freezing cold, snow, rain, slush, rain, sunshine...

I love where I live! It can never make up its mind...just like me! :D

Breaded Chicken w/Ham and Cheese

Breaded Chicken w/Ham and Cheese

Three large Chicken Breasts
Two Thick Slices of Ham in 1/2" square cuts
Three Slices Provolone Cheese (you could use swiss)
Two Cups Panko


Smash Chicken Breasts with Meat Mallet until they are 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place cheese and Ham in center of flattened breast. Roll up breast making sure all ham and cheese stay inside. Hold it together with toothpicks. Roll the breasts in panko (I put them into a ziplock and shook them up). Cook in 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until juices run clear. Don't forget to remove all the toothpicks before trying to eat them!

I served these with Mashed Potatoes, gravy, and green beans. They were a hit with the family and I have been given the go-ahead to serve them again! :P

How Sweet the Sound...

We again have RUNNING WATER in our house. We didn't have anything frozen, our well pump happened die the same time we got a really cold spell. After a few hours of work and a lot of money, we now have running orange water. We will have orange water for a while because the well was stirred up so much, but it doesn't taste bad nor does it make us look jaundice. :D

Thank you to everyone who gave me happy thoughts...next time I need to remember to have you all hope for happy (and cheaper) thoughts too! :P

This weekend brought...

...a Christmas tree hunt in the woods with the family. We found the perfect tree and it will be put up before the end of the week. Our house will be in full Christmas Spirit by Friday evening! :D

...a clean game cupboard. I cleaned and picked it up so that you can actually find a game and get one out to play! And, in the process I found the external hard drive I lost in the move (yeah, we did move here 7 years ago)!

...one completed load of laundry. Actually, I haven't folded it yet, but who counts that as incomplete?

...a warm house with no running water. Thank goodness for cars and the ability to buy jugs of water at walmart (that I will again be refilling today while in town). Thank goodness to good friends who offer their facilities to allow my family some relief from the stinkiness of ourselves.

...a savvy husband who is willing to crawl under the house and attempt to problem solve. I am able to do it too, but I HATE it. He doesn't like it, but will do it; Dom loves it because he gets to help dad and it is a cool location he doesn't get to always go. (He will be venturing under the house again today to try again to get our water flowing.)

Please keep us in your thoughts and maybe we can get some water back into our lives before too long without huge expense. :D

Ham and Bean Soup

Ham and Bean Soup
by Emily

4 thick slices pre-cooked ham cut into 1/2 inch squares
3 cans cannellini beans (white kidney) - rinsed and drained
1/4 large red onion diced
one good sprinkle black pepper

Pour all of the above into a crock pot. Add water until just about 1" more than the other ingredients. Cook for 2 hours on low; followed by 2 hours on high.

Serve. I served mine with peaches, saltines, and sharp cheddar cheese slices on the side. It was FABULOUS if I might brag a little. So simple and so yummy. Sean, who isn't a big bean fan said that I could cook this soup any day of the week and he would devour it! Definitely a hit with my family!

Turkey Dinner, Family, Black Friday

Mom came to visit. Alli was thrilled to share her room with my mom. She absolutely loves waking up in the morning and staring/smiling at my mom. Dom loves having his Nuna around too. She reads and plays with the kids way more than I take the time to (basically, she spoils them with attention). Sean enjoys mom coming too because she and he argue over trivial scientific crap that doesn't really interest me.

And then there's me...I LOVE having my mom here visiting (and whooping me in cribbage-I will admit she did beat me into the ground this visit), especially over Thanksgiving. We are not big shoppers, but we thrive on Black Friday sales. This time we hit Walmart at 3:20 am (we tried to do the Old Navy thing at 3am, but even though the flyer said they would be open, they were NOT open until 5)! We didn't want a laptop or a big screen tv, thank goodness, because all the numbers were already given out when we arrived there. We did get all the electronics, toys, housewares, etc, that we wanted and only had to stand in short lines. We used the electronics counter checkout and sped up the process (and begged people to let us through to exit the store). After Walmart, we went to Old Navy (though we missed out on the free video game) and managed to get some good deals on kids clothing. Then to a couple of more stores for a dog pillow for Polly and a few other miscellaneous items.

After all the shopping was done and we were about ready to fall over (around 7:20am), we went out to breakfast at the Breakfast Club. My friend was able to join us and we had an enjoyable time girl chatting and being silly at an ungodly time of the day (actually it wasn't that crazy early by this point, but considering we had all been up since around 2 it was still kinda absurd)!


Oh, I forgot to mention the Turkey Dinner. It was fabulous! Cat, my sister in law, did a great job cooking. I helped a little, but she mostly cooked and decorated like Martha Stewart. We had dinner at their home and played a few games, but didn't stay too long because both my brother and his wife were slightly under the weather. We did have an enjoyable time with them though...and it was good to see them.

Special Lunch with a Special Little Boy

Yesterday was Dom's big 5 birthday. I decided that I would surprise him and take him to lunch at one of his favorite spots...Wingers! I picked him up from the sitter a little early and we, just the two of us, went out to lunch. He was very excited and kept referring to our lunch date as a 'special lunch with special people'. I let him order anything he wanted from the kid menu - he chose wings, something he had seen Sean eat but had never had before. He ate ALL four wings and nearly all the fries. We even got him a slice of asphalt pie to take home for free since it was his b-day. He was so pleased and it made him feel so special. For me, the two best parts were how happy it made him AND that he wanted to sit next to me in the booth instead of across from me because 'special people on a special lunch, just the two of them, sit next to eachother' according to Dom. It made my day too! :D