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Last Meal of 2010

December 31, 2010

I revamped my Mom's Chicken Spaghetti and crossed it with the Pioneer Woman's. I also did my best to healthy it up without jeopardizing flavor. I used regular cheese, you could use reduced fat, but I was afraid it wouldn't melt right, and the added $ wasn't worth it. So here is it, the absolute last thing I cooked in 2010.

Sorry for the poor quality pic...phone photo.

Chicken Spaghetti:

Ingredients
3-4 lb fryer chicken
2 cans 99% fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 box of Ronzoni Smart Taste thin spagehtti
1 1/2 c seasoning blend
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese
1 can Rotel
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
To start off boil your chicken half to death. I put mine in the pot and let it come to a boil, then turn the heat down a slight bit so it wouldn't boil over and let it go for 30 mins. I also boiled mine in cajun seasoning, 2 bay leaves, and 4 stalks of celery. You can season it however you like, this is just how I like to do mine. Just use what you have hanging around.

After the chicken is done, take it out and let it cool off. Remove celery and bay leaves from the water...or whatever else you've added in. Add more water if necessary and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions. I like to boil my pasta in the same water to add a little flavor.

In the meantime, add all of your other ingredients, reserving 1/2 cup of cheese, into a 13x9 baking dish and mix well. This is also a good time to turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Once the chicken is cool remove skin {and trash it} and shred meat, add it to the sauce. When pasta is done drain it and add to the meat and sauce mixture. 

Combine all ingredients well and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until bubbly. 

What is the last thing you cooked this year?
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a year in review 2010

Is it seriously about to be 2011? I remember the big ordeal over 2000. Apparently time flies.


Anyway:


January:
-We went to visit Jeremy's Dad in TN and roamed around the Amish community, I as always enjoy anything canned or pickled. We also went hiking to a frozen waterfall...which I have zero pictures of because for some reason I didn't take my camera.
- Joshua Liam was born on Jan 10.
-We also celebrated Pop's Birthday and I wanted to have all 71 candles on his cake...needless to say it melted the icing.
February:
-I turned 24. I hate birthday, but Mom took me to get a facial and Jeremy got me a Dippin Dots cake. 
- I think it snowed in Feb, maybe Jan. But either way the dogs hated it.
March:
-Hmm....we played with the baby? I honestly can't remember. Oh I got one, Jeremy and I had been together for 2 years.

April:
-We wrapped an entire table at Sage in foil, the server we did it to swore to get revenge on Jeremy.
-1st Easter with the baby.

-We took our beloved motorcycle to Vicksburg to ride around the battlefield for the last time, who would have known then that we would be selling it this past November.

May:
-Jeremy and I went to Galveston for our 1 year anniversary.

-The summer of weddings kicked off and our friends Craig and Kimberly got married. This is us at the 1st of 8 weddings. At least this one was at our home church so we didn't have far to drive...the rest were a bit out of the way.
-Wedding #2 Ryan and Rachel. This could also be considered the high school reunion. Rachel wore my garter because Ryan had forgotten to buy one, this was the beginning of the Traveling Garter.
June:
-Wedding #3 my cousin Michael got married to his long time girlfriend Misty. 
-This was also the first long car trip with a baby...hence Jeremy and I don't have children yet. {haha}
-Wedding #4 our friends Ethan and Rebekah got married.
-Baby dedication at FBCV.
-I also start "death by summer school". No one in their right mind should ever cram 5 graduate classes into 2 summer blocks. Luckily June was easier then July.

July:
Wedding #5 Emily and Travis got married. To continue the joke Emily wore my garter as well and continued The Sisterhood of the Traveling Garter.
-Have I mentioned at this point I was swamped with assignmets, I literally had a paper due in a class everyday of the week...and a full blown Psycholoy test about twice a week. And wedding season just kept on rolling on.
-Family reunion whoo hoo! This was also the first time I ever fed a baby in a car, umm gross.

-Wedding #6 my cousin Chris and Brandi got married...yet another long trip with a baby in a car. Hence the lack of baby at our house.
-Wedding #7 Mom and I went to a old friend from youth group Meredith's wedding.
-Jeremy's band played a few places.
August:
-We all went out for sushi to celebrate Jeremy and Ethan's Birthday. I attempted my first layer cake and had to get Ethan's lovely caked skilled wife Bekka to save it.
-Wedding #8 my sister's friend since Pre-K got married! Love Kendra and Colt;) I can't find a pic from the actual wedding, but here is the shower with her bridesmaids. 
-Jeremy got hired to teach high school special education in the same parish I teach in. Score! He also started the same grad school program I am in.

