Inaugural Celebration Chicken With Rice....

A melting pot of spicy flavors...

2 large bone/skinless chicken breasts, in 1-inch cubes
2 bone/skinless chicken thighs, in 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
couple glugs of olive oil
1/2-1 teaspoon of each of the following spices, adjust to your taste:
cumin, cayenne(about 1/4tsp of this one), dry mustard, curry, ginger, celery seed, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 14 oz cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes with juice
1 14 oz can pineapple chunks in juice, with juice
1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped fine


Cook chicken and veggies in oil for 15 minutes. Add spices and cook 5 more minutes. Add soy sauce, tomatoes, and pineapple and simmer for 20 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Throw in cilantro and simmer another 10 minutes or so. Serve over hot, buttered rice or grain of your choice.

OBAMAMAMA, this was goooood!!!!

The goings on...

Amy turned 13 on Saturday so there are two teens in the house now! She had two friends spend the night, two others were unable to make it. They had a pizza pajama party and stayed up well past 1am. We took them all to the mall then next morning to run around. Amy ended up with a pair of teal jeans and two shirts, Ryan and Sarah, who have half-birthdays now, got a shirt apiece. It ended up being a great celebration, everyone had a great time!!

Mark's dad celebrated his 81st birthday on Wednesday so this morning I cooked a big pot of red beans and rice** and baked a chocolate raspberry pie* for his birthday. Mark and I took his parents to see his new office. It happens to be right across the street from their old neighborhood. Now, when I say old, I mean OLD! They moved from there when Mark was a baby. We had a nice visit with them, as nice as you can with someone who has dementia(his mom).

Now I believe I am due a nap!

Next week will be hectic but hopefully I'll be more posty!









* recipe here with modifications of an extra egg yolk and 2 extra tbsps flour, a tiny bit more sugar, dash of cinnamon and a 1/2 tsp raspberry extract. Oh, and I used Special Dark cocoa powder.

** Red Beans and Rice

1.5 pounds dried red beans
3 medium sized ham hocks
3 ribs celery
2 onions
1 green pepper
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground savory
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne(or so)
1 pound smoked kielbasa or sausage of your choice, sliced.
6 cups cooked white rice.

Soak beans overnight. Drain and keep in colander. Cook chopped veggies(except garlic) in oil for 5-6 minutes. Add ham hocks, garlic, bay leaves and seasonings, cook for another 5-6 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add beans and about 10 cups of water, or to cover. Simmer, partially covered, over med-low heat for 2-3 hours. Remove ham hocks and add sliced sausage. Simmer over medium heat for another 1-2 hours, uncovered, stirring often to prevent burning. Fish out bay leaves, let stand 10-15 minutes to thicken and cool a bit. Serve over rice with tabasco and salt at the table.

Cheesy Gooey Goodness...

(Cheesy Gooey Tex-Mex Casserole, by Molly Sonier)


(Holy cow this was good)


(And it was meatless!)

First I doubled this chili gravy recipe from Homesick Texan(doubled the liquid and seasoning, not the flour and oil). I tweaked it a bit with about 1/2 teaspoon chipolte powder and about a teaspoon red wine vinegar.

Then I layered(in a 9x13 stoneware casserole) the sauce with corn tortillas, about 10 in all, 2 blocks of Cabot's 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated, 1 can fat free refried beans(just glopped by the tablespoon), about 2 cups fresh spinach, 1 cup cilantro leaves(very loosely packed). My layers went like this:

Sauce
Tortillas
Beans
Cheese
Cilantro
Tortillas
Sauce
Beans
Spinach
Cheese
Tortillas
Sauce(I didn't quite use all of it)
Beans
Cilantro
Cheese

Baked it, covered, at 350 for about 40 minutes. Slurped it up with some greek yogurt on top. Died happy(no not really, but I could have). There is just a teeny bit left for tomorrow. I may send it with Mark if he does the dishes tonight.

In other news...

We were looking SO forward to camping this weekend. Based on the events, it seems God may have been telling us "no" but we didn't listen til he stopped us in our tracks.

