Keep those recipes comin'

The response to my crock pot contest has been GREAT!!! The recipes all look wonderful and we will be trying a lot of them this weekend.

We experienced our first frost last night. Since we live in Southeast Louisiana, this is a bit earlier than we had expected. So, my husband and I went out at around 9 last night to cover up the garden with plastic. Aside from freezing, all was going well until.....

I was carrying the last board over to hold down the plastic and 'forgot' about the sunk in hole near the garden where a tree used to be. I, of course, stepped in it. I mean, I didn't earn the nickname 'Klutz' for nothing. The board went flying and I landed in a whimpering heap on the ground. You know that sound pants make when they are ripped? A sound similar to that came from my ankle/foot region with a lot of pain to go along. My wonderful husband, and all his infinite medical wisdom, came over and poked my ankle and said, 'It feels fine - I don't think you broke it.' Thanks!!!

It is still a little sore this morning. Not broken, maybe sprained. I am sitting here with a bag of frozen peas on it at the moment. So, keep those recipes comin' because they are keeping me occupied while I try to forget about the pain.

Crockpot Cooking Contest!!!

Tonight is another soccer night, which means another crock pot meal. I LOVE my crock pot. But, I am rapidly running out of crock pot recipes. So, on to the contest...

Help me with new recipes that I can make in my beloved crock pot and I will reward you with a lovely gift. To enter: email me with your crock pot recipe of choice. You may DEFINITELY enter more than once. (I can use all the help I can get) Please put 'Crock pot Contest' in the subject line of your email, or else I might mistake your entry for another one of my many admirers from Nigeria who wants to give me a bazillion dollars, and your entry might just end up in the trash folder.

The rules: Well, only one rule. As I reside in the middle of nowhere, please be sure your recipe doesn't contain any exotic ingredients.

Increase your odds of winning by posting a link to my giveaway on your blog. Let me know you did and I will give you 2 more entries. And, leave a comment on this post and get an extra entry.

So, 1 entry per recipe, 2 entries for linking to my giveaway, and 1 entry for a comment on this post.

Oh yeah, what's the gift, huh? For your hard work, I will be giving away a gift bag full of Avon products (worth at least $25). The winner will be randomly selected and need not have the recipe I like the best. I will try them all, though, so send me yummy ones, please!!!

Entries must be received by Friday, October 31 and the winner will be announced Monday, November 3rd.


Also, checkout the Bloggy Giveaways @ http://www.donttryit.com/bloggy_giveaways/2008/10/bloggy-giveaw-1.html

MIA

Sorry for the long absence - I'm sure everyone understands how life can sometimes sneak up on you. We have been so busy.

My husband's office had a booth at the fair and so we spent a lot of time there. Then, I got to be the fortunate recipient of the germs from Nathan's school so I have spent a good many days on the couch lately.

But, I am feeling better now and I will be back to posting as usual tomorrow morning. I will be picking up on my 'Meet the Fam' series with Lauren, my baby. Plus, I will be announcing a cool contest/giveaway that I hope everyone will participate in.

See you soon!!!

Nathan

Welcome back to part 2 in our 'Meet the Fam' series. Today's guest is my son, Nathan.

Nathan is our middle child. He is a sweet and loving boy, most of the time. But, he does have his moments. Don't we all?

He is a daredevil. This face plant was done in our driveway.

I don't remember the cause of this case of road rash - there

are so many.

He is an animal lover. He was very upset with us when this particular crawfish went into the pot. He really wanted to keep it.

Hello? It's for you. He's a bit of a jokester.

Here he is patiently waiting for his lunch at the zoo cafe. His favorite

lunch is PB&J. In fact, that is all he ever wants to eat.

Most of the time, he is a very happy child. His laugh is infectious.

At the end of the day, he is a typical male. All he wants is a comfortable place to sit, some food to eat and the remote...

and, of course, a nap.

Madison

Monday, Monday...so good to me...

Just had to get that out of my system, forgive me. Monday is a day dreaded by so many but to me it is a day of normalcy. Business as usual. My husband goes back to work, the 2 oldest go back to school and my youngest and I are back on OUR schedule. The one where we play, run to the store on a whim, sing along with Sesame Street, and get some housework done if we can squeeze it in. Really, I do plan out my day with lots of cleaning time allotted, but something always gets us off track. Anywho...

