How to tell winter is coming...

How do you tell winter is on it's way?


Ed went and got those from the storage shed, so that we are all ready for SNOW! :P

I wasn't going to post another blog today but when I went outside with the dogs this afternoon, I took a few pictures I wanted to share. Today, weather wise, is my favorite type of day. It's cold, a bit rainy and the sky is gray. I love a gray sky, most people love the sun, not me, I will gladly take a gray sky over sun anytime.



See? Isn't that beautiful?

And last, I want to try and take a fall picture of the same trees each week, so you can see the changes.

Something Tasty...

Today's recipe is: Country Breakfast Casserole.


I found this recipe at one of those little displays in the grocery store by the spices. It looked pretty tasty and being the collector of recipes that I am, I quickly grabbed it and put it in my purse. Anywho, before I give you the recipe I would like to briefly go over my experience while making this casserole.

1. The recipe calls for 6 slices of bread, I only used 2 and a half or 3.

2. It says to bake for 40 minutes, I did that and the middle was still uncooked, I had to add an additional 12 minutes, then for the most part all but the very middle was done. By that time my husband was whining that he was dying of hunger :P So I served up the finished parts and put the middle portion back in the oven for 5 more minutes.

3. The picture on the recipe card is not what mine came out looking like. I realize that it's rare for that to happen, but for some reason their cheese acted as a barrier to the egg and kept it all nicely layered. My egg took over and went past the cheese and into sausage territory. Not really a problem, I was just hoping it would look all neat and orderly like the picture.

4. My husband LOVED it from the first bite, he was making sounds of great satisfaction the whole time he was eating it. I thought it was okay, I wasn't really sure how I felt about the consistency of the eggs, but I think I would make this again.

Now on to the recipe and picture of my casserole.



Ingredients:
1 roll (12-16 oz) sausage, regular or reduced fat
6 Bread slices
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 package McCormick Sausage Country Gravy Mix
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons melted butter, optional
paprika

Directions:
1. Crumble sausage into a large skillet; cook over medium heat until brown, stirring
occassionally. Remove sausage and drain on a paper towel. Spread sausage over bottom of a lightly greased 11 X 8 inch baking dish. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes. set aside

2. Whisk together eggs, water, milk and gravy mix. Sprinkle Cheese over sausage, then pour the egg mixture over cheese. Arrange bread cubes evenly over mixture. If desired, drizzle butter over bread. Sprinkle with Paprika

3. Bake at 325F, uncovered, 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Fuzzy Friday!!!!

Today I choose just Jake. He is my favorite afterall, but shhh don't tell Cooter. Jake has been my baby since the day I brought him home. I had gone to the local pound with the intention of just seeing what kind of dogs they had, but no intention of coming home that day with one. I was also looking for a specific breed. Well that all went out the window when I saw baby Jake. All the other dogs were barking and jumping around making a fuss. Jake just simply stood up and put his front paws on the fence and looked at me with the sweetest big brown eyes.

I asked the lady to bring him out, she went to get him and then put him down on the pavement, where I sat down to pet him. He looked so sad, I asked what his story was, they had found him on the side of the road scared and wet, she said he was a terrier mix and was 4 months old. I said I will take him, so much for not picking a dog that day. In Texas, when you get a dog from the pound, before you can take them home they bring them to the vet to be neutered and have their shots done. I had to wait a couple of days but then I was told I could pick him up at the vet.

I raced to the vet office and they brought Jake out and placed him in my arms. From that moment on he was my baby. Jake will be 9 this December and he is still the same lovable, sweet, playful dog that he was when I first brought him home.

New weekly post idea.

Okay so, I have Fuzzy Fridays, where every Friday I post a pic of my fuzzy babies. I also love recipes and would like to have a day dedicated to that. Ideally I would like to work it out so that whatever day I choose to post a recipe, I make the recipe that day so that I can include a pic of the finished product. This may be more challenging than it sounds. With winter fast approaching, I do not drive in the snowy winter months, I am scared to death of it. So I have to really really plan ahead with my grocery shopping trips since I only go when Ed is home and can drive us. Lame, yes I know, but *shrugs* that's just how it is.

