to dough. Separate dough into triangles. Arrange triangles, chip side down, in a circle on a large pizza stone with wide ends overlapping in the center and points toward outside. (There should be a 5" diameter opening in the center. Please don't measure this.) Using a medium sized scoop, scoop chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of the ring. (All of the filling will not be covered by dough. That's okay. And it won't be nicely spaced like the pictures in the Pampered Chef cookbook, either. But it'll taste delicious.) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

For garnish (muhahahahaha....garnish, yeah, right), cut remaining tomato into 8 wedges. Cut remaining half of lime into 4 slices; cut in half. Arrange between openings of ring. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Yield: 16 servings (or 7 ravenous wolves)

OHMYGOODNESSITSCHOCOLATEANDDELICIOUS

(Otherwise known as Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies)

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 package (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided

1 package (18-21 oz) brownie mix (plus ingredients to make cake-like brownies)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided

1 cup salted mixed nuts, divided

5 rolls (1.7 oz each) milk chocolate-covered chewy caramels (otherwise known as Rollos), divided - 40 pieces total

Vanilla ice cream, optional (this is really not optional and you must get Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla)

Preheat oven to 375° (same as for the enchilada ring - how convenient). Lightly brush large stoneware bar pan (or other 15.5 x 10 x 1 pan, but you really do need to get a PC stone one - call your PC lady immediately) with oil. Chop 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate morsels. (I'm going to interject something here - my bag of morsels was 12 ounces, yet measured 1 1/2 cups. You are supposed to have 1/2 cup of morsels remaining for topping. I didn't and was sorely disappointed. Please make sure you have 1/2 cup remaining or buy two bags - you can always eat the rest of the chips on a bad day.) In a bowl, combine brownie mix, water, oil, eggs, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar; mix well. Fold in chopped chocolate. Pour batter into bar pan, spreading evenly.

Chop nuts. Combine half of the nuts and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar; sprinkle evenly over brownie batter. Bake 20-22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cut 16 caramels into quarters. Place remaining 1/2 cup chocolate morsels (see, I told you that you'd need them) in a small bowl and melt in microwave. Spoon melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag and set aside.

Remove bar pan from oven and IMMEDIATELY press remaining 24 Rollos into the brownie in four rows of six caramels each. Sprinkle quartered caramels and remaining nuts over brownies. Trim corner of chocolate filled bag and drizzle chocolate over brownies. Cut into squares and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 24 servings

Now, after we ate all of that and rolled ourselves away from the table, we were still able to scrapbook! Here's our project for this month. It was a back to school page. Because I rarely take back to school pictures (or, in our case, NOT back to school pictures), I was really searching. I pulled out Steve's pictures from nursing school and thought they'd be perfect!

Wow - the colors really didn't come out well in this picture. So sorry. I used a strip of striped paper from a retired Simply Scrappin' kit and used the Stampin' Up! spiral punch along one side to make it look like it was torn from a notebook. See...

We also used various size square punches for custom photo corners. And we used our round tab punch for a little date tab to attach to the photo.

Yes, that date says 1993. Even though I probably have 16 scrapbooks, I'm still extremely behind. (Each of my kids has his/her own set of scrapbooks with duplicate pages to the ones in my books.)

Back 2 School Page Recipe - Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Mellow Moss, Cranberry Crisp, Marigold Morning. Ink: Cranberry Crisp and Marigold Morning Classic, Basic Black Craft. Accessories: Cranberry stitched ribbon, assorted punches.

The Problem with Paparazzi

The trouble when you're a good looking fellow is being constantly stalked by the paparazzi. Here is young Hairy Woodpecker, out without his parents for the first time. He thought he could practice his pecking skills on this little branch....alone.....but, NO! Here comes this Blue-Eyed Girl. Hairy thought she wanted to strike up a conversation, perhaps build a friendly relationship, but then he saw it. The Camera. She brought it out and took shot after shot after shot.

He tried to get away, but where ever he went, that Blue-Eyed Girl with The Camera was there, just snapping away. He tried hiding.

He turned his back on her.

He even gave her the Evil Eye.

All to no avail. She kept snapping shot after shot. He finally just started yelling and screaming and finally she went away.....