September:
-Hmm nothing I can remember. I had my first ULM observation of my internship. Not cool. 
-One year anniversary of Nanny's death.
-Seriously we went under a rock that first full month of teaching.

October:
-Trick 'r Trunk, we had a baby in a hotdog costume so we decorated the car to look like a hotdog.

November:
-I got accepted into Kappa Delta Phi. Big deal for me, I didn't graduate with honors in high school or undergrad.
-We went to Fort Worth to visit Jeremy's Mom and Grandparents. While we were there we went to the Ice exhibit and the water garden.

December:
-My Life Group class went to the Deeper Still conference in Birmingham. We had/have been studying James since June and the class goal is/was to memorize it. Beth Moore's assistant found out about it and told Beth. Since Beth is starting a James study in Jan. she wanted to meet us, Yay! 
-We also had a first Christmas with a baby in 19 years.
-And Mom made us take twinkied out matchy matchy pictures.

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!


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{1st christmas with el nino}

December 26, 2010

Might I just say we took advantage of a baby that sleeps in and refused to wake him up. We didn't start doing presents till 9am. My poor parents were up by 7 every year with us. Poor mistreated parents. 

Even though it was raining Santa came to see us...he was a little late, but still made it before half the house was awake.  
I look like a hot mess, but Mummy Dear got me a web cam so I can Skype with Jeremy while he is on the other end of the state for the next few months. Seeing as how my Dell was created during the Dark Ages it does not have a video camera

Joshua figured out the present opening thing quick and helped his Mama out. She felt the need to stick ever bow to his head...which he honestly hated.
After all of that someone started fussing because he was hungry. I have never seen someone smile because they were getting a banana before. He just laid back, ate banana, and listened to the Chris Tomlin Christmas CD. 
Now of all the pups to get presents I think Maddie enjoyed hers the most. Annie loved her squeaky...but Maddie got her bone and sat under the tree until it was gone. 
After lunch the family headed out to take Christmas pictures. This didn't go over so well...seeing as how Vidalia does not believe in snow but instead insists it rains on Christmas day. I decided our only hope was to beg the hotel clerks to let us take a photo in front of their tree, thankfully they agreed.
Our little family. {Jeremy, me, Laura, Joshua, Mom, and Daddy} I didn't notice until later than Laura and I part our  hair opposite and fixed it the same, so it looks kind of mirror image...and odd. She just needs glasses and we could be twins. Oh notice the black shirts...Mom insisted we all match. Not "go-together", but flat out Twinkie match.
Laura and her baby are equally excited about pictures. Neither one of them ever wants to smile for the camera.
J and I. This is going to be out Christmas card picture for next year. Seeing as how he hates to take Christmas card pictures, it has forced me to be on the look out for the next card photo.
We had a fun filled...family filled day. It was fun having a baby around at Christmas for the first time in 19 years. I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas. I will be starting my diet riiiight...now. 
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DS Conference cont. and some randomness

December 24, 2010

I just checked my email and found that our Life Group leader Susan had emailed us all the picture from the Deeper Still Conference with Beth Moore. Yay! I realize I said no more blogging till after the holidays...but I can't help myself.
It was so stinking cool to get to meet Beth, I have absolutely loved her studies...and needless to say I was super excited to meet her. They shuffled us through kind of fast due to the Siesta group being behind us, but I broke my way through our group and told her how much I loved So Long Insecurity. 


Yes, I am that cheese ball. 


I am willing to admit I attempted to do the same to Wayne Newton...and managed my way on stage with Little Richard. But only because I was not about to miss my chance. And as much as I love a Beth Moore study...I was not about to miss my chance to tell her how much I appreciate her ministry. 


She was such a nice lady. She didn't even call security on the teared up 20-something that wanted to hug her neck. But you can't say you wouldn't have blamed her. 


Looking at this picture makes me miss my long hair. Well the long part of it. Not the poofed up front. Yes Jeremy, I agree it doesn't look so hot. But it my bangs are at an awkward stage of growing out. 


