Turkey Time

    Because the next few days things will be insane in my life, I decided to pop in here to say happy Thanksgiving to anyone who actually reads this. It is going to be a very strange Thanksgiving for me and my family. We will not be having a house full of guest this year. Everyone else has been sick for a couple of weeks and now I have the same thing. Plus I will be working on Thanksgiving which is something else I am not used to. Yes, now that I work in retail I will get to live through Black Friday on the other side of the register. I am thankful for my job though so I suppose I will live through it. But enough about me. I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving fill with all the love and warmth that the holiday season should bring to every home. Also, I hope that we all remember to be thankful for our families and friends and all of the other blessings in our lived. I hope to be back on here with something later in the week but if not I will be back on next week. 

Mary

Keith's Extra Loaded Potato Soup

    We decide to have potato soup today after seeing a recipe in the paper. Anyone who knows Keith knows this is an odd thing since he does not eat anything with the words soup or stew in it. Once we decided to make the soup Keith actually suggested putting diced chicken in it. I asked if ground would be okay and he agreed so this is what I came up with. 

First the ingredients:

8 potatoes or 6 jumbo or baking size potatoes

Water to cover

1 lb ground chicken

1 large white onion

1 lb Velveeta

Milk to desired consistency

1 small container of sour cream

Toppings

1 lb crispy bacon crumbled

1 8 oz package shredded sharp cheddar

1 8 oz package shredded mild cheddar

chopped green onion

    Peel and dice potatoes. Cover in water and boil until tender. While potatoes are boiling brown ground chicken and chopped white onion. When potatoes are finished drain about 3/4 of the water and add milk until you have the consistency you desire. Add onion and chicken mixture and cubed Velveeta. Let Velveeta melt and let cook for another 15-20 minutes. Add sour cream and mix thoroughly. 

    To serve sprinkle with sharp cheddar and mild cheddar, then top with bacon and green onions. Super yummy dinner. 

    

    I will try to be back with something else before Thanksgiving but no promises. If I don't get back before then I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

    Well it has been a while since I have checked in on here. I have wanted to blog but could not find anything I really wanted to blog about. I decided to look in a new direction. Lately my interest have run from how to save money (but whose interest isn't leaning in that direction), and trying new recipes. I have decided that would be a good place to start. I will probably occasionally ramble about something else completely or be on my soapbox about something that I find annoying but, at least I think I have found a good place to start. Right now I am trying a new recipe and I will be posting the recipe and the pictures later this evening. Until then, I hope everyone is having a wonderful afternoon. 

The Day I Overslept

I very rarely over sleep. Sure occasionally I hit the snooze 1 or 2 times too many but to over sleep for 30 minutes to an hour is a very rare for me. Out of the handful of times this has happened one will always stick in my mind. I was still living in Clarksville at the time and my kids were in elementary school. I woke up and noticed it was an hour past time for me to get up. I had just enough time to get ready for work and get the kids ready for school so that I could drop them off late. That morning I did not turn on the news as was my daily habbit. I am a weather fanatic and my morning is not complete if I do not know what the day will bring as far as temperatures and wether or not I will need the umbrella that I will probably leave in the car anyway.

On this particular morning once we were dressed and ready to go I bypassed another morning habbit, the radio in my car. I usually turned it off on the way home at night so my kids would have my attention when they were telling me about my day. It took about 10 minutes to get the kids to school and then another 10 to sign them in and get on my way. After a couple of miles I turned on the radio to keep me company during my long drive to work. That's when my life changed. As I turned on the radio the news was on and the reporters sounded frantic. They were talking about things that were happening in New York and Washington. I was not sure what I was hearing at first or maybe it was that I just didn't want to know what I hearing. A few minutes later came the words that shook me harder than anything has before or since in my life, "The north tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing." I wanted to turn my car around and go get my kids and go home. I did not want to be away from the in a world that was suddenly so scary and so uncertain. It took all of the will power I possesed to keep my car pointing toward my job and not back home. The horror increased as the morning went on. When I got to work I remember people were standing outside crying. Especially friends whose kids were in the military. We were all scared and confused and not sure what to do. When I got inside all of us in our office got together and said a prayer. It was not a busy day because somehow contacting a call center when the world has gone mad is not a high priority. Somehow we all made it through that day and made it home. I know it is a day no one will ever forget.