.....and started stalking Ruby Hummingbird instead.

All photos taken by Brooke, the wildlife stalker photographer.

New Horse

No, we didn't buy a new horse. He's just a new horse that Brooke is working with. His name is Suede and he's a pretty boy. His mom had a baby a few months ago and sees that she is just not going to have the time to ride him anymore (surprise), so she is going to have to sell him. But he hasn't been ridden in at least a year. His mom has asked Brooke to work with him and get him ride-able again.



We went to the barn today and Brooke and Suede practiced lunging. Lunging a horse is the process where you stand while you have your horse lope or trot, or even walk, around you in a circle. It can be used simply for exercise or for a training and fine-tuning tool. It can really help to develop a good relationship between you and your horse, and to help you work together when you're up on his back instead of on the ground, as well. I never knew anything about lunging horses before we got ours.

Since Suede hasn't been worked with in a very long time, he didn't remember how to lunge. But Brooke worked with him and he started to remember. (Don't be worried when you see that long "whip" looking thing in Brooke's hand - it's not to hit the horse with - it's waved behind the horse to encourage him to go forward.)

The most important thing that happened today was that Suede got to know Brooke a little better, besides her being the giver of horse treats and hay and nice scratchy brushings. She let him know that she was going to be the boss of this relationship. He decided after a while that she would be a nice boss.

So.....anyone in the market for a sweet, pretty horse?

Red Hots!!!

Today my blog prize from Apheimi's Blog-Candy-Give-Away arrived!!! My picture isn't nearly as photogenic as the one she had on her blog. So sorry. But the bracelet is absolutely beautiful! She has some gorgeous jewelry - you can find it on her blog or on her jewelry website. And would someone tell Steve that I would LOVE to find that little beach-glass bracelet on the main page in my Christmas stocking this year. :^)

Thanks, Patricia! You made my Monday!

Visit with Joshua

Today we drove to Gulfport, Mississippi to visit with Joshua.

This was the first chance we've had to see him since his graduation last month.

Joshua is currently at his Navy "A" school in Gulfport - Seabee training.

We went to the beach......

...and met a new New Orleans Saints fan, enjoying the sunny day at the beach. She told us she was a Saints fan. My brother is a Saints fan also, so they had lots to talk about. (Okay, okay, the collar and leash gave it away.)

My big boy went jet-skiing. (No, not Steve.) Freddie went with him - hat, jeans, and tennis shoes. :::sigh::: Boys.

Brooke and Freddie are only three months apart. Brooke is older. They tend to squabble like brother and sister.

But sometimes Brooke tries to be sweet. Freddie is thinking, "HELP!!!"

My beautiful girl.








My other beautiful girl.







Steve rented the beach chairs and promptly fell asleep. Here I am trying to bother him. I'm such a mean wife. Heeheehee!




Hmm....like father, like daughter. WAKE UP, YOU GUYS!!!!

We rarely get over to the Gulfport/Biloxi, even though it is just 30 minutes from my dad's house. This was our first trip since Hurricane Katrina. Most of the area was damaged or destroyed by the hurricane and, although it has been two years, the devastation is still very evident.

There were empty slabs or concrete steps in the middle of nothing else. Some of them had small campers on the land where the residents were living while trying to slowly rebuild their lives. But other places were just piles of rubble. It was very sobering.

This house evidently made it through the hurricane, but they put up a sign to show where the water was. Wow! Can you see the sign at the roofline? This house was a few blocks inland. The flooding was even worse near the beach - and the storm surge was 20' or more. Almost all of the boardwalks and piers have been washed away. Morgan kept finding bits of lumber or shingles in the water while we were at the beach.





Then we went to the Biloxi Katrina Memorial.

It's as high as the tide surge - 12 feet.

In the glass case were all sorts of memorabilia from people who live here. It was very sad.

The curving wall has this mosaic wave that is very beautiful, but it definitely reminds you of the power that was unleashed on this coastal community.

This is another view of the memorial.

Then we left and had a pretty quick dinner. Joshua needed to be back at 1900 hours (that's 7:00 to you and me). We had a wonderful day. I can't wait to see him again soon!

