Happy Homemaker Monday 03/30

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Carrie Ann Alexis

Linking-up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Hey there…Happy Monday. Feeling a little better this week. Hope everyone is doing well.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
In the 60’s, but partly cloudy, so doesn’t really feel like one of those nice, bright spring days, but I’ll take it!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
Coffee, cherry turnover.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:
The grass is getting a little bit more color, not buds yet on the trees.

ON TODAY’S TO DO LIST:
Same old, same old. 🙂

CURRENTLY READING:
Don’t Say A Word by Barbara Freethy. I don’t know how I came about this one, but it’s another OMG kinda story!! I really do enjoy a good suspense, and at one point I was like “no. way!!” Russians, unexplainable accidents, romance…gah…so good!! It all starts when a girl sees a photo of a young girl in a Russian orphanage, and the girl looks just like her, and she’s not even Russian!!

Female Brain Gone Insane by Mia Lundin R.N.C. N.P. I just downloaded this one. Yep…as you get older, things start to change. This book helps you understand the changes and offers advice and things to do about it so you don’t feel like you are going crazy…because some days I just feel like that, lol.

ON THE TV TODAY:
The Voice. Caught up on Castle the other day, just love that show!! Would also like to watch the IheartRadio Music awards show that aired last night.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
I need to grocery shop for the week again…for the next couple of days we’ll have leftovers.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:
I might turn this section into my mini-Pinterest board and things I want to create, I see so many cute things. I will do something this summer, hopefully my loom weaving. With not having school with the kids, I’ll have more time to figure it out. But I did share this with my mom, and we are doing this for our sitting area we created!! So cute!! Her and I both love books, love to read, she works at the library, and the library is across the street from our house!! How can we not?!?!

NEW RECIPE I TRIED OR WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:
I did try the Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken, eh, I didn’t like the flavor of it, at all.

But I did try Carrie’s Lasagna Pasta!! This was really good, and so easy…love that!! I haven’t spied out anything new, have to go searching for some more recipes.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA:
This isn’t from the camera, but it makes me laugh every time I see it.

These are a couple of my favorite black and white pics my daughter took.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES (PRAYERS OR DEVOTIONALS):

Happy Homemaker Monday 03/23

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Carrie Ann Alexis

Linking-up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

This past week passed me in a blur…hit by one of those springtime colds…the gift that keeps on giving, LOL. Looking forward to a better week this week. Hope everyone is doing well.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
Snow!! 🙂 About 5 inches, it was like a mini-blizzard. I don’t think it has anything to do with a certain Midwesterner who put out her deck furniture AND her grill already…I don’t know…what do you think Carrie? LOL 😉

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
Coffee, Fudge Jumbles (the oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate cookie bar I made…there is oatmeal in it!!)

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:
Even though I have been looking forward to spring, when I awoke this morning and looked out the window to the 3 inches of snow already on the ground, and the fluffy flakes dancing through the sky, I couldn’t help but smile. Something about snow just makes me happy. 🙂

ON TODAY’S TO DO LIST:
Plan my meals for the week, and then make out my shopping list. Laundry – have been fighting a cold, so it piled up on me again. Ugh!!

CURRENTLY READING:
It’s Just My Nature – by Carol Tuttle. I have always been fascinated about learning what makes people “tick” and their different personalities, and what makes each person unique. I like the approach that she used, it was very easy to understand. She explains how most people are used to the Myers-Briggs personality test, which defines 16 different personality types. In her book, Carol defines only 4 different types, with all of us having a little bit of each type, and one dominant one and a strong secondary one. These types of personalities or as she calls it energy, are also found in nature. So interesting!!

Looking through my wish list to find another fiction, nothing has jumped out at me yet.

ON THE TV TODAY:
The Voice. Catch up on The Good Wife, and Castle. I also look forward to Devious Maids starting in the late spring/summer.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
I need to grocery shop for the week yet.

NEW RECIPE I TRIED OR WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:
I didn’t get a chance to make anything new this past week. I will be trying the Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken I posted about last week, tomorrow.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA:
Even with the snow on the ground, I am still trying to think spring and warmer weather!! It has to get here sooner or later.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES (PRAYERS OR DEVOTIONALS):

Iditarod 2015 – update

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Carrie Ann Alexis

We’ve been tracking our mushers everyday. My youngest has even been asking me to check on them before he goes to bed each night. The two guys that my sons had picked are rookies, and they have been running pretty close in the standings with each other. As we check there standings, there’s been a lot of, “Ha…I’m ahead of you!!” going on, and then they will discuss why it’s possible, backing their arguments up with the number of dogs they have left, and how long of breaks they have taken, weather conditions…(shaking my head…boys!!) 🙂

I have found that I was thinking about the mushers throughout the day, as our weather has been getting warmer, I couldn’t help but think about the cold weather they were experiencing. As I was going to bed, I would also think of them either actually on the trail, or at their resting spots. I especially was thinking about Benjamin Harper, being a rookie, and just out of high school, I couldn’t imagine being his mom worrying about him at night. But overall the experience has been a lot of fun. The girl I had chosen is a veteran, and even her husband is racing as well. They have a website you can find here.

She has consistently been in the top five. It has been fun to visit her website because they have pictures and keep it updated on her and her husband’s progress.

As of today, 4 mushers have made it into Nome, and Aliy Zirkle will be there sometime tonight, hopefully in 5th place.