Mark had a bad feeling about going all week and I couldn't really get into it either. Once we got the stuff together we were excited to be getting away. We decided against taking the canoe because the Suburban was weighted down too much as it was. Due to his busy week Mark didn't get around to making reservations at the state park we wanted to visit. We got about a mile underway and Mark decided he'd better call to see if there were tent site vacancies. There were not. He pulled off the road and called 6 or 7 other state parks. Only one had sites available. We turned around to head to that park and the Suburban just died. Quit working at all. We coasted to an oil top road that lead back home and came to a stop in the woods. Car would NOT start. Mark jogged back home and drove back with jumper cables. It wasn't the battery. Would allllllmost turn over but not quite. So, we loaded all the camping equipment in his work van and drove back home. We decided to call a wrecker service to haul it home for us. Currently it is sitting in the yard near the driveway. We are unsure what we'll do with it. The repairs for this and many other "ailments" will probably run close to $1100 and there are other things wrong with it as well.

Today we went to visit friends and I was handed some leftovers from a garage sale.*G* I got a cast iron skillet, a neat-o purse, and a vintage barbie with a beeeautiful purple crocheted doily dress, and some okra and peppers!! Barbie has a photo shoot sceduled for tomorrow. Then we looked at used trucks and SUVs(we have to have something to pull the boat and haul 3-5 kids, dogs, equipment and so forth). Finally we headed to Trade Days to see what we could find to drag home! I managed to leave with an adorable(and I mean ADORABLE) crocheted mouse with a dark blue dress. She is just too sweet!! Her photo shoot is scheduled around the same time as purple barbie, so I'll have pics sometime tomorrow. The kids and I got sno-cones and we all split a large funnel cake. I don't think I've had one of those in 25 years! I also ran into a very old friend(30 years!) who works for the police department now. We caught each other up on who and what. Then I checked in with my friend who is selling my scarves, she said 3 had sold!! Woot!! I don't know which ones though. She knits the most incredible striped stocking caps to sell. They are about 5 to 6 feet long and are so cute(I need a picture of them). I wish I was a knitter but there ain't no way...

We're expecting rain tomorrow with slightly cooler temps following. It has been a wonderful fall so far with very little rain and short-sleeve weather almost every day.

TGIF...

I'm following along with Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor again and posting my favorite photo(Friday's Favorite Photo is what she called it, I think).


(Sarah with Tom several Autumns ago)

In other news...

A friend of mine offered up a front door for free so we drove waaaay across town to look at it and will pick it up tomorrow. Its a brick red with about a 2/3 total length leaded glass insert. Just gorgeous! There are a few cosmetic things to fix(some glue runs and a loose molding) and we'll have to frame our door with a 1x2 or something because its 1.25 inches narrower than our current door. I can't wait to work on it and get it installed though, I've been pricing these kinds of doors for a while now and just couldn't see getting one, ever.

This friend has 4 chickens and a rooster so she handed us half a dozen blue, green, and brown eggs to take home. I think I shall scramble them in the morning. Yum!

We swung by and took Ryan's friend home and are just now back to the house. I'm about to start on my broccoli, zucchini, rice, and cheese casserole. Guess I need to get the rice going, I keep forgetting that part!!!

It has been a beautiful day today, very sunshiney with no wind and not too much heat. I'm hoping tomorrow we can spend time outdoors.

The Weekend....

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.
- Helen Hunt Jackson, October's Bright Blue Weather


Friday morning I took the girls grocery shopping with me while Mark and Ryan stayed home. It was a beautiful mid-morning and promised to be a lovely afternoon as well. I had the bright idea that we should spend time outdoors so I called Mark from the store to see if he'd be interested. We decided to wait til Saturday and head north to the Yamboree, a local festival celebrating that wonderful cash crop of the 1930's, the Sweet Potato, which is really not a yam. The Yamboree is one of the oldest folk festivals in Texas just behind the Tyler Rose Festival and the Jacksonville Tomato Festival.

We watched the Queen's Parade, ate some fair food, rode a huge ferris wheel, gawked at the crowds, visited the exhibit halls, the ag barns and all the other things most people do at festivals. Ryan found several of his friends in the ag barns with their livestock so he was busy socializing while the girls, Mark and I petted pigs, goats, calves, and bunnies. I think Sarah would have brought a baby cow home if she could have, or a goat! Then we hit the vendor area but didn't end up finding anything we couldn't live without. One of the exibits we especially enjoyed was the junior art and photography division. There are some very talented young artists in east Texas! Amy and Sarah are wanting to enter the drawing category and maybe photography too for next year.

