Crock-Au-Vin

This was dinner last night. I got the recipe here www.vocalpoint.com . It was really easy and took no more than 30 minutes to prep and your house smells fantastic for hours.

CROCK-AU-VIN

4 bone in chicken legs and/or thighs
4 slices of bacon, cut in pieces
2 onions, cut in medium wedges
4 carrots, roughly chopped
3/4 cup red wine (Burgundy)
1 Tbsp flour
A few leaves of thyme

Combine all the ingredients in the crock pot, give it a brief stir to cover chicken with ingredients, and turn on LOW for 6-8 hours until chicken is cooked through and beginning to fall apart, and the vegetables are tender. If the liquid needs thickened, stir in another tablespoon of flour with the heat still on until it thickens. Ladle into bowl, top with a chicken leg, and serve with a side og green beans or a salad.

I made a few changes.....I used 6 drumsticks....there was plenty of room in my crock pot. I, also, used a few sprigs of thyme. I served it with french bread. I used Burgundy wine (in the original recipe they screwed the pooch and had Chardonnay as the other red wine choice...which is all kinds of wrong). So if you have cooked with red wine before and want to use a different red wine...go for it.

Scallop Couscous Paella

I actually made this back on the 29th of August, but never got around to blogging about it. Here is the link to the recipe: www.familycircle.com/recipe/scallop-couscous-paella/ It makes a whole lot (like ratatouille a lot), so be prepared for leftovers. :)

Two In One Day

Last Friday was OD (Organizational Day) for hubby's unit. We all wore our new ugly shirts with our call signs on the sleeves ( Secret Squirrel, Household 6, Confidential Squirrel, FOUO Squirrel). We actually missed most of it...the boys were in school and by the time we got there it was pretty much over. That was fine with us....the boys enjoyed playing in the water and we enjoyed watching them play. :) I was trying to catch up last week after being gone for a week. I got my little books done for the Halloween Little Book Swap...I still need to take a photo. I've got 27 pages to make for the Christmas ABC Book Swap and goody bags for the PC Witches Tea. Behind, behind....that doesn't include needing to update my shop. I had a whole game plan for the shop and poof those plans are gone (I should've written down my ideas...that will teach me).
Oh well.....back to work. At least I can cross update blog off my to do list. :)

The one where I explain my absence

I was doing better about the blogging and then on the 1st of September my Aunt died. I flew back to Pennsylvania on the 3rd and stayed for a week. That was the first time in 18 years that I had flown into Pittsburgh. Not quite how I wanted to come back...but hey..it is what it is. :) We had three viewings and I was bad...when given the opportunity to leave early from the last one....I took it. The service was nice and it rained at the graveside....which coming in from Southern Arizona I was loving. Rain with no thunder and lightning...wouldn't you?? My brother, sister and brother-in-law all drove up. I got to see all my cousins and their children. It was kind of neat seeing everyone together. They had a wake at the church and those church ladies totally rock.....they even had made from scratch angel food cake.

I did get in some thrifting. I have to say....I love Pennsylvania and their insanely low prices. If I had an extra suitcase....oy. I found a few nifty things....I got a bunch of vintage playskool puzzles (the wooden ones) for a quarter a piece, a vintage ravioli form for $1.99, and vintage linens/lace for 50 cents a piece. I can't wait for my parents to retire, so that I can drop the kids off and shop. :) I got the required PITT shirts for me and the boys (and a Penguins shirt for hubby...he wouldn't wear a PITT shirt even if he was naked and needed clothing). I brought home cookies which wee one helped me eat.

The another thing I love about Pennsylvania is that it is so green. It is so pretty. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but you can see some that I did. Yes, I had to take picture of the mushrooms in my Uncle's yard. Hell....I took a picture of the grass for wee one....he loves grass and misses it. Yes, we now have some grass in the backyard....thanks to monsoon season....it won't last long though. :( The first photo is the side yard at my Grandma's house.....you can see an outline in the grass.....that used to be a giant garden. Oh well. It was a nice trip under the circumstances. It was nice to go back. It's probably as close to a home base as I have....especially after my parents retire.

I did it!

I finally updated my etsy shop. I figured it was about time. It is just a small update. I've added paper and ephemera packs (pictured above), more vintage books and a few other items. It took all morning and afternoon....oy. This has to be quick...wee one's bus will be here soon. Have a great weekend!

