Fun Websites

Two fun communities on the net I would like to share.. First is www.vzones.com. The pictures above were taken there. First pic is of Ed and I dressed up in wedding clothes :P. 2nd is a picture of my avatar and 3rd is a picture of my Aunt as she looks in newHorizones. There is also Dreamscape which my Aunt and I just joined a couple months ago. It's so much fun exploring and decorating there. Plus you get to meet people from all over the world. If your bored and looking for a place to play some fun games and meet lots of new people.. This may be the place for you.

The second community is called www.sparkpeople.com. Is a great resource if your wanting to lose weight. They help you track your food, calories, exercise and more. They have tons of different interest groups to join with tons of members there to share success stories and recipes with. It is a bit of an information overload but if you take it one step at a time it will become your favorite go to website for weight loss tips and encouragement.

French Toast Cups with Fresh Fruit & Cream

Ingredients:
Nonstick Cooking Spray
3 Eggs
1 Tablespoon (a splash) milk (eyeball it)
2 Teaspoons (about half a palmful) cinnamon
Dash of Vanilla extract, optional
Dash of Fresh Nutmeg, optional
8 Slices white or wheat Sandwich bread
1 pint fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries
Whipped cream

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375

Spray the inside of each cup of a 6-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. Cut a slit in the corner of each slice of bread from the middle of the slice to the edge.

Dip each slice of bread in the egg mixture then lightly press it into a cup of the muffin tin, overlapping the pieces where you cut the slit to make it fit into the cup without tearing.

Bake the french toast cups for 12 to 14 minutes, until they're light golden brown.

Allow the cups to cool slightly in the muffin tin before removing them. To serve, arrange the cups on a platter and fill with fresh fruit and top with whipped cream.

New dog pics..

It's been a while since I posted pics of the pooches.. So thought I would put a couple up for your viewing pleasure.
Times are tough and gas prices are a rip off. With the gas companies recording huge profits I wonder why they cant share the wealth? Makes me wonder why the gas prices are so darned high if they are making such a huge profit. The greedy butts. Diesel prices are also a problem. Ed is having a hard time of it lately. The fuel cost is eating into his paychecks badly. Not to mention his truck needs some work to help increase his fuel mileage. Right now I believe he is sitting at around 5mpg. With a good truck it should be I believe 6 to 7mpg. He is hoping to get the repairs done because other wise he can't afford to keep running it.
I have sent off and am waiting on my visitors record extension to come in the mail. I'm not too stressed about if they renew it or not. Lot of other things occupying my mind. We have moved our Wedding date back to the original date we had planned. August 8th of this year. I really liked the date 08/08/08.. hehe cute.
I don't know what we are going to be able to do for it. But I don't have a burning desire to have a big to-do. I already had the wedding I had dreamed of and well that didn't make the marriage last. So frankly I don't care much what we do. Am more concerned about our life before and after. Making a happy marriage is more important than a big ceremony and party.

Well thats about it tonight. Think I will go play some sims.

Forming Empanadas

Knead
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Knead each half 2 or 3 times to form smooth balls.

Divide
Cut each ball into four equal pieces. Cover with plastic; let stand until slightly risen, 20 minutes. Shape into balls.

Fill
On floured surface, roll out each piece of dough into an 8-inch round. Divide filling evenly among rounds, spreading it over half of each and leaving a 1/2-inch border.

Fold
Brush border of bottom halves with water; fold top halves over filling to enclose completely. Press edges to seal with your fingertips, then crimp firmly with a fork.

Empanadas

These are really good. I had to make a special batch just for me since I am so picky but for Ed I made them just as the recipe calls for and he loved it.. He even ate the extra meat mixture I had left over.

For the Filling
2 pounds ground pork or beef
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 jalapeno chile, minced (ribbed and seeds removed for less heat, if desired)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) tomatoes, diced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

For The Dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup cold water
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 table spoon water (do not beat until ready to bake)

Directions:
Make the filling: in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high, cook meat until no longer pink, breaking it up into small pieces, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add onion and jalapenos; cook until soft, 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder and tomatoes. Cook over medium until mixture is thickened, 12-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in Cilantro. let cool.