As you may have noticed, there are no pictures. I decided to take a break from the camera this trip. Its a big, clunky thing and I did not feel like wagging it around all day. You'll have to imagine the dappled sunlight on the courthouse lawn, the chilly breeze, the greasy food smells, laughter, screams from the scary rides, and the sound of fiddles playing. You are off the hook as far as imagining the lovely livestock smells.

On our way to the car, we stopped at the monthly flea market across from the exhibit areas. Patricia, my homeschooling friend had a booth there promoting her business, Herbal Grace. She sells mineral make-up, organic teas, soaps, and much more. I left with a new eye shadow color(nutmeg) and some fantabulous organic seasoned salt. Her soaps are to die for too, LOVE them, and we use several of her other formulas.

We also nabbed a huge bucket of sweet potatoes for $4. Wooo hooo! Could have got a bushel for $13 but I didn't think we'd eat that many. How wrong I was...

Several days ago I came across a blog post featuring sweet potato fries and Hungry Girl had mentioned butternut fries not too long ago as well. I googled to get a good idea of what to do and went for it!

I preheated the oven to 425, sliced up our two largest "yams" into french fry sized pieces, layered them on two baking sheets(it is best if they don't touch and have space between each fry). I sprayed them with butter flavor cooking spray and sprinkled them with the new seasoned salt mixed with cayenne, onion, and garlic powders, and paprika. They went into the oven on the middle and lowest racks for 15 minutes. I stirred well and switched their places on the racks, baking for another 15 minutes. We scarfed them down with ketchup and there were no more. They are woooooonderful!!!! With a texture like a steak fry, creamy and soft on the inside, but not starchy(gritty) like regular fat fries, along side frizzled spiral ham and a spinach salad, these made a wonderful meal.

Today I'm working on our bedroom. We decided to try the bed under our window but I don't know if it'll work with the kitties wanting to be in the sill at night. I've swept and thrown away a whole bagful of garbage. Mark turned off the Cowboys game, too painful to watch. He's washing his car now and Sarah's got Dirty Jobs on.

Later we'll have more ham in some form, maybe a quiche or something. I'm not sure yet. Meanwhile, back to the room for me!

Mark got the new job!!!! He starts Monday, I think. This is a job doing pretty much the same thing he was doing at JD Medical only with a national company. One of the best things is that there are people to do the billing, people to do the customer service, repair equipment, market, deliver stuff and more. He will be riding with the marketers about 1/3-1/2 of the time and "managing" the other part. There is NO being on call and he will be better compensated!

In other news...

My bloggy friend Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor has answered another blogger's challenge to help boost our country's economy. I am so inspired that I have a special trip planned just for this. Here is the origination of this wondrous movement!

One of my cousins is welcoming her second grandchild, Lyndee Allison(**edited for spelling**) today, born this morning somewhere in Oklahoma. Lyndee's big brother Lex shares my January birthday.


(Meadow, Rainbow, Stella, Sundae and Panda looking for a handout)

I don't feel like cooking tonight but I have no clue what we'll eat otherwise. Maybe sandwiches or nachos. I made the decision to renew my WeightWatchers Online account. That will start Monday.

We're going shopping this weekend for kids' clothing. Woohoo. Grandma has sent them some birthday/half-birthday money and that's what they want! And earrings I'm sure.

Homeschooling Life....

Today was park day for us. Then skating. I'm pretty sure I couldn't take more than one skate day per month, its mega-loud in that place. I always come out shaky and today my right ear was stopped up from the music. Park day was nice, as usual, with conversation and the great outdoors. Today was especially nice with cooler temperatures and lots of sunshine. The kids had a blast at both activities but Amy still didn't skate much.

Tomorrow we're headed to a nearby town for THIS delightful field trip with over 100 other homeschooling families. I can't wait!! We are taking our cooler and picnic basket, the weather will be perfect.

When we finally got home late this afternoon, we were greeted by a very tiny, but playful, Tallulah.(those are peanut m&ms and Sarah's size 13 sock feet, the bowl is 4 inches in diameter)





I made pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn for dinner. My gall bladder is not real happy with me. Ugh. Hopefully it will be a passing thing and not a full blown attack. I should know better!

18 Years Ago...

I married this man! And I love him more than ever. I'm not a sappy person so this is as far as it goes.







When he gets home from work we plan to eat chicken fajitas(cooked on the grill), drink some hard apple cider, and watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Its our idea of the perfect evening!

Santa Fe Rice and Beans...

