Productive Procrastination . . . ?

At least, that's what my sister-in-law once called it. I had every intention of being very productive this weekend. The result . . . I got almost no school work done.  I got up a little late on Saturday, went grocery shopping and decided to put some of my pinterest finds to good use. That has to count for something, doesn't it? And, for those of you family members who tease me about getting excited about a good deal . . . I got $56 worth of food at the County Market for $20.64 - sweet!! AND it was the milk sale. I LOVE milk sale weeks and my sister-in-law always teases me when it comes around. But seriously, 50% off milk? And I know it's 50% off a price already much higher than Aldi, but skim for $1.74 and whole for $2.12 does make me and our food budget happy!
We also had Christmas with Matt's Dad's family, moved our snow blower back home after being fixed and I started the December sales taxes for Matt's parent's business. Looking back I guess I got a lot done, just not in the school area of life. Check out some of these awesome recipes I tried this weekend . . .

Peppermint Puppy Chow - found the idea on Pinterest but changed it because of my love for chocolate

Ingredients:
1 box of Aldi brand chex cereal
1 12 oz pkg. white chocolate chips
1 12 oz pkg. chocolate chips
1 (heaping) Cup crushed candy canes
Powdered Sugar

I split the cereal in half, melted the white chocolate and mixed half of the cereal. I poured half of the crushed candy canes in while mixing. Then I put some powdered sugar in the bottom of a Ziploc, added the mixture, put a little more powdered sugar on top and shook. After that was powdered nicely I did the semi-sweet chocolate.  The semi-sweet chocolate seemed to stick together with the cereal in chunks but the white chocolate separated nicely. At the end I mixed both in the bowl.  It's the perfect mix because Matt's favorite is white chocolate and I love the cocoa.

Grapefruit, Orange, Pomegranate Salad

I experienced Pomegranate for the first time this weekend. Isn't God's creation amazing? I cut it in quarters and revealed the beautiful, sweet, juicy fruit inside. I called Matt into the kitchen to admire it as well.  We removed each juicy seed from the inside and then mixed it with several grapefruit and oranges. In December we purchased fruit from some family friends to support their upcoming trip with the high school music department. I look forward to the sale each year because the fruit is better than any you find at the local grocery store.

Turkey Cranberry Salad Sandwiches - I actually followed this recipe the whole way except we used 12 grain bread and no lettuce, salt or pepper
http://easy.betterrecipes.com/turkey-cranberry-salad-sandwiches.html

Ingredients:

2 cups	Cubed Cooked Turkey
½ cup	Dried Cranberries
½ cup	Celery, finely chopped
3	Green Onions, finely sliced
½ cup	Mayonnaise
¼ cup	Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp	Lemon Juice
	Salt & Ground Pepper
	Lettuce
4	Croissants

Directions:

In one bowl combine turkey, cranberries, celery, and onions; mix well. In another bowl mix mayonnaise, yogurt, and lemon juice together. Sprinkle to taste with salt and ground pepper. Pour over turkey mixture; stir all together. Refrigerate 1/2 to 1 hour. Spoon turkey mixture on sliced croissants; add lettuce and croissant top.

Pictures are to come . . . for some reason Blogger is not letting me upload pictures from my computer.

I guess IE isn't working anymore to upload photos. Today (after two weeks of trying to upload these photos) I tried Chrome. Works like a charm.

Turkey Leftovers?

Yesterday I was searching Pinterest for a recipe using leftover turkey.  Matt's aunt and uncle were so nice to leave the leftovers from Saturday for us to eat, but after sitting out most of the day some of them pieces were pretty dried out for eating alone.  Unfortunately, all the recipes I found contained ingredients we did not have and, with it being my last vacation day, I wasn't venturing from the house. This is the comfort food I created with random ingredients we had in the house.

Leftover Turkey Hotdish
4 cups prepared brown rice
3 cups leftover turkey, chopped
3 pieces of celery, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of milk
1 box of stuffing, prepared

Mix brown rice, turkey, celery, and soup in a 9x11 pan. Fill the soup can with milk and pour it over the mixture. Prepare the stuffing as directed and spread it over the top.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  I like the stuffing to be a little crunchy but you could cover the dish to prevent that.  Nothing fancy of course, but it tastes good. My husband loves his stuffing!

New Arrival!

In other news  . . .
Thanks to my Mom and Dad, a rebate from KitchenAid and Christmas money from my Grandparents I received this from the UPS man today . . . BEAUTIFUL

Professional 600 Series - 6 qts!

I never really wanted a mixer before. When we rented there was not enough counter or cupboard space and I never thought I'd use it. I changed my mind when I became a fan of making cakes, cupcakes and frosting - I think it will get a workout!

And thanks to my Mom I have this sweet cover to keep it from getting dusty!

A Fall Wedding

Matt's cousin got married in September

The family

Hilary, my best friend, came too!

Alisha was allowed to come as Heidi's date to the dance

Look at those moves!

Halloween

Our Pumpkins

A boy and a girl . . .



Pumpkin activity in the classroom. We counted seeds, measured girth and height, counted creases, weighed in lbs. and checked for buoyancy.
Fun time but I only suggest it if you have a lot of parent volunteers!



I ran out of eyes . . .
I played them up as "special cyclops mosnters"
They were excited to receive them.
I love 1st graders.
You can get them excited about anything!



For my students - monster cupcakes





Another accident . . .

