April 9th Snow Storm-A RANT

  I have come to a conclusion.  We are never going to have spring.  The groundhog lied and spring is just not going to come.  The above photo is what we woke up to this morning.  It is the view out my back window.  The spot that was completely bare.  Yes on April 9th, 2013 we had a snow storm in the middle of the night.  According to the weatherman, we are not done with the snow either.  We are in a WINTER STORM WATCH for at least another 7 hours.  I don't think winter is ever going to end!

 

This is the view out my back door.  Yesterday, I could actually see the ground.  It wasn't green but I saw the ground.  Can you tell I am a little upset by this snow?  If not, I AM.

 

This is the snow in my driveway.  My driveway that was completely clear.  To make matters worse, my husband is out of town for 3 days, so it is up to me to shovel all of the snow off the driveway and back steps, etc.  I have asked for 2 years for him to show me how to run the snow blower, but OH NO he couldn't do that!  So I am out shoveling.  Tonight I will be sleeping with a heating pad on my back, LOL.  

  Thanks for listening to me whine and rant. 

 

Love to all,    Sara 

Bug's Favorite Chili

Yum!  Chili!!

  The other night it was really chilly and I was trying to decide what to have for supper (yes, supper is a Midwest term.  It means dinner.). Well, Bug suggested chili, always a favorite in our family.  So that was what was on the menu; Bug's Favorite Chili.

Ingredients

Bug's Favorite Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 (4 ounce) cans mushrooms
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans chili beans, undrained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (or when using my homemade canned sauce, I use a quart)
1 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. onion powder (my family doesn't like chunks of onion, so 1 small onion my be substituted)
1/2 cup chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked sea salt (if you can't find this, it can be left out)
1 teaspoon cumin

Directions:
Cook the ground beef until no longer pink.  Before the beef is completely done, add the mushrooms so they get a little of the beef flavor on them.  Add a little of the chili powder to the beef as it is cooking, maybe a teaspoon.  When beef is done, add the rest of your ingredients.  Let the chili simmer for 25-30 minutes for all the flavors to come together.

This chili is really good and not that spicy.  If you want yours a spicier, add more chili powder and some cayenne powder.  As much as you want.

I hope you enjoy it!  I know we all did!! :)

Love to all,   Sara


Talent Show #80

Waiting for Spring

  I am anxiously waiting for spring and summer!  All I want to do is get out in my garden and dig in the dirt!  With our winter that seems to be hanging on forever; we had wind chills of -2 this morning all I can think about is putting up a few quarts of pickles or tomato sauce.

 

This is about half of what I did last year.  I did pickles, tomatoes sauce, spaghetti sauce, peaches, green beans, cherries and zucchini relish.  Yes I was busy but I loved it.  I knew with every hour of back ache and smelling like a pickle that in the middle of winter; my family would have fresh produce to eat all winter long.

 

 

 

  I also want to get back to my flowers.  I love planting flowers.  Last year I was so happy with the way my clematis bloomed.  Isn't these blossoms beautiful?

I can only hope they bloom as nicely this year. 

 

Love to all,    Sara

 

Favorite Kitchen Tools

  I thought I would tell you about my two favorite kitchen tools.  One is a set, so ever though there are to of them I consider them as one.  I think I use them every day, if not every day as least every other.  It seems like whenever I am looking for them, I just have to look in the dishwasher and there they are.  I know, you are probably saying what could it be?  It must be some fancy do dad!  Well here they are!

 

 

This is my Mix & Chop from Pampered Chef.  I absolutely love it!!!!!  Do I have enough exclamation marks?  There is nothing this thing can't do.  I have even put a frozen pound of hamburger in a pan to brown and the Mix & Chop has been able to break it up!  It is wonderful for those of us who sometimes forget to take meat out of the freezer (or forget most of the time).  I have more than gotten my money out of it!  

 

 

 

These are my Chicago Cutlery Santoku Knife Set.  I bought these at Shopko a couple of years ago and now I can basically throw away every other knife I own, except for maybe the steak knifes.  I use them for everything.  I don't even use a paring knife anymore and I use to have one of those in my hand all the time.  I can do anything with these to knives, even cut bread. 

 

  Do you have some kitchen items that you can't live without?  Let me know!

 

Love to all,   Sara



Egg Bake

Couldn't get a picture before someone got a piece.

   This past week, I found myself with a lot of extra eggs on hand.  Mainly because of an Easter egg dying experiment with my Bug that never happened.  Anyway with all the extra eggs, I thought it would be a perfect time to have an Egg Bake for supper.  I hope you like it as much as my family did!!

Egg Bake

• 3 cups seasoned croutons
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups milk
• 10 beaten eggs
• 2 cups pork sausage, cooked
• 1 green pepper, chopped

Directions: 

1. Whisk together eggs, milk and soup. 
2. Put croutons on the bottom of a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
3. Cover croutons with meat, then green pepper and then cheese.
4. Pour egg mixture over all.
5. Refrigerate overnight.  (We had this for supper, so I made in morning and refrigerated until time to bake).
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.

With the egg mixture poured on top.

 

 

Hope you enjoy!!!

 

Love to all,  Sara

Update Craft Room/Office/Pantry

  Well here is the last update I will be posting on I'm an Organized Junkie.  I entered this challenge a month a ago.  I decided on my Craft Room/Office/Pantry because it was in chaos.  It had become the dumping ground for everyone in the family.  I was buying duplicates of things because I couldn't find stuff I knew I had in that room.

Before

After

  The major steps I took to complete this challenge was to purchase some storage units, that actually helped me put stuff away and to organize my craft supplies and my canned goods. 

Cubby for Craft Supplies

Shoe Organizer for Tools

  The hardest part of the challenge was during this time I had a number of fibromyalgia flares, where it made it very hard for me to even get out of bed some days.  To over come this, I just made sure on the days I felt good, I worked harder and my husband and daughter helped a lot. 
  Most of the "stuff" I purged went right into the recycle bin.  The other things that I kept actually found a permanent home.  I still have some paperwork that needs to be filed, but I think I will always have some paperwork that needs to be filed.  As you can see below.
  The proudest moment was when I could actually walk around my crafting table.  I hadn't been able to do that since I put the table in the room.  I felt amazing!  I walked around it a few times just because I could!

Clean walking space by craft table and paperwork that needs to be filed.

 

  To set limits on what I buy in the future, I bought a white storage cubby, that fabric storage cubes go into.  Once the cubes are full of the designated item, then that is all I can have of that item.  Once I use up that item than I purchase more.  I also purchased a canned good storage system, that will hold approximately 10 cans per row.  With this system, I know at a glance if I am out of a canned item or need to buy some when it is on sale. 
  The one piece of advice I would give someone be for starting on their own organizational project would be to have a plan before you start.  If you don't have a well thought out plan, you will not be happy with the results and the system will not work for you. 
  I hope you like my results as much as I do.

Love to all,     Sara

Girls Day with The Daughter

  Since the daughter has 5 days off for the Easter holiday, she had decided that we need to have a girls' day.  Just the two of us, no dad.  I couldn't agree more.  There is nothing I enjoy more than spending a full day with my one and only little bug.  We had so much fun.  We laughed.  We talked about everything.  We ate a great lunch.  We shopped until we dropped, or at least until or feet we killing us.  Bug found some great spring clothes at wonderful prices and I found a few things also.  She even let me go to Sam's to get some grocery shopping done, but that had to be our last stop.  I hope you all can spend days like this with your kids also.

Love to all,   Sara  

Bug

 

One of the cute shirts Bug found