Lean Cuisine makes a frozen dinner by this name, very tasty I might add. Its one of Mark's favorites but we rarely get frozen dinners due to cost and the unhealthy sodium in them. Tonight I believe I've perfected the taste, quite by accident. It was a pantry surfing night and this was what came out of it!

Molly's Santa Fe Rice and Beans

1 onion, chopped
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
1 cup brown rice

Brown onion and pepper in small amount of olive oil. Add rice and stir around for a minute or two.

1 can each, pinto beans and canneli beans, rinsed well and drained
1 can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 reduced sodium chicken broth cube
2 cans of water

1-1.5 teaspoons each of: (yall know I'm notorious for NOT measuring, if you want to start with smaller amounts that would be fine)

garlic powder
onion powder
chili powder
oregano
cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder(this is key to the smokey flavor, don't leave it out!)

About 2/3 cup steel cut oats

Mix everything together in skillet, cover tightly and simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Add water if needed but try not to make it too runny. Test the rice for tenderness and serve when its soft. I let it sit, off the heat, for about 10 minutes to cool and thicken.

We had ours in bowls with grated cheese(75% lower fat Cabot's Light), light sour cream, and sliced olives. YUM!

Summer Salad

My inspiration was THIS.



Of course, having looked at it several hours before shopping, I did get a few things wrong. Mine has cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, califlower, sunflower seeds, and a bit of soy sauce in the dressing. I also used horseradish mustard. It is YUMMMM!

Wednesday Happenings....

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

(this one is odd)

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

(hahaha, this one is too)

I felted several sweaters today but I didn't take pictures yet. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Can't wait to let them tell me what to make of them. I've got at least a dozen different ones now, in a wide range of colors.

And, in the "its about time" category(mom don't faint): I took down some clothes that were destined for something, I know not what, that have been hanging on the back of the laundry room door for YEARS, and I do mean at least 5 years! They are now in the Goodwill bag. I also fixed it so that we can close the door easier. We always have to shut it when the dogs come in to keep them out of the kitty candy boxes. The hanger thingie made that difficult so I TOOK IT DOWN TODAY!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!

We finally heard back from the pool person today after almost 3 weeks of NOT RETURNING MY CALLS! Sheesh!! Now I have to fax the bid to the insurance company and hope we'll have a pool liner by June. We better.

The cats are healing well from having been spayed and neutered yesterday. Jasper is more alert and mobile than Gypsy since his was less invasive. Now we are down to Buttercup!

No clues as to what will be for dinner. Mark came home early so maybe I can get to the grocery store and pick something up that's mostly made.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!

(Boopa, 23 months)

ITS SPRING, ITS SPRING, ITS SPRING!!!! Today is a glorious day! We have abundant sunshine, slight breezes, and mild temperatures. The daffodils are mostly gone, at least the ones in my yard anyway, but there are still plenty of things blooming everywhere. The oaks have leaves but have not yet shed their fuzzy things and the gums are just budding. Tuesday night we had a tornado/tornadoes come through our area. One hit south of Kilgore and traveled 21 miles up to north Longview, touching down on the street where one of Ryan's homeschooled friends lives. He said it was VERY loud. It uprooted some huge trees along their street and took a few roofs off. One passed over our side of town as well. At 9pm the sirens went off so the girls, Mark and I got into the bathroom closet after finding our shoes and flashlights(this took about 20 seconds). After about 10 minutes we decided the coast was clear and it was. We didn't lose power but about 10,000 in our town did. Gotta love Springtime in East Texas.

(homeschool park day-but not this day)

We had park day today too. Ryan had three friends join him so he was extra happy. They spent the whole time in the creek looking for critters. Amy saw a snake, two turtles and two frogs, two pembroke corgis, a cocker spaniel and a great dane. We had tons of homeschoolers, some we haven't seen in months! It was really nice. I got to work on my WiP victorian hexagon quilt. Its a hand-sewn English paper-pieced thing, about 90% done.

(hexagon quilt)

I've got to work on another project this weekend, besides painting. There are 14 of these hearts that will be individual wall hangings for an email group I've been in for over 8 years. I don't think any of them read my blog so I feel safe posting the picture here. Even if they do, its ok. Maybe it will motivate me to get them all completed soon!

(Hip Thinking Moms wall quilts)

I still need to go to the grocery store and decide what to cook for dinner. I'm leaning toward something vegetable-ish. Hmmmm, maybe something out of my vegetarian cookbook.