Another decision to make is: Munchie Monday, Tasty Tuesday, or Tasty Thursday? Any suggestions? Opinions from my 2 readers lol?

Endings...

True Blood and Big Brother are having their last episodes of the season. I am not sure what I will watch now, probably Grey's Anatomy, I might even watch Survivor again, seeing as how Jimmy Johnson (the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys) will be a contestant.

Another ending is summer, yes I know, fall doesn't officially start until September 23rd. Tell that to our recent weather! Lots of rain with temperatures reaching a max of 64F and dipping into the 40's at night. We even had our first frost warning a few days ago. I can see the leafs starting to change colors and I cannot help but get excited. This is one of my favorite times of year.



I will take more pictures as fall progresses.

Those who know me well, know that I love looking at houses that are for sale. I was doing that today and found a house I just absolutely adored. Just for curiosities sake, I clicked the mortgage calculator to see what a monthly payment would look like on a $89,999 house. I was excited to see $498 a month. I thought to myself; wow we could handle that!! Well then I scrolled further down and saw approximated insurance cost and another fee. When they added that all up it was about $750 a month. Talk about a downer! We could probably swing that with both of us working. However, I would rather not go that high.

It was a good lesson to learn, I need to take insurance and other little fees into consideration when I am looking at houses, on top of which, I also have started to pay attention to what school district a house is in. We do want to have a child in the near future and if we are buying a house I would like to stay in it for a long while, so the school district is something we should be concerned with for the future.

With my new found knowledge, I think I will go look at more houses.

Without further ado....

I know you were waiting on pins & needles and here it is!!



Jake will soon be 9 years old and Cooter just turned 3 yrs old this month. When we first brought Cooter home, Jake didn't want much to do with him. It didn't take too long until they were the best of friends. Now they chase each other and wrestle outside, sometimes they even cuddle while taking a nap.

Yes, I'm a bad blogger...

Yes I am aware that I am a horrible blogger. I start off with an incredible enthusiam and say this time I am going to keep it up to date. Yeah that totally doesn't last long. So what the hell happens to my motivation between my first excited "Let me tell you about my life" post and the next post? I like keeping a blog, I always have something I could talk about but I for whatever reason, never make it to here to post.

I will try to be more... religious, no.. reliable, no... responsible, no... consistant!

So I finally finished my book and the editing process. I am in danger of over editing though, as I keep finding little things to change or work on. I need to just put my foot down and say enough! I have written my query letter (a one page letter consisting of a brief blurb about what your novel is about, what genre it fits in, who you are and what credentials you may or may not have.) and am currently working on the finishing touches of my synopsis (a 3-5 page document where you tell the basic plot of the book, this is commonly used by agents to sell your book to publishers.)

I may be prepping too much but I would rather have it ready now, than to get a response from an agent asking for more and me having to scramble to do something up really quick. I would rather take my time, do something that I am proud of, than to make something up last minute. I worked too long and hard on this book to half ass anything.

Tomorrow, I am going to start something new, I stole the idea from a friend, hopefully she doesn't mind. Tongue out.

Every Friday will be a small posting about Jake and Cooter, My dogs. Since neither of my dogs have names that start with the same letter as a day of the week, I have come up with Furry Fridays. So stay tuned for that, I know you will all be sitting on the edge of your seats, running to your computer and frantically clicking reload all day tomorrow until I post, but just be patient, I will try to do it as soon as I wake up and log in. :D

For today I will leave you with a picture of my new friend Hermie. A bobble head gnome I recently purchased at the Bargain Shop in the clearance aisle. Yes I know, I am weird, but hey I am secure in my overall weirdness.