Make the dough; In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using your fingers, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add just enough cold water so dough comes together.

Form empanadas. (they look like turnovers with crimped edges) If desired, freeze on a baking sheet until firm, 2 hours. Wrap tightly in plastic; freeze in plastic bags.

To bake fresh or frozen empanadas, preheat oven to 400 degree. Place empanadas on a parchement lined baking sheet (or greased). Brush tops with egg wash, avoiding the crimped edges. Bake until golden brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 30 to 40 minutes.

Serves 8..

Banana-Nut Muffins

I made these for Ed and his father for their trip to Winnipeg yesterday.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup mashed banana (works out to about 1 1/2 bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl; make a well in center.

Mix milk, egg, oil, banana and walnuts in a small bowl. Then pour mixture into well of dry ingredients.

Mix batter just until moistened; do not overmix.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or until muffins are golden brown. (about 15-20 minutes).

Makes 12 muffins.
Variations: Blueberries or raisins may be substituted for the mashed bananas in the muffin batter.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Recipe Time.. I made these biscuits to go with spaghetti the other night and Ed and I LOVED them..

Biscuit
1 1/4 cup Biscuit mix (bisquick or your fav mix)
1/2 cup grated SHARP cheddar
1/2 cup water

Garlic Butter
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Dried parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 400

Combine biscuit mix & cheese in small bowl. Add water & stir just until combined. Dough will be slightly moist. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes or until biscuits are firm & beginning to brow.

While Biscuits are baking make the garlic butter. Combine all ingredients & mix well. As soon as you bring biscuits from oven brush them with garlic butter mixture using a pastry brush or paper towel.. Let sit for a few minutes.. Then ENJOY .

Doh

Been a couple weeks since I posted.. *hangs head in shame* I have no excuse other than the fact that I am lazy.. Well not totally just unmotivated I guess. Not having thyroid pills does that to ya.

Lets see where to begin. It got really really really cold a week or so ago and pipes froze and burst overnight. The laundry room downstairs looked like a lake. Well thankfully it wasn't a main line. Was just the two pipes that go into the bath and shower downstairs. So we were able to cut those off and cap them. Then turn on the water again to the rest of the house. TY Darian. YOU ROCK!!! And winter, I am really mad at you. I love you unconditionally and look what you do.. Shame on you :P lol.

I also got my passport already. I was shocked that it came so fast. Took about a month from start to finish. And it actually came to the correct address which was a nice bonus. Now if only the paperwork from Thunderbay would get here so Ed and I can go and get our marriage license.

Ed's owner operator contract with the company he was working for was not renewed. Was a bunch of office politics and the fact that he refuses to buy a brand new truck. His truck is 7 years old I believe and has not had any major breakdowns. A few minor repairs here and there sure but nothing big *knock on wood*. But he will have it paid off around August. This company does not like that. They feel that if you dont have a truck payment you won't work as hard or something. The last Ed heard they did not renew 10 owner operator contracts most of which he thinks were drivers who had older trucks.

They also came up with a new contract that was not really a good one and had 30 lease operators put in their 30 day notice. Lease Operators are this companies major income. So I am sure they are going to be hurting before long. Ed has an application in with another company. Its a smaller company but smaller can be better. He has already had a sit down meeting with this companies owner and it seemed to go well. So we are crossing our fingers, saying our prayers and keeping cautiously optimistic.

I am struggling with Cooter. I really am at my wits end. He has a week or more of really good bladder control. Will go for 2 to 3 hours before he needs to go out.. And then he will have days like yesterday and today where I am lucky if he makes it 30 minutes and he will have lots of accidents. Makes me really mad when he pees on my freshly swept and mopped floor. Then when I say NO! Bad dog! He lays down in it.. So not only do I have to re-mop the floor I have to bath him too. He is really trying my patience. Jake was such a good dog at Cooters age. I know, they are two different dogs. Just like kids you cant compare ones development to the other. But you really would think that at 5 months old Cooter would be able to hold it for longer than what he is doing.