In the Middle of a Busy Weekend

This weekend has been quite busy and we're only halfway into it! Friday I picked up a friend's two children. They stayed with us while my friend's dad was having surgery for esophageal cancer. Then my youngest brother, Freddie, came to stay for the weekend. So I ended up with three 12-year-olds, an 11-year-old, and a 7-year-old! Definitely not my typical crowd! The littlest one was a boy, so my brother (12) took him under his wing and they talked football and other guy stuff! Thanks, Freddie!

Everyone stayed overnight and first thing Saturday morning, Abrial was sick. She tinkled in her crate (very unlike her) and threw up large quantities of water all over the carpet. What is it that makes dogs run for the CARPETING when they feel that urge? Yeesh!



But she does look quite embarrassed, doesn't she. She didn't mean to make a mess.

She also seemed to be having trouble outside, so I brought her into the vet's office. After a bladder and uterine ultrasound and an attempted bladder tap, we were finally able to get a urine sample (picture me outside with Abrial who was on a leash and when she squatted I had to stick a metal pan under her bottom - and the only grassy area is in the FRONT of the office along the busy road - what a picture that must have been). She had a very bad bladder infection and is now on medicine. I hope she is feeling better soon. Poor baby. A dog with cystitis. Whoduh thunkit?

Our Wild Backyard

Today, boys and girls, we get to watch a wild zebra grazing on the plains. Zebras love nice, green grass and this zebra is in for quite a feast!

:::foreboding music::: Oh no! We've just sighted a hungry female cheetah. It appears she is stalking our little zebra. Run, little zebra! :::whoop whoop whoop::: (Those are zebra noises, boys and girls.)

She seems to be closing in. This isn't looking good.

Oh dear! It appears our little zebra has become separated from the herd. That is when they are most vulnerable. Where is his mummy?

She is definitely closing in on the little guy. Look how she is hiding in the tall grass. She is a beautiful specimen.

Oh my! Poor little zebra. Perhaps the cheetah had hungry babies to feed. Nature shows can be messy business.

Today's show was brought to you by Brooke, Canon 3D Papercraft website, Stampin' Up! Paper Snips and Two-Way Glue Pen (you're welcome, Brooke - feel free to nab whatever you need from my scrapbook bag without permission - NOT) and the letter Z.

[And, yes, I know I need to mow the savanna. :^) Brooke's cheetah is 7" tall. And the grass was WAY over his head. The joys of living in a subtropical climate!]

Everyone Loves History

It seems I have neglected to discuss much about our homeschooling on my blog. I had to count up my years of homeschooling for something last week and was astonished to discover I have been homeschooling for going on 14 years! Wow! That's a long time!
We love Sonlight Curriculum. No boring textbooks. No busy work. No bland workbook pages. Loads of wonderful literature. We are finishing up the second year of American History.

Now, when we do math or science or spelling or Latin, we are sitting in the kitchen at the table. But reading, whether the girls are reading their books on their own or I am reading the history, we are in the living room snuggling under blankets on the sofas. Oddly enough, the animals tend to gather with us and appear to listen as well.


Libby was listening to the read-aloud in quite the un-ladylike pose. She usually is snuggled up next to Brooke during the readings.

Stewart was enjoying the book and wondered why we stopped reading to snap silly pictures. He loves to snuggle with Morgan.

Abrial doesn't snuggle. And no soft sofas for her. She prefers to stay alert and pay close attention, so as not to miss any important information.

Delilah, I'm disappointed in you. Are you dozing off during history reading? You'll be sorry when Mama gives a pop quiz!

My New Dawn

Morgan and I love this song - and Daniel Kirkley's voice.

Bricks on the Walls? Wow!

The brick laying is coming along okay, although has been slowed down by rain today and yesterday. When they first started laying it, I told Steve "I don't like it." Great. Too late now! Actually, it's getting better. The mortar was so dark when it was wet, making the whole wall look dark.



The mortar is still wet (and dark), but is getting lighter. I think I'll like it. :^D The brick layers are very nice guys and are really doing a super job.


Here's the scaffolding down the right side of the house. I used an automatic depth of field setting on the camera, so it makes the side of the house look even longer.

