My Blonde Moment and A Big THANK YOU!!!

Q:Why don't blondes double recipes?
A:The oven doesn't go to 700 degrees.

I have often said in the past that I think I must have been blonde in the pre-existance because there were times that I was quite ditzy. I don't think that blondes are necessarily like that but it is fun to joke about. I haven't had a "blonde moment" for quite some time so I guess I was a litte overdue.

Today for dinner I decided to make something in the crockpot. I love using the crockpot and use it often. I think it is so easy to start something in the morning, have it cook all day long and then have a good meal when it is time to eat. This morning I got all the ingredients in the crockpot to make a recipe called "Beef, Noodles, and Tomatoes." It is a really good beef and tomato sauce that you serve over noodles. My crockpot is one that is programmable. You put the ingredients in and then you push the button to set it for 4,6,8,or 10 hours. Well about 3 hours after putting in the ingredients in the crockpot I went to look at it and noticed that the lid was not steamed up or anything. Then I looked down and realized that I forgot to set the time on the crockpot. I set the time and it started cooking. Now dinner is not going to be ready until about 9:00. Dave gets of from his part-time job at 9:30 so I will eat with him when he gets home from work. As for the kids, well I made them some mac n' cheese. I don't want them to have to wait until 9:30 to eat. Anyway if anyone is interested here is the recipe:

Beef, Tomatoes, and Noodles

1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed
1/4 cup flour
2 cups stewed tomatoes (if you like tomato chunks), of 2 cups crushed tomatoes (if you prefer a smoother gravy
1 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 tsp pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
water
12-oz. bag noodles

Combine meat and flour until cubes are coated. Place in slow cooker. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and onion. Add water to cover. Cover. Simmer on low 6-8 hours. Serve over cooked noodles.

I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to my cousin Rachael. She helped me with redoing the header on my blog. I think that it turned out really nice. I really need to learn more about the computer. It would be nice to know how to do things like that. So Thanks again to Rachael.

Card Technique of the Month

As you may know my goal for this year was to learn a new card making technique every month. This month the technique that I learned is called wax resist. It is much the same as when you color Easter eggs and you use the wax crayon to draw a picture on the egg before you put it in the coloring. The color gets everywhere else except where you drew with the wax crayon. With the card technique I stamped the image using a black ink on glossy white cardstock. Then I colored areas that I wanted to remain white with a watercolor wonder white crayon. I then inked up a brayer with the stamp pad and rubbed it on the paper. Then I took a kleenex and rubbed the area where I had colored with the crayon. Then you can use markers to color the areas that you want to color. It is pretty fun and I had fun learning it. I made 2 cards today using this technique. The first one I copied from a magazine and the second one I made up myself. Here are pictures of the 2 cards I made:

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I was saddened last night to hear of the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley. He was a great prophet and well loved by everyone. I know that he is happily reunited with his wife. I really appreciate all that he accomplished during his years of service as the prophet and the years before when he took on much of the workload for the previous prophets. He really was a great outstanding man.

This morning on Good Things Utah they had a wonderful tribute to President Hinckley. I watched and cried and remembered all the great things that he did. One of the ladies on Good Things Utah (Nicea Degering) said: "You knew he was advancing in age, but I don't think any of us knew he was this close." They also mentioned that a lot of the schools (junior high's, high schools, and college's) are wearing white today in honor of President Hinckley. What an honor that is! I am so grateful for his example and all that he did.

Getting to Know You--A to Z

I stole this idea from Jamie Andersen. I thought it would be fun!

A attached or Single:Attached

B best friend:Laurie, Julie, and of Course Dave

C cake or pie:Pie

D day of choice:Friday

E essential item:my stamps and my body pillow

F favorite color:Purple, Green, and PInk

G gummy bears or worms:gummy worms

H hometown:South Jordan,UT

I indulgences:chocolate,reading,card making, crafts, diet coke with lime,and I debated over this but a show called Desperate Housewives

J January or July:July

K kids:three, Landon (5), Emma (3 1/2), Reagan (16 months)

L life is incomplete without:my husband and my kids

M marriage date:May 3, 2001

N number of siblings:4, 2 brothers and 2 sisters

O oranges or apples:oranges

P phobias or fears:Haunted houses, scary movies, being alone, spiders, and snakes

Q quotes:"All I need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." Lucy Van Pelt (in Peanuts) Also "Learn from Yesterday, Live Today, Hope for Tomarrow."

R reason to smile:the snow has to stop sometime, Spring is coming

S season:Fall

T tag three friends:I tag Jamie, Mindy, and Sandy

U unknown fact about me:I have 2 sisters-in-law named Emily

V very favorite store:Target,Borders,and Old Navy

W worst habit:staying in pajamas all day--not everyday

X x-ray or ultrasound:ultrasound

Y your favorite food:Italian and Chinese

Z zodiac:Leo

Chicken Nuggets

I have noticed from reading several blogs that a lot of your kids and also mine love Chicken Nuggets. Yesterday for dinner I made homemade Chicken Nuggets for the 2nd time. I got this recipe a few months ago from a TV show I love: "Good Things Utah." My kids loved them, I think they are really good, and Dave loved them also. So for those of you who are interested here is the recipe:

3 cups corn flakes
1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic power
pinch of pepper
1 Ib boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
2 large eggs, beaten

Cut the chicken breasts into nugget-sized pieces. Set aside. Preheat ovent to 425 degrees. Lightly oil or coat a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Place the corn flakes in a resealable plastic bag and crush to a fine texture using a rolling pin or the bottom of a small saucepan. Pour into a medium sized bowl. Add the Parmesan Cheese, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper to the crushed corn flakes. Place the eggs in a seperate bowl. Place the flour in a seperate small bowl. To bread the chicken, coat in flour, shaking off the excess. Dip in the egg, then coat well in the corn flake mixture. Arrange the chicken on the prepared baking sheet and cook until golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.