Well they were. Now that we are all short and stuff that isn't quite a problem. But I do still have an inappropriate love of bobby pins and getting my hair out of my face. 


How did I go from Beth Moore to hair poof?


I digress.


Not only did I love the conference and feel God whooping me on the head moving in me and exceeding my expectations of the weekend...I was...and I state again...super pumped to meet Beth. 
.............................................
Now on a related, but still not related note. I only have a week left to decide what two verses I want to start the year off with for the Siesta Scripture Memory Team. (that cute little spiral in the link and this are my early Christmas presents to myself) Decisions, decisions. 


Well I am off. After a day of cooking the girls around here are going to be lazy and watch a Christmas movie with little dude. Plus I am going to continue to look through Ephesians for something to start my year with. Any suggestions?


Feliz Navidad Bloggers!




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Look what little dude can do!

December 23, 2010

Okay I take it back I have to post this video we just took of the munchkin. He has finally decided to take more than two steps without holding onto something...but it was short lived!

So maybe I lied but I just had to document. Joshy pooh will be 1 in a few weeks...maybe he will say something by Jan 10!


Here is officially the most ridiculous Laura quote of the day:


"I hate when people Picnik their sonogram photos and put Santa hats on their fetus. We all know there isn't a candy cane in your womb!"


If you know my sister...you know these are a regular occurrence. She is rather off the wall with her thoughts of Facebook stuff. But honestly people put weird junk on there.
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Merry Christmas

I've almost forgotten to share our Christmas card with y'all! 
Nothing interesting has been going on on our end of the line. Just trying to get Jeremy ready to leave for Nicholls in January ad figure out exactly what all it entails. He officially got a graduate assistantship, in the Women in Politics office, that will pay his tuition and some extra $ each month. Hopefully this Spring semester will fly by and I can move on down to South Louisiana. Oh I think I completely forgot to mention I passed my Praxis PLT test I had to take before I could graduate, so yay. I know of a lot of people who don't pass it the 1st time...much less ever pass it so I was extremely blessed to be able to fly through my program and all the test it entails.  But that is all we have done lately. 

I hope y'all all have a wonderful Christmas holiday. I think tomorrow begins the cooking mania around here and tomorrow night we plan to get some hot coco and drive around town looking at lights with the little dude. I am really hoping Charlie Brown Christmas comes on TV  to watch with Joshua, if it does someone tweet me so I know;)


I've seen a lot of bloggers putting up Santa pictures. So I'll share Joshua's. 
Kinda blurry, but considering how much he moves, the fact that teenagers took it, and according to his momma  he was a bit unsure of the situation I'd say he did good for his 1st Christmas/Santa picture. 


He also helped eat, I mean put up the ornaments.
Surprisingly he hasn't tried to mess with the presents. He has probably been to busy feeding the dogs cheerios to see them.


Well I hope y'all have a wonderful holiday! Unless the mood strikes me I may wait until after the weekend to blog. 
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Prayers

December 22, 2010

Please pray for Olivia @  Simply Sunshine and Daisys. She went in for a hysterectomy the 17th and was put into a medically induced coma yesterday to help her heal faster. I don't know much more about it, but you can check out her blog to see updates.

 Please keep her, her fiance, and her family in your prayers.

http://simplysunshineanddaisys.blogspot.com/
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Honeymoon Registries-tacky or tasteful?

December 20, 2010

What do y'all think about honeymoon registries? 


When were were registering for our wedding the honeymoon registry was becoming something...but not exactly used. I personally find it tacky. But to each their own. 


These days there are sites like The Honeymoon that offer a host of honeymoon destinations and a place for guests to donate towards your honeymoon. Then there are websites like A Great Affair that offers registries for anything from honeymoon to Bar Mitzvah to anniversary to housewarming.  A Great Affair even offers graduation registries and holiday registries. When did people start registering for this stuff? I thought you were supposed to be grateful for anything you got. Instead there is a major push towards picky and borderline ungrateful. At least that is how I view it. 


It has been long thought of as not following wedding etiquette to flat out ask for money. Technically these types of registries shouldn't be listed on invites and definitely not included in the actual wedding invitation. If people were to donate at all it should be completely by word of mouth. Which then leads to the wedding website...is it word of mouth to advertise that you want money on the site or is it the same as a invitation? 