We've completed the guinea pig cage so now Stella and Sundae have a big space to run around in. Sundae's baby(ies) will be here in the next few weeks, hopefully sooner rather than later. We'll keep them if they are female, sell them if they are boys.

If I don't post tomorrow, I hope everyone has a fantastic and blessed Easter weekend! We have no plans yet, probably just a regular weekend for us.

My Name Means....

Kinda scary how accurate(mostly) this one is. I don't typically knock people down but I do get my way 99% of the time. Because, as my XSIL once said, I'm "Always Right Molly", little did she know! I also don't put much pressure on myself, that I'm aware of. Anyway, the rest of it is pretty much dead on.

What Molly Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are kind hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

In other news...

We took Daisy and Buddy to the park/walking trail today. They both did very well, in fact the girls took turns walking Buddy and had no trouble at all with him. I was especially excited about how Daisy behaved!! She didn't pull much at all, was VERY happy to be there and didn't bark or act aggressively toward anyone(except a Hispanic teenage boy we passed while we were still in the car). She had a super time sniffing and watching for squirrels. We'll probably end up getting another pinch collar so we can take all three of them at one time.

Tonight I'm making homemade pizza for dinner, I've got a blog post with my recipe somewhere on here...found it! Go HERE to check it out.

Tomorrow Mark has softball practice and we've got to visit Sam's Club for tea bags, toilet paper and granola bars. We also have to make another guinea pig cage. I've decided to divide the girls up and put three of them in the boys' cage(not with the boys, just in the cage they're in now), two of them in a new cage, and the boys will go where all five girls are.

(new baby piggie, Sundae- a chocolate, red and white Crested Satin)

One Word...and a meal...

This is a neat meme that I found over at Ruth's Place(new in my blogroll). I enjoyed trying to keep it to one word, not easy for me. Play along if you wish!!

1. Where is your cell phone? what?

2. Your significant other? driven

3. Your hair? dripping

4. Your mother? blessed

5. Your father? genius

6. Your favorite thing? life

7. Your dream last night? usual

8. Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream/goal? satisfaction

10. The room you’re in? dining

11. Your ex? dead

12. Your fear? time

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? unknown

14. Where were you last night? grilling

15. What you’re not? fake

16. Muffins? sometimes

17. One of your wish list items? health

18. Where you grew up? Texas

19. The last thing you did? dress

20. What are you wearing? jamas

21. Your TV? off

22. Your pet(s)? mammals

23. Your computer? necessary

24. Your life? pleasant

25. Your mood? good

26. Missing someone? yes

27 Your car? old

28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

29. Favorite Store? none

30. Your summer? humid

31. Like someone? yes

32. Your favorite colour? all

33. When is the last time you laughed? today

And, for lunch...



I found these neat little bagel sandwich squares from Thomas'. 150 calories, 1 gram of fat, 4g fiber, 7g protein. Toasted, they make wonderful Dagwood sandwiches(well as Dagwood as I can get it anyway). Mine had chopped black olives and cherry tomatoes, dill pickles, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, sliced cheese and deli chicken with mayo and mustard. I was too hungry to chop any onions or green peppers but they would have made it that much better!! Amy had hers with the same thing minus the lettuce, cucumbers, and mayo/mustard. She subbed ranch salad dressing. Mark had his with just mustard, pickles and olives extra. Sarah hasn't eaten yet so I don't know how she'll do hers, if she has one at all.

Only 3 Days til the Weekend!!

It is only Wednesday but already it has been a long week. Monday I was nursing sick kids, yesterday we had to run errands and today we had to take Ryan to the orthodontist to get started on his braces. He is completely healed from having his adenoids out so they should be able to get him going real soon. Turns out he's gonna need about $40,000 worth of work done on his mouth, including a jaw extending surgery. We have to find an insurance plan that will pay, currently his state insurance will not.

We went to the gym so I could work out after that and had lunch with Mark at the mall. That, of course, included a shopping spree at Bath and Body Works where I picked up hand sanitizer for $3 and some new lotion. Sometime this afternoon we'll stop by our co-op leader's home to pick up our raw milk for the week and I think I'm dropping Sarah off there for a play date. Whew! And I still have to get some crafty things and housework done.

Last night we had Beer and Brats, inspired by Sadira of Foolsewoode fame. I browned them in a skillet and then simmered in beer til cooked through. I also simmered some cabbage but I'm the only one who ate it. They just don't know what they're missing!