Well enough of that. I am tired and frustrated hehe. So will just go to bed and hopefully tomorrow will be better. Gonna put two new pics of the boys.


The AWWWWWWWWWWWW FACTOR. I love him soooo much, he is so adorably cute.


Say what? Annoying but adorable. Cant help but love his innocent look when he is into mischief.

I'm a popsicle

It's been so cold here the past couple of days I feel like a popsicle. The other night we were suppose to have had a windchill at -40. CRAZAZY!

Just got done watching a National Geographic channel show on multiple births. They showed twins, triplets and quads from the point of conception to a few months after they were born. Was pretty interesting to see them at the different stages in the womb. I am very scared with the PCOS issue I will end up having to do fertility meds and well those are one of the biggest causes of multiple births. One baby is enough of an adjustment to your life but could you imagine 2, 3, 4 or more babies all at once? All the diapers you would have to change, all the nights you would get no sleep because just after you get one baby to stop crying and off to sleep another one starts up.

OMG woman who do this successfully have my utmost respect. I have my doubts that I would be able to remain sane throughout that kind of ordeal. I do imagine that you would get a routine in place pretty quickly and you would get used to having these little people in your life. But man just thinking about it exhausts me.

Saw a cute movie yesterday. Juno.. It was a bit weird but had a lot of funny parts. It's about a teenage girl, she is around 16, named Juno who finds herself pregnant. She took 3 pregnancy tests in the bathroom of the gas station. She took 3 because the first two she said looked more like a division symbol. LOL. She ends up finding a couple to adopt her baby. The woman is totally into it and the guy acts like he wants a baby but after Juno spends some time sharing music interests and such the guy opens up to her and tells her he is leaving his wife and doesnt feel ready to be a father. She freaks, the woman finds out. The couple divorces but Juno still lets the woman adopt her baby. It was really sweet watching the woman hold the baby for the first time after he was born. Juno has a very sarcastic sense of humor and made me laugh out loud all throughout the movie.

Well Mermaids is on and I wanna go watch.

Beef Stew

Got a slow cooker a few days after Christmas and this is the first recipe I made in it. Was pretty good.. I would recommend adding some water, it doesn't call for it in the recipe but next time I make it I will be adding some. While cooking mine for the recommended time and setting it started to over cook some of the ingredients so watch it when you get about 7 hours in. I like my stew to have a bit of a gravy that you can soak up with a biscuit or corn bread and this one was a bit too thick for my liking. But other than that I really enjoyed it.

Ingredients:
2lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 glove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
4 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced

Cooking Instructions:
Put meat in stoneware. Mix flour, salt and pepper and pour over meat; Stir to coat meat with flour. Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Cook and cover on LOW for 10 hours or HIGH for 6 hours. Stir stew thoroughly before serving.

BIG Puppy

Well Cooter had his last puppy shots today. Vet says he looks very happy and healthy. Says his coat looks exceptional. Nice and shiny. And his teeth are starting to change which is right on schedule.. My little poochie is no longer so little. He gained 12 pounds since his last visit. He nows weighs in at a staggering 38lbs. He is only 4 months old for crying out loud. He already eats like crazy. LOL Next vet visit will be the neutering surgery. Then that is it until next year.

Well got everying mailed in (passport app and marriage license papers). Now its just a sit and wait kind of thing. Did I ever mention I hate waiting for anything? It's not good to keep me waiting. I guess you could say it is one of my biggest pet peeves. I dont like to be late and dont like for others to be late either. But alas now I must sit and wait and cross fingers that everything goes smoothly.