Here are the top 4 so far:

1. Dallas Seavey – 8d 18h 13m 6s
2. Mitch Seavey – 8d 22h 22m 56s
3. Aaron Burmeister – 8d 23h 47m 31s
4. Jessie Royer – 9d 1h 51m 9s

Congratulations to them all!!

This is where our other two guys stand:
35. Seth Barnes is 4 checkpoints out.
39. Benjamin Harper is 5 checkpoints out.

I would think that they should be in Nome by Thursday, at the latest, Friday. We will continue to track them until they both cross the finish line.

I checked in on Aliy’s website for her update as she heads to Nome. Her team is the red team and her husband’s is the black team. This was at the bottom of her update and it just made me smile:

PS: You’ll see Allen and the Black Team are still resting in Shaktoolik. They may not move from there until after the Red Team has finished. When possible, Allen likes to see her safely home before continuing with his race.

A bonus for me while I was writing this, my daughter’s friend brought over her new puppy!! Not a husky…but a puppy!! He’s a 9-week old German Shepherd, so adorable, and I was able to hold him and pet him…so cute!! Just made my day!! 🙂

St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Carrie Ann Alexis

We are celebrating St. Patty’s day today with Shamrock Shakes just like McDonald’s, and some Shamrock cookies.

A little vanilla ice cream, some green food coloring and peppermint flavor, very yummy.

and these…

Yep…I found them…yep…I bought them, the one. single. box. the store had…AGAIN!! You can read more about my obsession post about these cookies here.

Happy Homemaker Monday 03/16

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Carrie Ann Alexis

Linking-up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Hope everyone is doing well, and looking forward to warmer weather, I know I am definitely getting Spring Fever!!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
Beautiful!! Today the thermometer actually reads 73!! The 50’s and 60s’s have been nice, looks like it might go back down to the 40’s in the next couple of days. It’s been weird for me to enjoy this warm weather, as we check in with our mushers everyday in Alaska, where it has been –20 and –30 degrees. Today it made it up to 1 for them. Hope to do an update on their progress in the next couple of days.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
Coffee, of course, with my Sweet Cream Creamer, and some delicious Jam Puffs my mom made over the weekend!! I have traded my snowflake mug, for just my spring green mug, I really would like one like this though:

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:
The yard looks so drab, the grass is just kinda yucky. We definitely need some rain to make everything nice and green!!

ON TODAY’S TO DO LIST:
Really not much, cleaned house yesterday, home school lessons of course, I might bake something once I’m done with this post. Shhhh…the laundry is done. But I have a feeling there’s a pair of socks somewhere trying to rally the other garments in protest to this abomination. The socks around here are bold like that, and would do it all out in the open too, since they usually hang out wherever they are dropped…Anniehow….

CURRENTLY READING:

The Sweetness of Honey by Alison Kent. This is book 3 in the Hope Springs series I have been reading. First two were very good.

But what I just finished reading….Oh. My. G!! The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley. The story takes place in 1978 and 1998 and switches back and forth. It tells the story about the secretaries at the First Bank of Cleveland in 1978, and then in 1998, when the bank is abandoned, and a female engineer is assigned to work in it to draw up the actual floor plans, so that a buyer can decide if it can be renovated. The twists and turns in the book are so good!! Half way through the book, the author linked the past with the present with one character. Brilliantly written.

ON THE TV TODAY:
The Voice, which I will actually watch with the kids. I have one other episode of The Good Wife to watch, I just love the character, Marissa, she just makes me laugh, how she just speaks her mind!! This show just has good casting overall. I have some catching up to do on Castle as well.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
BBQ Breaded Pork Chops, Rice, Corn on the Cob and Grands biscuits
Teriyaki Chicken with rice and veggies, Hawaiian Bread
Chicken Parmigiana, Fettuccine noodles, Green Beans, Italian Herb and Cheese Bread
Turkey Club Sandwiches
Swiss Steak Supper, Crescent Rolls

NEW RECIPE I TRIED OR WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:
Last week I did try the Easy Pork Fajitas from Carrie, and these were absolutely delicious!! I did not serve mine with guacamole though, but they were very good, and easy to make.

What I am trying this week is Teriyaki Chicken. I think someone posted it on FB, and it looked so good, going to give it a go. So many times I see these recipes and I add them to my bookmarks, and think, that looks good, I’ll have to try it, and I never did. I am so glad that in the last month or so, I have made it a point to try these recipes, and so far everything has been good. I would love to be one of those people who can just “throw things together” and make a meal, my sister can do that, I need a recipe, which then I can alter it if need be.

Here is the recipe for the Teriyaki Chicken:

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients

1 1/2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 clove minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon fresh black pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons chicken stock

Directions

In the slow cooker, mix together soy sauce, molasses, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and pepper.

Place the chicken in the slow cooker and turn a few times to coat well in the soy sauce mixture.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours, turning the chicken about every hour to ensure even cooking.

Once cooked, remove the chicken from the slow cooker, cut up into bite sized pieces, and set aside.

Pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and chicken stock until combined. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the boiling liquid and reduce to a simmer.
Allow the sauce to thicken for 2-3 minutes, then add the chicken to the pan.
Toss to coat the chicken with the sauce, and let heat through.
Serve over rice with vegetables.
Enjoy!

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA:
Definitely thinking spring and warm weather now that I have lost an hour (curse you Daylight Savings Time!!), and the days are longer!!

These first two pics are for my dear friend Carrie, who has been longing for spring for some time now, and would like to see some green, and loves flowers.

This is my daughter’s twin brother skateboarding…he’s 6′ 2″ and she’s like 5′ 5″…but I love how they still spend so much time together even as they are getting older.