Today is the first day of my new series called, 'Meet the Fam.' First up is our first born, Madison.

Isn't she beautiful? I swear she is going to be a

model one day.

I mean, just look at that walk. So regal!

She's not afraid to get in there and get the shot.

She plays soccer to help keep in shape.

I can just see her in a toothpaste ad, can't you?

And, most importantly, she loves the camera and is always posing.

Honestly, I can see her doing so many things. She's kinda argumentative, so I could see her being a lawyer. She's a true leader, so she could definitely handle the Presidency. She's kind hearted, so I could see her being a teacher or a nurse. She has a beautiful voice, so maybe she'll be the next Hannah Montana. (OK, she would rather be the next Taylor Swift and I am thankful for that.) She's very dramatic, so she would make a terrific actress. But whatever she chooses to do with her life, she will attack it with the same determination she does everything with. She is my baby girl and I love her with all of my heart.

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

OK, you may all already know this one. I just started doing it this way, though, so there maybe someone out there who can use this little glimmery nugget of info. Here goes: when you are freezing ground meat, place it into your freezer bag of choice and press it out until it is flat. My sister in law uses a rolling pin for this. I use my hands. :) Get out as much air as possible and seal.

Now, when you put the meat into your freezer, they will stack nicely and take up less space. But, my favorite part is that they thaw out a MILLION times faster. OK, that million times thing was not scientifically calculated, but you get the idea.

What I Learned...

Every week, I think to myself, 'I am going to take this weekend off.' I always plan to get all of my housework done by Friday so that I can relax and enjoy my family on Saturday and Sunday. Every week, without fail, my plan falls through. Usually, its because I haven't finished everything on my never ending list. This week, though, I did and it was looking to be a promising weekend. I could see the play time with the kiddos, the football time with the hubby, and maybe even a little reading....gasp!

After our Saturday morning soccer game, my husband informed me that we had to get our fall planting done in our garden this weekend. OK, that's still not 'house work' right? So, we tilled, and we rowed, and we planted, and we weeded. And, I decided that I STRONGLY dislike weeding. ( I would say hate, but I have outlawed that word in our house ) It took all of the day Saturday and most of Sunday, but it is done and there is a feeling of accomplishment. I will have to plant another row of spinach in 2 weeks and after we get the carrot seeds today, I will have to get those in the ground too. But, for now, we are done.

So, last night, after I finally had a chance to sit, I surveyed my house. Having not done laundry for the past 2 days had left me 3 loads - manageable. I could knock that out Monday morning, I thought. Plus, I might even be able to get some bedding washed. GREAT! There were dirty dishes in the sink. A load and a half through the dishwasher and that would be done! The house was in desperate need of sweeping, but that wouldn't take long. As I basked in my relaxed 'no housework' weekend, I was energized with the spirit of domestic goddessness. I made my list and figured I could even squeeze in mopping. Heck, I was on a roll, why not add dusting/Windex to the list. YAY Me!!! My thighs were burning from all that planting and my arms and lower back were sore from all that rowing, but I was on a mission. Invigorated, even.

Then, an impending sense of doom came upon me. I suddenly remembered ( at 10 pm ) that I had to take my mother in law to pay her bills in the morning. You see, my mother in law is nearly blind, due to diabetic retina detachment. Plus, she has never had her drivers' license or owned a car for that matter, so even if she could see, she couldn't drive herself. And, my mother in law doesn't trust banks ( so wise, given our current economic situation ) so she doesn't have a checking account that she can write checks on and mail in her bills. And, she doesn't really trust anyone, so she doesn't want us to write checks and mail them for her either. The result? Once a month, I have to take her to cash her check and then run her all over town to pay her utilities. The problem? There are a lot of people in our town that don't trust banks and the lines at the utility companies are seemingly never ending. The whole process takes about 2 hours and leaves me near exhaustion. So, you see, my beautiful list that I was so excited about and even color coded by what times I would get things done, was now impossible. I can MAYBE get 1/4 of it done, if I'm lucky.

What did I learn this weekend? There is never such a thing as a weekend off, because even when you plan for it, you end up realizing at 10 pm on Sunday night that your list for Monday will be impossible. So, then you end up, at 10 pm on Sunday, frantically trying to get things on your list accomplished and you don't end up in bed until sometime well past midnight with a lot left to do.

Also, I learned that I REALLY dislike weeding.