American Idol started tonight. Didnt fail to entertain. They are showing some of the auditions both good and bad. I have to say I really look forward to seeing the bad ones. It always shocks me when you get the ones who sing horribly.. I mean a screaming cat is more pleasant than they are and for some odd reason they think the judges are jerks because they try and tell them that they can't sing. They don't believe them and get mad because "they are the greatest undiscovered talent there ever was". How can they NOT know how bad they sound?? Someone must have lied to them and told them how wonderful they were.. Shame on those people lol.

Well gonna go to bed now.. Got a game to host in the morning and wanna be all rested up. I leave you with a pic of a snow plow doing its job on the streets of Fort Frances.. Isnt the snow beauitiful.. I love it..

Passport day

Well today is the day I am going to go to the County Recorders office to get my passport stuff handed in. We have to go to Walmart first so I can get my passport photos retaken. I had taken them in Texas the last time I was there but they are older than 6 months. I was soooo hoping to get lucky and be able to use them but alas they are dated on the back.. Curses!!

We are also going to be mailing our stuff to the registrars office in Thunder Bay for our marriage license. Woohoo productive day for me..

Well almost time to host.

oopsie didnt post piccy

I swear i did upload the picture but for whatever reason it didn't post it in the blog entry. So I am gonna try this again and fingers-crossed it will work. Oh and J, I changed the setting for who can leave comments and now anyone can leave me comments so whenever you feel like it comment away :P

Weird winter

Freaky winter weather we are having. It has been above freezing here the past couple of days and the snow is melting rapidly. The outdoor thermometer said it was 50F. How wacky is that??

We still have a lot of snow on the ground but a few more days like this and the grass is going to start peeking through. I would really love a blizzard. I know someone who has had a couple of em just recently *stares in the direction of Ottawa* and I am jealous. LOL I would really like to experience one. Think it would be fun. Well fun as long as I am nice and warm and safe in my house with lots of supplies so I wont have to go out in it. :D

Ed's dad has finally vacated the downstairs apartment and I have started the cleaning process.. OMG ewwwwwww its disgusting. Last night I swept, mopped, got on my hands and knees and scrubbed then mopped again and again (cooter did the walk n pee trick) and finally waxed the kitchen floor. I had to keep emptying the bucket of water I was using because it was turning black.. yes that is right BLACK! I vacummed a bit of the living room floor. Cooter got scared and peed on the floor while trying to run from it lol.

Today I started working on the bedroom because that is where we are going to put our storage stuff. So far I have scrubbed two of the walls and I am still not happy with them. They need a paint job BAD.. Ed's dad is a heavy smoker so you can imagine what the walls look like. Once I get done with the walls I am going to have to scrub the window really really good then a heavy vacumming before we can put anything down there.

I was going to attempt the bathroom but I opened the door turned on the light and peeked in. I then turned off the light closed the door and told Ed that he is in charge of that room.. Gonna have nightmares about that one. LOL

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to finish the walls in the bedroom.

Well I am exhausted just thinking of scrubbing more walls so I am going to head to beddy by now.

I leave you with a pic of a blizzard :D isnt it beautiful?

The State of Alaska ROCKS!

Here I was worrying myself to an ulcer about getting my passport app done in time for the Jan 31st deadline. Nothing like waiting to the last minute eh?

What is the hold up you ask? Well I only have one official copy of my birth certificate. I need that to get back and forth across the border. So I faxed in my request form to the appropriate office in Alaska along with my credit card info so they could charge the fees for an official copy of my original birth certificate. I did this a little bit before Christmas and was beginning to worry that I might not get it in time and then would be stuck without a passport and not being able to get across the border to apply for one.

Well I had no need to worry because I went to check the mail today and low and behold there was my birth certificate sitting waiting for me in the mail box.

Alaska you ROCK!!! Fruitcakes all around.

Good news.

I just heard some very very exciting news!!! Because of the writers strike CBS is going to be doing an extra Big Brother this year. Big Brother Winter woohooo!!!!!! I usually have to wait until the summer for my Big Brother fix but now I only have to wait until mid February. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!! Big Brother is my all time favorite reality tv show.

I can hardly wait til February.

