Only 8 more days!!!!!

You can't tell that I'm super excited for my trip can you?! I can't believe that I will be flying out in just 8 short days! The worst part is that in the mean time I have a really busy week ahead of me. Not only do I need to get the house in order and everything ready for Josh to be able to more easily deal with me being gone, but I of course need to pack and get everything put together to leave.

I guess you could say the icing on the cake is that next weekend is Old Settlers here in big ole Maxwell. And since my parents started the Annual Old Settlers 5K Walk/Run 5 years ago now, I of course always have to get up really early Saturday morning to help with the race. This year is no different. We're coming in on the home stretch now with the preparations, but this is also the busiest time. Mom always gets a lot of local businesses to donate items for the race participants and the top runners in all age and gender divisions. Not to mention that she usually gets other donations such as bottled water and powerade or gatorade, bananas, and yogurt. All of those things will need to picked up and stored before Saturday...ugh!

Next Sunday is going to be only day to really recover and do any last minute laundry and packing for my trip. But I can't wait for my Super Fabulous Awesomely Stupendous five day adventure with Melissa!!!!

A little sneak peek...

...at my next project. Can anyone hazard a guess as to what they think I'm doing with these???

I'll give you one hint, it has to do with cloth diapering...

Finally!

My two handsome boys!

I have been trying to get a good picture of the boys together for literally months! But of course they never sit in the same spot long enough for me to grab the camera. And the camera on my cell phone is a bit slow at times. But today, when Grammy Sandy came in to watch the boys, I finally was able to catch them together...and both looking at the camera at the same time!!!

I just love Andrew's expression in this picture!

Evan pulled Andrew down on top of him and they ended up knocking heads...something that happens a lot!

Hopefully I'll be able to catch a few more moments like this in the near future because the boys are actually starting to like playing with each other. And with the exception of a little toy stealing, hitting, biting, and screaming at each other they seem to get along pretty well! :D

Not so busy, busy week.

We don't have any plans this week, and yet for some reason I feel like I'm running around doing a million things at once. Today I tackled the laundry because I'm the worst when it comes to putting away the laundry. I don't mind the actual putting clothes into the washer and moving them to the dryer part, it's the putting away that I loathe! Often times Josh and I end up digging through baskets of clean clothes at the end of the bed...I can't believe I just admitted to that! But this morning I put away the two baskets of clothes at the end of our bed. And I have more laundry going right now, which I hope to finish when the boys go down for their naps here in a few minutes.

The chore that, oddly enough, I love is dishes. I don't know why. I don't like the hand-washing, but loading and unloading the dishwasher is something I do at least once if not twice a day and it's somewhat relaxing for me. It must be a mom thing, or just an adult thing. But doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen are something that I have to do daily because our kitchen is so small and accumulates crap so quickly. I did a load of dishes last night, but will need to finish the kitchen today as the counters are covered...again.

I just found out that Thursday I will have a couple extra boys to watch for the day as Vikki is taking a day off again. So that'll be nice for Evan to have a couple other boys to play with. And hopefully I'll be able to work on getting things packed up for the family reunion this weekend. Sandy's family's annual reunion is in Ackley this weekend. I'm a little unsure about how the weekend is going to go, but hopefully I'll be able to report next week that it was a great time! So Thursday and Friday I'll be busy packing and getting everything ready to go for the weekend.

I'd better go get Andrew down for his nap, but I promise to report back later with the other fun things that will be going on in the next couple of weeks!

I love to cook!

I think that most people who know me, know that I love to cook. I took home ec and foods class in high school and just got a huge sense of accomplishment from reading a recipe, following the directions, and ending up with this delicious dish in the end.

And of course I love to bake as well. I know that at least one of my followers can relate to my fear of making large quantities of frosted sugar cookies. (Jenni!) After making thousands, and I do literally mean thousands, of frosted heart-shaped sugar cookies for our annual Valentine's Day fundraiser I no longer feel the need to make sugar cookies lol! (I'm surprised I don't have nightmares about them!!!)

I have no intentions of turning this into a cooking blog. But I will from time to time share the recipes that are either old favorites, or a new favorite! I think we all need some new recipes every now and then to get out of our been there, eaten that recipe routines.

The best homemade onion rings...ever!

If anybody else out there loves onion rings as much as I do, then this is definitely the recipe for you! Lol! I happened across this one in a magazine about three or four years ago and have totally fallen in love!

Buttermilk Onion Rings

3 C buttermilk

1 C flour-plus another 1 C or more for dredging

1 large white onion-a big round one works best, avoid the flat-ish ones.

4 C vegetable oil, for frying

Salt, and freshly ground pepper

In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk and flour.

Slice the onion crosswise into slices, I like to make mine really thin but obviously the width is totally up to you. Carefully separate slices into rings.

Put the rings into the buttermilk mixture and push them down into the mixture to cover evenly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 12 hours. I usually like to get these marinating at least 6 to 7 hours before dinner. The longer the rings sit in the buttermilk the better!

Pour oil into a heavy, deep pot and heat over medium-high heat until it registers 350.

Spread flour on a plate, to make less of a mess I like to use a smaller baking dish like a 9x9 or similar. Season with salt and pepper, I am very generous with the seasoning because it helps make them awesome! Lift rings from buttermilk and dredge one at a time in the flour turning to coat evenly. Fry rings 2 or 3 at a time, turning once, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until lightly golden brown. Lift from oil with tongs and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

These are soooo bad for you but they are soooo good!

Enjoy!

(Sorry I don't have a picture for this one...they're too good to take a picture break lol!)

I just had to share!

Since I know that all of my followers either love to cook or love to eat, I wanted to share this great new recipe I tried the other night!

Enchilada Lasagna

1.5lbs ground beef

1 medium onion-chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce

1-2 tsp ground cumin

1 egg, beaten

1.5 C (12oz) cottage cheese

3 C shredded mexican cheese blend

8-8 in flour tortillas, cut in half

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, enchilada sauce, and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

In a small bowl combine beaten egg and cottage cheese; set aside. Spread a third of the meat mixture into a greased 9x13 in. baking dish. Layer with half the cheese blend, tortillas, cottage cheese mixture and remaining meat sauce. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubble. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 Servings

Now obviously my picture doesn't look as nice and pretty as the one in the magazine...I didn't make a fresh pico de gallo garnish to sprinkle on top and I guess I forgot to buy some sprigs of parsley to add on the side-what's the point of that anyways?! But I will say that it was delicious!!! Josh added some mild taco sauce to his, he seemed to think that made it even better. Honestly though, it didn't need the taco sauce! It was great! Now if we hadn't eaten all the homemade quacamole I made earlier this week it would've been a great addition to the meal!