That's Shiner Bock from Shiner, Texas. Love that stuff!


This was Ryan's with yellow mustard. Yes, the plate matches the cookie jar cat. I got them at Mervyn's several years ago along with coffee mugs, each plate and mug has a different cat.


I like mine with grainy mustard.


Doesn't this look healthy? Why won't they eat it?

In other news....

There isn't any other news today, except that the woman who sued Mark's company was awarded $15,000 but the other party(not their driver) in the wreck is having to pay 90% of the costs because he was at fault for running a red light(as per several eye witnesses). Of course, this is the guy who never showed up and they were unable to reach so good luck wth that. Mark overheard the woman's lawyer complaining to the judge that he'd already spent $30K on this mess so I guess someone is out some money. She should have taken the settlement. 'tard.

Oh, and I think the oil company is about to start tearing up our driveway. They have a leaky saline line that bursts about every 2-3 months and they've probably gotten some heat from the city about fixing it permanently(instead of the way they have been) since they don't have a stake out there with the company name or phone number and the city has to send out a fire truck and track down the owners every time so they can come out and put duck tape on it(or whatever they do that hasn't worked to this point). Last week they went up and down for 3 blocks marking the natural gas, phone, and water lines, now they have turquoise(water?) pipes on site along with a bunch of "bubbas" standing around staring at it. Looks like we may be parking in the street for a while.

Coyote Conspiracy and a Blog Award!!

But first, the kids sporting their new hair dos! Ryan got about 5-6 inches cut off his!!! YEAH! I do wish they'd give Amy a different style though, I keep trying to explain what I want and they do this thing that is popular now with it in short stacked layers in the back and long stringy in the front. That is NOT what I'm asking for people!!

Ok now...

Yesterday we saw a dead coyote on the side of the road. In town. We were headed to our homeschool group's park day at a park where it is known that coyotes, deer, homeless people and wild hogs hang out. So, why do we go there? It is a beautiful park, they've put in a nice walking/bike trail, and cleared out lots of the underbrush. Still there are coyotes, deer and homeless people, we aren't sure if the hogs are still around or not because they tend to go up and down the creekbed to better pastures. A coyote yipped as I passed a thicket along the trail last summer, so close I could have hit it with a rock had I thrown one. A friend of mine, whose backyard borders the park, saw one in her yard with a dead cat in its mouth. When we left the park the dead coyote had been picked up by the city's crew. Now, there was a skunk, a very large one, hit by a car back around Christmastime on an equally busy road. It is STILL there. Nobody cares if there are skunks about. But a coyote? People will start freaking out. So, they came and got it probably within hours of it being hit. Had it been a dog or cat, or possum or skunk it would have been left to rot, I feel sure. It is a conspiracy. Read here about the urbanization of coyotes.

Last night when I walked P-girl, they were shrieking and carrying on across the street and when I went to bed they were howling like I've not heard in a while. I feel horrible for them. Construction of new homes has closed them in tighter and tighter and they have no place to go. Because they have no enemies except people, their numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. This causes huge territorial issues for them, hence the reason the ones across the street can't just pack up and move to the "country". They aren't welcome there. So far, the woods at one end of our block and the pasture at the other end are providing enough food to support a breeding population of probably six. They have stopped terrorizing my dogs and I don't think they're currently in a territory war like two years ago when they were scent marking and scatting all over the lawns. So far we've only known of a few cats disappearing at the end of the neighborhood near the pasture. It remains to be seen what will happen to them. Hopefully something good.

Please visit a Girl and her Coyote for a fascinating tale.

Susan over at Blackberry Creek awarded me this!


I am flattered that someone thinks my blog is excellent. I would also like to point out that ALL of the blogs listed in my sidebar are rated E for Excellent, or I wouldn't have them there!

My blog came about as a way for me to keep myself honest with my weightloss and UFO finishing. Well guess what. I gained some weight back and haven't finished a durn thing yet. But I have discovered this crazy blogworld!! Wow! Many blogs are for information purposes for a person's business, some are craft-only or stick closely to some other topic. Then some folks will blog about their very lives, which I love! I consider some of these folks to be my friends. In fact, I've met two of them in real life(but before we did blogs, I knew them from online email groups, quilting and unschooling respectively). My family had lunch at Barb's(The Quilting Belle) and spent the night with Karen(Leaping From the Box) on our way from east Texas to North Carolina a few years ago.