Many couples reasons for not wanting to do a regular registry stem from the fact that many already live together and they say they do not need household things, so instead they ask for money. One couple on a review site made the comment that they were from different parts of the country an it made it easier on guests to not have to lug gifts cross country on a plane. Okay I could take that point if in fact most registries offer online options and you can purchase and ship directly to the couple. But again, to each their own. 


But I digress, according to wedding etiquette asking for money of any sort is considered rude. Granted the honeymoon registry isn't asking for cold hard cash...but it is still rude in the spectrum of wedding etiquette. 


Do y'all know anyone that did a honeymoon registry? Or have you ever contributed to a honeymoon registry? What did y'all think about it?



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{my recipe wish to make soon list}

December 19, 2010

I just picked up a copy of Southern Living {December 2010} and I now have an extensive list of things I want to make for Christmas. Jeremy is anti-mixing-it-up and wants nothing more than the usual holiday sides. I disagree. I like to try new stuff. So here is my wish list of recipes out of the December issue I would like to make. All the pictures were taken from the Southern Living site and if you click on the title it will take you to the recipe.





{Red Velvet Souffle with Whipped Sour Cream}

{Lemon Garlic Green Beans}


{Bacon Grits Fritters}

{Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies}

{Salted Caramel Pecan Bars}


Hope y'all enjoy, and if you try one of them let me know how it turns out. I plan on using my two weeks off work wisely and making at much junk as humanly possible. 

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{the library}

December 18, 2010

I finally figured out why I have been in such a funk. And when I say funk I mean fighting back tears one minute and threatening to rob children of a school Christmas party the next. I even had a "no fly" list of people who would not be able to be at the Christmas party...cause I was in some big kind of funk.

Well the source...I just miss Nanny. The holiday is hitting me harder than I thought and I surely couldn't figure out why.

I guess this sort of thing is going to happen from time to time from now till the day I die.

But you know what I will miss a million times more once we have kids, going to the library to see Nanny. My grandmother was a librarian for 20 years, and 90% of my little kid memories of her were at the library. I spent so much time there during the summer at Summer Reading Program. I wish I could take Joshua to the library to see Nanny, and to hear her read books during the Summer program. I'd love to be able to take my own kids one day to see her. My sister and I were lucky as hell to have a grandmother with a job like that, one where we could just go see her, hang out, and tell her how our day at school was.

Want to know something weird, well maybe it just shows my lack of memory. I get my grandparents phone # and the library phone # mixed up. When Nanny still worked there I often called to talk to her and would never get the right place the first time. Luckily the library ladies loved me enough to redirect me;) I still have to look up the number when I want to call Pop, because the first number that comes to mind is the library. Oddly I don't know Jeremy's cell number but I can recall the Vidalia library phone number.

So Mom, you should quit working in education and become a librarian so I can bring out kids to see you one day. Only because I liked going to see Nanny so much.
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Who's that doggy in the oven?

December 16, 2010

The one that apparently smells like chicken an rice.

I honestly can't tell if she is looking at herself or smelling the food. She's an odd one.

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Captain's Cheese Dip

December 15, 2010

Well, I'm not gonna lie. I have sucked it up with food posts. Not that I haven't cooked. I just haven't blogged new recipes.

But, and it is a big but! At Heart 2 Home last Monday my Heat Mom Debra made the most awesome dip on the face of the Earth. It took everything in me to be lady like and not scarf it down like a mad woman. So here it is, the healthy version of course...because I can't do it any other way. Plus I couldn't taste a difference by cutting out a good chunk of the fat. Oh and there is no picture because I couldn't control myself and the next thing I knew it was long gone. 

Captain's Cheese Dip

  • 1/4 cup fat free mayo
  • 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 8 ounces low fat cream cheese
  • 1 green onion, finely chopped
  • 10 Ritz crackers, crushed
  • 1/3 cup cooked bacon, chopped
  • 1/2 cup pepper jelly

What I did:
Mix first four ingredients til creamy and place in a glass pie dish.Bake at 350 for 15 minute or until crusty on edge. Remove for oven and top with crumbled Ritz and bacon pour glaze over top. Serve with crackers, or whatever you like...eating it with a spoon would work too.

**if you want to make it the regular way use 1/2 mayo instead of the fat free mayo and sour cream and also use regular cream cheese. But it you want to go lower fat use turkey bacon, I just didn't have any on hand.
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Wordless Wednesday

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