After they are done cooking, you can enjoy them OR place in freezer to freeze. After completely frozen, seal them up in a FoodSaver bag to enjoy as you need them! (To reheat, remove a few from the freezer and reheat in the microwave for a minute or so).

I have really enjoyed seeing recipes on other posts and I can't wait to try some of them. So from you to me there is another recipe to add to your collection. Believe me it is worth it!

One Fish...Two fish

Many of you are aware that Houston died last week. However, many of you are not aware of our own pet death. Our kids have wanted a pet for awhile. A couple of months ago Dave took the kids to the pet shop and they bought a blue Beta fish. The kids were so excited to get a fish and they named him King Blue. I took on the job of feeding King Blue and Dave took on the task of cleaning his bowl. I did my job faithfully but I don't know how often the water was changed. When the fish died the kids were in bed for the night and Dave flushed it down the toilet. He said he wasn't going to say anything.

The next day went as usual. Landon and Emma did not notice that the fish was no longer there and neither Dave or I said anything. The next day after that Dave asked Landon and Emma "Where's the fish?" Both of them responded "I don't know." Then Dave told them that the fish had died and so he flushed it down the toilet. Landon and Emma both responded "Oh." They didn't really seem that disappointed. But they did ask if we could get another fish. Maybe we will in a little bit and see how it goes a second time around. As for now I am content without having to worry about feeding and taking care of a pet. I also think it would be fun to get something a little more interactive.

Died...And Gone to Heaven!

Tonight Dave and I went with our friends Brent and Laurie to The Cheesecake Factory. Brent went ahead and arrived there at about 5:45 and put our names on the list. They told him it was going to be a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait. When Dave got home from work we went and picked up Laurie and met Brent at the Cheesecake factory. When we got there it was still going to be about a 1 to 1 1/2 hour wait. So we went and walked around the mall for about an hour and then went back to the restaurant. Our beeper was going off as we walked in the door.

For dinner I had their Chicken Madiera. It is there most famous dish. And boy, was it DELICIOUS! I ate about half and brought the other half home to eat later. We also got a piece of cheesecake to take home. It was a Dutch Apple Caramel Cheesecake. It also was DELICIOUS!!! Dave ate one bite and then let me eat the rest and believe me it was TO DIE FOR!!!

So was the Cheesecake factory worth the 2 hour wait? I would have to say that it was. I have never been there before, but I hope that they bring more of these to Utah. Maybe then we won't have to wait for 2 hours.

Enrichment Night

Tonight we had Relief Society Enrichment. For our Enrichment night we decorated journals and flipcharts that are going to used to reach a Relief Society goal to read the Book of Mormon in 40 weeks. I started it there and then I came home to finish it so I could use some of my own stuff. For Christmas I got a Cricut from Dave and I was able to use it for the first time to cut my flowers out. It was a lot of fun. I think I am going to have a really fun time with that machine. After I was finished with it I took pictures so that people could see the finished product. There were some people at the Enrichment that said to me "I want to see yours when it is finished, I'm sure it will be cute!" So for those of you who are interested here is the finished product.

Next week I will be starting the program. Every week it has an assigned Scripture reading and then scriptures to ponder. We can also record any feelings we have or insights in our journal. I am excited!

Does anyone know how to rotate photos to put on your blog? I had a different picture I was going to use but couldn't figure out how to rotate it. I'm still trying to figure out the in's and out's of Blogging.

Card Swap Design

This week I am making cards for 2 swaps that I am involved in. One of the swaps I am participating in I have to mail my cards to Ohio and then the girl we mail them to swaps them all then mails them back to us. Today I worked on my cards and so I decided to take a picture and post it on my blog. I didn't really use any new technique on this card, but I thought it turned out cute. However, I decided that I will also post the card I do once a month that uses a new technique. Anyway, this is my card!


My youngest Reagan is 15 1/2 months old. She is a chatterbox. She will talk and talk and when you say things back to her like "really" and "yea" she will get a huge grin on her face. I just love her. I love all my kids! They are the greatest!

Word of the Year and other Stuff

I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and give my word to focus on for the year. My word is create. For those of you who don't know I am a demonstrater for a company. To go with this goal I want to learn one new technique each month to make my cards better. I also want to learn these techniques well enough to be able to teach them to other people in a Stamp Club that I want to start. If I do this each month, by the end of the year I will know 12 new techniques. I'm very excited.

I am really enjoying blogging. I have been reading other people's blogs for a few months now and am excited to finally be starting my own. I don't know who has seen the movie with Brenden Fraser and Alicia Silverstone where Brenden (Adam) grew up in a shelter and then 18 years later he went above to find out what had happened and he met Alicia (Eve). I can't remember the name of the movie, but since getting a computer I feel a lot like he must have felt. We were in the dark (technologically speaking), but have now seen the light. It is great! It is Awesome! I love it!

I know I need to put pictures on and I will in the very near future.

joining the blogging game

We have decided to join the blogging game. I am pretty new at this and so I am still trying to figure out how it all works. If anyone has any tips for me I would be happy to hear them. I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs and so I decided to start my own.