Here are some other beautiful blogs. They are not in my sidebar because I don't visit them often and they're not ones I comment on(maybe once on a few of them) but they are all just wonderful for many reasons! Check them out and you'll know what I mean. I'm not putting descriptions, I want you to be pleasantly suprised. Maybe I need to add them to my blogroll.

As I See it Now
Miss-Frugality
Honeyflake
Garden Variety
Daysgoby
Dutch Colours
Arkie Mama
Coffee Time Quilt Studio
Em and the Gang
Mostly Adventurous
Adventure Journalist

And of course I have to share a great recipe with you all! We had Indian Rice and Chicken last night. Something I threw together out of pantry and freezer findings. No pictures because we inhaled it, there was NONE left! It was SOOOOO GOOD!!!

3-4 chicken breasts, mine were med-large so I used 3
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped

Brown these 3 things in a bit of olive oil, in a 3-4 quart pot.

1.5-2 cups of brown rice
garlic powder
curry powder
coriander(dried powdered)
tumeric
1 can of chick peas, drained
2-3 teaspoons red wine vinegar(or to taste)

Add the rice, chickpeas and 2 cans of water along with the seasonings to taste(between a teaspoon and tablespoon of all, more garlic than the others).

Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, checking for water absorption about 30 minutes in(you may need to add as much as another can full). When the rice is tender, stir in about 1/2 cup of regular cream cheese. Serve with crackers and a green salad.

Yall have a great weekend!! We have a friend of the girls spending the night tonight. The weather will be super, mid to upper 60s and sunny. I'm thinking yardwork. We really need to get all the leaves off the pool cover and start working on the rest of the pool area. Anyway, be safe and have fun this weekend!!

Just call me Rip!

~~****Updated, 10pm, to say that the kitties are NAMED!! Boy cat is Jasper and girl cat is Jypsy(yes with a J, since his is), no longer Nuala. Five people trying to name two kittens is not fun. We are all happy with these names even if they aren't first choices****~~

I was feeling kinda nappish after lunch today even though we really needed to get to the pet store for some kitty toys and the grocery store for some food. So, I thought I'd take a cat nap before we went. Actually, my intent was to sneak some reading time. I've started the LOTR trilogy again, first time in about nine years. Neeeways, it was 12:44 when I glanced at the alarm clock after climbing under the covers. Next time that happened it was 2:47, when I just happened to wake up to shift or something. The next time was 3:54. Then it took several minutes after that to pry my body from the bed. Not sure yet if I'm refreshed or not but I had some Crazy-Daisy dreams! It truly feels like I stepped into another time.

Now for last night's dinner!! This will probably be the last of the food pictures for a while. I love sharing them but remembering to take pictures at various times during the process isn't something I'm real good at. That and I foresee several days in which I don't cook, or cook something simple like baked potatoes or sandwiches. I am making chili for Ryan's Super Bowl party with his church's youth group but that doesn't sound like good photo fare.


I use this dough for pizza and bread, it is fantabulous!!!


Kids pizzas just into the oven, Ryan's has mushrooms, girls' doesn't.


The grown-ups' pizza just out of the oven, my side is the one with onions.

I divided the dough into three pieces, then one of those in half for the kids. I used one of the thirds for ours and the last third to make a calzone with the leftover meatsauce filling and cheese, which I baked to a dark golden color. It made a huge one and I had a bit of it for lunch today. It was as good as, or better than the pizza was! It was hideously ugly so there wasn't a pic.

We had fun today!

But I didn't take any pictures(this is a quick, and really bad, pic of a few from my collection). We went to the East Texas Gem and Mineral Society's annual show with another homeschooling family. It was AMAZING!!!! If you are interested in gems and minerals, check out local shows and shops. Here's a list of minerala, Rainbow of Gems to start and a GREAT resource for kids and grown-ups too(I love this site) called, Rocks For Kids. I took my "mammoth tooth" along for the ride to see if I could get it positively identified(I had a feeling it wasn't what I thought). Turns out, it is petrified wood and I'm going to have it cut and polished in the next few weeks! I am hoping for some nice surprises inside!! I love, love, love rocks!!! Rock-a-holic I am.