And by bathroom window is FINALLY installed. I am now paranoid that a brick will hit it. This is the fifth window - the first one was cracked when the carpenters opened the box, second one was the wrong one, third one was broken when they opened the box at the window company before delivering it, the fourth one was also the wrong window. This is the view from my bathroom....

...and here's the view from outside.

This is a very close picture of the glass in the side lights of my front door. I thought it was interesting.

Invasion!!!

If you have known me very long, you will know that I'm terribly afraid of frogs and toads. I don't think they should all be squished, a sentiment very strongly expressed at length by my mother-in-law, and I do think they are fascinating, but I don't like for them to jump out when I'm least expecting it and I definitely don't want them in my house.




Working at the new house cleaning up lumber, I've been startled by a great number of little toads and frogs. And some no-so-little ones as well. :^D But I'm getting used to them. After one small, started, "Eeekkk!!!" I'm okay.




This weekend, I was startled by something new....

No, I didn't take this picture. I screamed and he "ran!" I would definitely have not had time to get the camera focused! He was quite small. Then on the other side of the house, I saw his cousin. But they were more afraid of me than I was of them, I think.

Not the case on Monday. The girls were doing school and I was picking up in the area. I picked up a scrapbook tote bag that I did NOT bring with me on Friday. It had some dust on it, so I was brushing it off and out jumped something that looked like this.....

Yipes!!! A gecko! It was a wee bit bigger than this one, but not much. I screamed, jumped into a chair, and was hollering "CATCH IT!!! GET IT OUT OF HERE!!! CALL YOUR FATHER!!!" Brooke was laughing so hard that she chased it under the china cabinet. Then she'd move stuff, it'd skitter out, I'd scream, she'd laugh, it'd run back. Actually, she didn't want to touch it either!

Steve comes in and catches it FINALLY (I'm still on chairs - moving from one to the other around the room to get further away). As he goes to take it out, I admonish him to not simply toss it out the back door, where it can easily came back in the house, but to take it far into the woods. As he reaches the door, I call out, "WAIT!!! Let Brooke take a picture of it!" I was thinking of you, Blog Reader. But Steve simply rolled his eyes and walked out with the gecko, leaving me to rely on a stock photo.

Then today while sweeping the kitchen, I come across ANOTHER GECKO!!! This one was already dead, but it leads me to fear that where there are two, there are more. Anyone up for an overnight guest? I'll only stay until the new house is built and found to be free of attacking geckos.

Love Bugs

No, I have no pictures of my children. I have no pictures of my animals. I have no pictures of my honey. But I do have love bugs.....

These love bugs. If you don't live in the coastal south, you are probably wondering what in the world this thing is. It's a love bug. Wikipedia says this about love bugs....

"Love bug larvae grow up in grassy areas and feed on dead vegetation. The adult love bug does not eat, but subsists solely on the food taken in during its larval stage. Upon reaching maturity the love bug spends the entirety of its life "making new baby love bugs" with its mate, hence its numerous romantic nicknames. The male and female attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight. In fact, after mating, the male dies and is dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs. Females lay up to 350 eggs in debris, and about 20 days later the eggs hatch into larvae. The larvae may live for months before passing into adulthood."

Lovebugs love white houses. Right now, my house is covered with white Tyvek. Lovebugs are loving my house. So far, the season hasn't hit full swing. I've seen white houses swarmed with so many love bugs, it looks like a black house. I have a friend who used to live in an old house and they would actually crawl in through the old windows and were covering the INTERIOR of her house. Yuck. I really hate love bugs. And they play havoc with the paint job on your vehicle. Their guts will actually pit the paint! Double yuck!

But they are a sure sign that September is almost here. Either that or May. :^D

Working at the House

That's what we did all weekend. Work, work, work! Steve is working on the wiring and I was the clean-up crew. I hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of scrap lumber, bits of shingles, barrels of bent nails, and about a million empty Gatorade bottles. Sub-contractors are messy guys!

The carpenters will be building the deck and installing my whirlpool bathtub this week, so they uncovered the bit of the floor where it will be installed. It's not clean and it's definitely not shiny, but I think I'm gonna like it!