It's early

Well I have a few minutes before my hosting duty on vzones so thought I would stop by here and say a few words.

I am faithfully working on my novel. Even if I don't write anything some days I am still thinking of the next move in the story or I am doing revisions on a particular section that I have already finished. I have tons of notes. I sat down with a calendar the other day and worked on time frames. I even did a whole biography of my main character. Even though I am not using all the info it's nice to kind of know who that person is. Once you put down all the details about a character it helps them come to life. At least in my imagination. It helps me know how to make her react to things because of her history. Think about it.. If you have a character in a book who went through something traumatic as a child, say a fire destroyed her home and killed a beloved family pet. Do we really think she would not be extremely careful as an adult. Fire alarms all over the house. And would that character end up being a fireman perhaps?

Everything we experience in life helps to shape who we are in the present. So in writing down a mini biography you see a person develop before your eyes and they become real in a sense.

In my story I have based the main character around myself. Some details are the same some are different. The story is also loosely based on my life. Names were changed (in the story my Aunt's characters name is Susannah and my Dad's name is Mitchell) and some locations are a bit different (San Antonio is not specifically mentioned I just say South Texas and I don't move to Canada instead its a small town in Northern Minnesota near the Canadian border. I am still working on a name for that little town)but those who know me will see the similarities.

I was having a hard time working on the book I had started about my Grandmother. I was hitting a wall. That is when this story developed. It is a fictional version of my life from the day I found out my Grandmother had passed to now. So I was able to use some of the stuff I had written for the other book just needed to tweak it a bit.

There is one character that stays the same in the book as he is in my life. Jake is as always my faithful companion and what would a book sorta kinda about me be without a Jake?

I joined a writing thing online, nanwrimo or something like that. Have to write 50,000 words by November. It's a bit of a contest.

Well anywho got some players at my game in vzones so better go say hi.

Yummy Pecan Pie

I also made this pie for the holidays. I gave one as a gift, took one to a family dinner and made one for Ed and I and one for a Boxing Day party. It was a hit! One of the best pecan pies I have ever had. Just be careful to not overcook it.

Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
1 (9-inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust (I use the frozen pie crust from the grocery store)
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup Corn Syrup (I prefer the light to dark but it’s your personal preference)
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecan halves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Beat together the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla
Arrange pecans in bottom of pie crust and pour mixture over.
Bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.
Allow to cool before slicing.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made a couple of batches of these cookies this year and gave them as gifts to friends. I received so many compliments. Everyone loved them. They are a softy chewy cookie and that is my fav type of Chocolate chip cookie. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 pkg 12 oz semi sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (opt)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda & salt. Set aside.
In large bowl combine butter, sugar, brown sugar & vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate morsels & nuts.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 min.
Makes abt 100 cookies

Happy New Year!

Well it's that time of year again. We say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. I begin this year as I have always begun every new year. With high hopes and lots of dreams for it to be the best year ever. I have lots of things happening this year. I am getting married, starting the immigration process and possibly starting a family of my own. The last item on my list of course is something that will be way way later in the year. But it is always a possibility.

I have never really been one to seriously make a new years resolution. I always said that its pretty useless to make a resolution that will only be broken in a few weeks, so why bother with the disappointment. This year however I am making a resolution. I am going to get back to eating better. I am going to start exercising. Once stuff calms down here on the home front I am joining the Curves gym in town. I have already talked to them and really like the program they have set up. It's just something that has to happen. I have started to gain weight back that I had lost. My clothes aren't fitting and I am refusing to buy a bigger size again. So it's time for me to get tough with myself. Either I start losing the weight OR I cant go out anywhere because I will have no clothes to fit me.

I am going to start a new thing in my blog. I will try and post a blog at least once a week. Plus I am going to be posting recipes I have tried and really liked. Feel like sharing the good eats. The first recipes I will be posting won't be healthy choices but as I start to get more healthy the recipes will of course be changing as well.

That's about it for tonight. I will leave you with a greeting from "The Boys".

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!