Ten years later, our world while not drastically different is not the same as it was before that fateful day in 2001. We now know that things we always thought would only affect middle eastern countries can happen to us as well. I often think back to that morning and wonder what would have happened if I would have got up on time that morning. I would have been watching the news almost from the beginning. Would I have stayed home keeping my children with me out of the fear caused by the situation. I think I may have. I know that may not have been the best way to handle it but it was not a day for being rational. I wish I were a much better writer and could give you something eloquent that would tug at your heart and have you reaching for the tissues. But this humble entry is what I have to offer. I would like to hear from others about their thoughts and memories from that day. A day that I hope we will always remember. I hope we will always remember to pray for the families who lost loved ones that day and for our country that lost the feeling of, "that doesn't happen here" on that day.

Mary

Changes

Well it's been a while. So many things have happened since my last post that I don't really know where to start. Starting with the obvious, the diet has not gone well. I am not giving up yet though. I am learning to live with my fibromyalgia. I have good days and bad days but the medication has evened out and I am having more good days than bad.

I am not employed at the moment but I have discovered that job hunting is a full time job (without the pay). On the bright side of everything I have rediscovered that I love to cook and my family has discovered they love to eat my cooking. This may directly realated to the diet not working. I have learned that there are many job offers online that end up looking really suspicious when you actually hear from them. I got a job offer from a person in another country today who wants me to do their shopping and have their mail sent to my home. Ummm... I think I will pass on that.

After finally getting used to my daughter no longer living at home it is getting closer to time for my son to leave. In August my son will be leaving to go to basic training for the Air Force. At least my daughter is still only one town away. I guess before long I will have to sign up for a passport and all that fun stuff. I hope he does not go to far away as I am not looking forward to having to get to know airport security personel as well as I know my husband.

Well that is all for now. I know this is a short and very boring post. Maybe next week will be better since we are planning a camping trip with our daughter and son in law this weekend. I am looking forward to spending time with them and also with my favorite cousins who will also be camping at the same place. Happy 4th all and I will check back in next week.

Snow... Again???!!!

I remember when I was in 7th grade and was out of school for about a week straight maybe longer due to snow. It was great because my friend Rhonda lived up the road and I would go hang out at her house or she would come to mine. It was great. I had no worries and not bills at that time and any day out of school was a good one.

Fast forward to the present. Tennessee has not really had that kind of winter in a long time and snow is usually a once or twice a winter occurance with only an inch or maybe two. This winter started out great because when you don't see it a lot snow is fantastic. One snow a couple of weeks before Christmas. Not too bad because it was a weekend and I was at home. Then we had the snow at Christmas which was the best thing ever. I mean, who does not want a white Christmas. Then January hit and here at the end of the month and we are on the fifth snowstorm. I love the snow but as I pointed out to my husband, back in the 80's we did not have jobs that we had to drive to. So far I have done well enough. The main roads have been fairly clear when it was time to go to work. Today my luck ran out on that one.


While I did get to hang out with my family I did not accomplish anything else and I really feel bad for the few people who did show up at work. I know they had a crazy day. Well I am sure tomorrow will make up for it. I really hope the winter is over soon. Between the bad roads and what the weather does to fibromyalgia. I do really like snow, just maybe now so much.

Mary

Well the big day is almost here. D-day, yes that's right the diet starts tomorrow. I have had a lot of plans for the weekend that ended with me collapsing into an ice cream induced coma tonight. Oddly enough I am not in the mood for ice cream. I figure about this time tomorrow night I will be ready to hurt someone for ice cream because that is the way it works. Oh well, I will make it through. I figure if I make it through the first week without cheating I will be okay.

It has been a great weekend. My brother, sister in law, and two neices came to visit Friday night for a little New Years Eve celebrating. I had a lot of fun. It is especially wonderful to spend time with Alex who is almost three and who I think will be the next comedian in the family. She wanted me to go outside with her so I told her she would have to give me a hug. She stood there like she was thinking and so I asked where my hug was. We were in the kitchen and without missing a beat she opened the cabinet and started looking and said, "maybe it's in here." Needless to say after I picked myself up off the floor from laughing we went outside.

I do hope everyone has had a wonderful first weekend of the New Year. I know I have. I will check in when I can this week to update you all on the status of the diet. Have a great week all.

Mary