Fall

One of the blogs I read (Pioneer Woman - so funny) posted some rules/recommendations for keeping a blog.  One of them was to write daily, even if it is just something simple.  So here goes.....I'm sitting in the living room with a protein/conditioning treatment on my head (I smell like fried rice - the treatment has soy sauce in it...don't ask) watching Days of Our Lives.  Exciting, huh?!

I feel guilty that I don't write on here except once every six months....especially when I log on and see that people have actually been to look recently!  Sorry everyone who has had to see those silly pictures from Easter!

Let's see, what can I update.  Since Easter we have had the hottest summer known to mankind...the kind of heat that makes your skin melt off.  I am so happy to live in a small house!  I couldn't afford to keep a big house cool in this kind of weather! (Always a silver lining if you know where to look.)

Joseph and I went on an AMAZING vacation to Colorado this summer.  We went out for a family reunion and then stayed to vacation in the Pikes Peak area for about a week.  We stayed at the Pikes Peak Paradise Bed and Breakfast (look them up....go stay there...you won't regret it...tell Ron and Michael "hi" from us!)   The picture above was taken at the bed and breakfast - it's a little bit fuzzy from fog on the UV filter...whoops!  We went sightseeing in Woodland Park, Manitou Springs, Colorado Springs, the Coors Brewing company in Golden, shopping outside of Denver and a whole bunch of other things!  Maybe I'll put some more pictures of our trip on here next time.

Okay, that's enough for now. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  After a wonderful church service this morning, we came home and set up the tripod, in an attempt to get a good picture.  A couple of years ago for Christmas I got Joseph this nifty little wireless remote shutter control, so we can both be in front of the camera at the same time.  I guess by the end of the photo shoot he got a little slap happy.  Check out what I found when uploading the pictures!

Hope everyone had a great day!

Snow, a cold, and roses

We're still here. I heard there was a request for a new post (Hi Beth!) so here's what happened this past week.

SNOW! We actually had some snow! Growing up I remember having some big snowfalls. When Joseph and I were dating we had several really big snowstorms that year. But since we've been married I can really only recall one snow with decent accumulation. Oh sure, they will predict winter weather and everyone panics and rushes to buy milk and bread...but we usually end up with a dusting of snow or a little bit of ice....enough to cancel school for a day but not enough to build a snowman. Well that changed this week. It started coming down early Monday morning, but it wasn't that bad really. We went in to work like normal. We don't really get snow days, but the higher-ups will call "inclement weather policy" and that allows two extra hours to get to work - so people can drive slower, etc. If you choose to stay home you end up taking vacation time. Well, after we got to work around 9 something it really started coming down. BIG fluffy snowflakes. Quickly accumulating on the roads. Lo and behold the powers that be decided that "non-essential people" could go home. I've never been so happy to be considered "non-essential!" What is normally a 45 minute drive (1 hour in bad traffic) was a little over 3 and a half hours! We finally made it home safely. We had fun building this snowman.

 

Joseph had a bad cold for the past couple of weeks.  Well, it caught up to me this week. I've spent the rest of the week blowing my nose and coughing. (Consider yourself lucky there isn't a picture of that.)  If there was an Olympic medal for snot production I would be a landslide for gold.   Joseph has been taking really good care of me.  As an early Valentine's he brought me roses this morning.....

 

 

 

...aren't they beautiful?   

I've got some great pictures of Fisher to share at some point.  We kept him for a night last month while his parents took Spencer to Branson for his birthday.  What a difference a year makes!  I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison.  But those pictures and stories will have to wait until next time....I promise not to wait another month before posting!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. 

Hats

 

For Christmas I made Spencer and Fisher matching hats. Joseph liked them so much he wanted his own. I switched the colors around. Kirsten and Spencer stopped by for a minute tonight and Spencer unwillingly posed for a few pictures. He wanted to play with the new flashlight more than he wanted to pose.

Happy New Year!!

(Alternative title: What is a southern girl to do when she doesn't like black-eye peas?)

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve! Being the true party animals that we are, Joseph and I were in our pajamas and fast asleep by 9:45! I could use the excuse that we are both recovering/dealing with colds to explain why we went to sleep so early, but the truth is we are usually in bed by that time! By some stroke of luck, Joseph happened to wake up right at 11:59. He woke me up and we watched the clock hit 12:00.

For dinner last night we broke in the new fondue pot (thank you Uncle Chris!). We made a traditional cheese fondue with Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses. Yum.

As for today, living in the south we knew we had to eat black-eye peas at some point. My problem is that I hate them. They smell like dirty gym socks. Ask my mom, I used to gag down one spoonful every year - for good luck. This year I did something a little different. I made black-eye pea cakes. Think of crab cakes or salmon croquettes. Here's what I did:

1 can black-eye peas, drained and rinsed
Panko breadcrumbs (I didn't measure, but it was probably 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
left-over hash brown potatoes (We made homemade hashbrowns this morning out of new potatoes...I put maybe 1 cup of shredded cooked potatoes in this recipe - you could substitute frozen, preshredded hashbrowns I bet)
1 slice onion, 1 stalk celery, 1 clove garlic - all diced and sauteed until tender in a couple tablespoons of butter

Mash the peas - I made them fairly smooth. Mix in hashbrowns, panko, sauteed veggies. I didn't measure anything and the texture was good. If its too wet, add more bread like things, if it is too dry, add more butter. I scooped the mixture and patted it into small patties - about 1/4 cup each. Before putting on a hot griddle, I dredged each patty in some white flour seasoned with cavenders and Paula Deen's House seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder). Add butter to the skillet to aid in browning and crisping of the crust.

Serve with JuJu's homemade chow-chow.

 


Oh my goodness these were good. I ate two of them! That must mean this year is going to be full of good luck!