(Ammonite that belonged to my grandfather, don't know where he got it)
****edited to add this: I'm so glad you told me Rosaline! I figured it was found in Oklahoma but had no idea where. For some reason I was thinking northwest of Rush Springs, don't know why. It is the neatest rock we have, I love it! There were some at the rock show but they were much smaller(about like a smooshed tennis ball), and not nearly as detailed. They were all incomplete like ours, guess it is hard to find a whole one.****

I did manage to keep up with the Dinner challenge, just didn't feel the need to post our dinner on Friday of scrambled eggs in corn tortillas or last night's baked potatoes. Tonight, however, I did a variation on our favorite pizza pasta.



1 chicken breast, cooked in a cup or so of water til done, don't drain unless you have more than a cup of water at this point. Add 20 slices of turkey pepperoni, 20 black olives(halved), 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 chicken broth cube, italian seasonings and garlic powder. Simmer for 15 minutes or so. Cook half a box of whole wheat elbow macaroni noodles(amounts are not real important in this). Combine drained noodles, sauce mix, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, in 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

Dinner Challenge Chicken Pot Pie...

Check in at Carolyn's blog, Laughing Duck to see what I won!! I'm getting pretty lucky with that these days. I told her that I won twice with her because I am using a (greatly modified) version of her Chicken Pot Pie for my Dinner Challenge tonight! It looked SO good but I didn't think I had what it took to make it. I looked again with open eyes and found the perfect ingredients for mine but I'm sure hers is MUCH better. This suits Carrie's Challenge because I didn't have to get anything special from the store AND I've never made it before, in any fashion so definitely not an "in a rut" meal! Don't forget to scroll down a few posts and support Bernie's A Place to Bark...and Meow Cause.

Mine is Fast because we stayed at the bookstore ALL afternoon for our homeschool "park day". It was too cold to visit at the park so those of us(hi Patricia) with older kids went to Books-A-Million to knit and sew and read. We didn't get home til after 4:30 and then I had to take Ryan and his friend to the friend's house to spend the night. Soooo, when I came home I quick thawed the chicken, thinking I'd oven fry it and make baked potatoes or something to go with, but I found Carolyn's lovely email and became inspired by her mouth-watering recipe.
****edited to add pictures****
Here ya go:



Fast Chicken Pot Pie(based very loosely on Carolyn's)

3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 medium baking potatoes
1/2 red onion
1/2 big bag of mixed vegetables
1 can 98% fat free cream of celery soup
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon(or shake) garlic powder
1/2 cup milk

Simmer chicken and cubed potatoes til the meat isn't pink. Cube chicken and drain the water out. Add veggies, soup, cheese, spice and milk. Stir well.

2 cups flour(I use half white, half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1-1.5 cups milk

Stir dry stuff together, add butter and mix with fingers til course crumbs. Stir in milk and mix up. Put chicken stuff into a oiled 9x13 casserole dish, smooth out. Drop dough on top of that and bake for 35 minutes at 375. Yum!!

Cooking Challenge!!!

I'm taking part in Carrie's(of Sommer Designs) Dinner Challenge for the week, having just found her blog about an hour ago. Her challenge is to cook dinner every night for 5 nights, something you haven't tried before or something you haven't made in a long time. ***Edited to clarify that this doesn't have to be done with things you have on hand, just that you go shopping once with a good list, so you don't have to run out and get "only xyz" and come home $75 poorer*** To be fair, today was shopping day for me so some of the things in this recipe are not staples(cilantro and green onions aren't always in the larder)I got in on it a bit late but I do have my recipe from Monday's post(we had leftovers last night-deliciously served over spaghetti squash that I'm ashamed to say has been on my shelf for 5-6 weeks now!) and one tonight that I can share. This might be leftovers for tomorrow or Friday too so my 5 nights might take longer than a week to complete. I consider that a bonus!!

Tonight's Meal:

Baked Bean Dip

Stuff you'll need:
2 cans refried beans(fat free or not, your choice)
1 cup grated cheese(as you can see, mine is cut up because the grater was in the dishwasher getting all cleaned up)
1/2-3/4 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream(or more, depends how much you like it)
Combine in greased 8x8 baking dish(or 9x13 if using 2 cans of beans). Bake about 20 minutes at 350.


Meanwhile chop and combine:

1-2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 cup cilantro(chopped to make this much)
20-30 black olives(add green ones too if you'd like)
1-3 green onions(depends on size, I've got big ones but have seen some much smaller)


Take dip out of oven and let cool 5-6 minutes.


Spread the bean mixture with sour cream, I dollop it on with a spoon and gently smear around.


Sprinkle with the veggie mixture.


Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!!!