 Unfortunately the accident in Texas was not our only one for the year. In October a new driver ran a stop sign a couple blocks from our house and Matthew hit him in the side, totaling our Park Avenue.  We were sad to see our car go, but Matt is now the proud owner of a 2006 Buick Lucerne, fully equipped with remote start. We now have 2 "new" cars seeing as we replaced my car shortly before the accident.  $13,000 for vehicles was not what we had in mind but we don't have car payments and we do like our new vehicles.

The Annual Labor Day Party

This party is actually on the Sunday before Labor Day.  We play soccer at around 2 and then eat around 5. It's been this way for as long as I can remember.  I have given up on my non-talent as a soccer player. I think I have more promise at a photographer. So, here are my workings on action shots:

Nice kick by Matthew

Look at her go!

She likes to be in the action

I think this one may have been a goal . . . ?

Or maybe this one was the goal?

Nice footwork

OK . . . it could have been this one that was the goal!  :0)
I do know that he did score a goal that day.

Down in Texas

Look at . . .

that tounge!

If it looks hot it's because it IS.
Minnesotans/Wisconsinites do not belong in TX in August.

The grass is always greener . . .

The accident.
Hard to see but he got a whole new side for his car.

Matthew and I also ventured 17 hours to Texas this summer with our friend Eric to see another friend serving in the Air Force in Abilene. It was incredibly hot (it was August) but we endured by keeping outdoor activities to a minimum except during morning hours. We got to tour a C130; he works on the hydraulic systems inside these aircraft. Eric's Cadillac even survived a minor automobile accident; everyone was OK and we managed to get the car fixed enough to drive it all the way back home.  Unfortunately the driver who caused it did not have insurance, or a driver's license and really didn't have to hit us at all if he would have put on his break after hitting the first car. Yikes. We also did a lot of frisbee golfing, spent time in the cold mall, went to the zoo, saw the original drawings of The Lorax at a children's literature museum, spent time at a historical town Buffalo Gap, and ate out at a lot of restaurants. And I think I lied on that posting about Alisha's quilt being done for her party . . .  now I remember that I spent many hours in our hotel room cutting the fabric on her ragtime quilt. But she did have it when she left for college!

To the top of the world

Alisha, Heidi and me in Seattle . . . we just had to do it!

Our summer was filled with travel as we ventured to the two largest states in the union. We took a family trip to Alaska in July on the Norwegian Pearl. Matthew and I wanted to travel to Alaska to celebrate becoming debt-free as we paid off our student loans in 2011 but we postponed the trip for a year so family could come along. Of course we were no longer debt-free because of the recent purchase of our home, but Dave Ramsey doesn't discourage Home Loans. :0)  The highlight of our trip was our fishing charter in Ketchikan.

Turbot

My 11 lb. halibut

The winner at 23.8 lbs!

Mattie's, mine, Matt's Mom's and Matt's Dad's

Alisha in Ketchikan after a motorcycle ride

We reached our limit for Halibut before our 6 hours was up with our guide, but it didn't happen before catching other creatures like a turbot (used as bait), a couple sharks, and a rat fish. Matthew was proud to be the winner at 23.8 lbs. I was happy with my 11 lb. fish, especially since you have to bring it up from about 300 feet below.
















Other highlights from the trip: Pike Place Market and the space needle (Seattle), riding public transport and walking to the Mendenhall Glacier (Juneau) total cost: $4 per person!  $2 for Alisha because she was a student, riding the White Pass Railway and disc golfing (Skagway), cruising beautiful Glacier Bay and seeing Matt's cousin Kelsey ashore (she studies wild life) via camera lenses and binoculars, and riding bikes around Victoria, British Columbia. We also enjoyed the wonderful sights and eats while aboard the ship. I believe the hands down favorite dessert was the warm bread and butter pudding with caramel topping. We shared this amazing vacation with Matt's parents, my dad, sister and brother Steve, Matthew's sister and brother-in-law, Matt's other sister Heidi and Matt's cousin Jeff.

Our hotel lobby in Seattle

We stayed one night in Seattle before the cruise.  Woke up at 4:30 A.M. to leave for our flight. We were up until about 2 A.M. our time while sightseeing in Seattle.  It was a whole vacation in itself!

The View from our hotel room at Hotel 5. Awesome!

 



Pike Place Market - Pretty!

Maple bacon donuts . . . ? YES!

Sweet shade in our room. Look closely - it took me a while.
Hotel 5 2200 Fifth Avenue and Blanchard Seattle Washington
98121. I think it was built in 1976 and remodeled in 2011?

View from the Space Needle

Steve got caught in a street act!

Elevator at our Hotel

Next we were off to Juneau . . .

Mendenhall Glacier

Steve had to climb up a very wet cliff to get here.
Thank goodness for a zoom lens so I could catch this

Skagway was next. It was the longest stop we had - about 12 hours. Train ride, disc golfing and venturing around this very small town.

You could stand outside on the cars. Fun!

 

The White Pass Railway

Around Skagway

How often do you get to disc golf with
THIS in the background?!

Neat Restaurant

This group shot did have a mountain back there...

haha!

Running and walking path with exercise stops.
This scenic view gives a little motivation I guess.

Cruising Glacier Bay. Amazing. And these pictures cannot even come close to capturing God's extravagantly beautiful creation.

Chunk from Marjorie Glacier with a zoom lens

 Around the ship . . .

If at all possible you NEED to travel here sometime in your life!