The Rest of Summer Vacation

I guess since as of this morning Summer Vacation is entirely over (high school started on Monday and wee one went back today) I had better finish up all the stuff from summer break. I managed to read 11 books and go see 4 movies (Cars II and Winnie the Pooh rounded out the month of July). I, also, got adventurous in the kitchen. The picture above is ratatouile. High Schooler decided one day that we should make some (he tried a grilled version at the Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix at the beginning of summer and wanted to make the old school version)...turned out I made it...that is a lot of slicing and dicing. It made a huge ass pot. Here is the link to that recipe: www.easy-french-food.com/ratatouille-recipe.html . It went over well. About a week before that we made this www.foodsessed.com/2010/04/20/baby-octopus-with-garlic-and-parsley . Since the ratatouille I've done this www.whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/OystersPanFried.htm and made these www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/05/smoked_salmon_with_black_pepper_potato_chips_and_lemon_creme_fraiche Oy...that has to be this longest link ever. :) Big disclaimer here....I love food....I just don't each much of it. Everything made above was for hubby and high schooler. I got some thrifting in this summer....hopefully, I'll get pictures taken and things listed in my neglected tiny Etsy shop in the next few weeks. I'm going to go enjoy the silence some more before they return from school. :)

Mini-Vacation, Part 2

Saturday morning we headed to the Reid Park Zoo (www.tucsonzoo.org). Wee one has actually been there...that is where they had a field trip in the Spring. It is rather nice..not too big, not too small. I did take pictures of the giraffes, but about a week after we visited one of the giraffes died. :( It was starting to warm up, so we went back to the hotel for a dip (okay, I didn't..they did). Hubby and Jr went here www.funtasticks.com for some father/son bonding time. For dinner, we ran across the road to here www.monkeyburgerrestaurant.com. The burgers were excellent, they make homemade chips to go with them and they have beer on tap (not that I drink beer). We hit a few shops the next day on the way home (Trader Joe's, Super Target, a new B&N for us). It was a nice, little last minute trip.

Our Mini-Vacation, Part 1

Hubby got his leave approved at the last minute, so choices of where we could go were limited. We decided on Tucson..close enough that the drive didn't suck, but far enough to get away from work. :) We drove in on Thursday (stopping at a few thrift stores to appease me and a Toys'R'Us to appease them) and stayed at the Embassy Suites- Williams Center. They are quite affordable in AZ during the summer. :) We walked over to Target and got Pizza Hut that night for dinner...real exciting, I know. Friday was a busy day. We started here
http://www.tucsonbotanical.org/, then hit this http://www.theminitimemachine.org/ (which has a great deal going on until Labor Day...active duty military and their families get in for free), then we hit a mall and saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II", and ended with a trip to Olive Garden for dinner. The photos are from the Tucson Botanical garden....I took over 60..hard to pick which ones to post. There is no photography allowed at the Mini Time Machine Museum...it was cute though. You go through and can pick up storybook sheets to build a kind of choose your own adeventure book. They give you a cover and some brads at the end to put it all together. Part 2 will cover Saturday and Sunday of our mini vacation. :)

Fourth of July Weekend

My parents drove down from UT and we met them in Phoenix. We stayed with them at the Embassy Suites for the night. The next morning, they all went for a swim and I took photos. Hubby and I headed back to Fort Huachuca and the boys stayed with my parents. We hit Barnes & Noble, Michaels, and Jo-Ann's (which turns out to be right across the street from the Michaels). On the Fourth of July (since we were kid free) we went and saw a movie. Bad Teacher was pretty funny. The boys were returned to us a few days later (after being spoiled rotten). I guess I need to download the photos from our "vacation" we took about a week later. :)

Shadowbox Swap

I never remember how to order my photos. The first five are items that I made for inside her shadowbox...her being Stevie (www.myartcanvas.blogspot.com). I had the worst time painting this shadowbox. The first one..the colors were too bright and I tried painting over them...not my best work. So I ordered two more shadowboxes...good thing I did. I settled on white, because she likes Shabby Chic and Rachel Ashwell paints everything white. :) I was stupid and left the paint for the inner boxes out and wee one decided he wanted to paint. He painted the outside box green....not all of it. I barely had enough green to finish the inside boxes, so I used the outside box of shadowbox #3 and started over again. I decided against the birthday theme, so that she can have it out year round. She is the only female in her household as well. I can feel her pain. I, also, did not glue anything down.....I thought she might like to pull things out to touch them....which led me to fill the last boxes with handmade items she could wear and put back. I made a brooch (with reclaimed Simply Shabby Chic fabric), a ring, and three bobby pins with vintage findings. I had a good time making those and I am tempted to make more. Her favorite colors are pink, mint green, and aqua. The bottom photo is the little box of adorable she made me. :) There is a little fairy sitting on a cake and a fake strawberry....she makes her own strawberries and that is why she got a pea pod from me. She loves fake food as well. :)

Overdue Swap Photos

Loads of swap goodies came my way in the last month. Little books, bling and summer lovin tags. My contibution to the tag swap was the snow cone in the upper right hand corner. I used glittered paper for the ice part....it glimmers like a real snow cone (thank you cheap Target scrapbooking paper....99 cents for two 12" by 12" sheets and they have eight packs of other paper for the same price...check it out) and a real snow cone holder for the snow cone holder....you can't fake that waxed paper cone...so I cut up real ones. Next post will cover the Birthday Treasury Shadowbox Swap...what I sent and what I received. Then I'll cover what we've been up to the last few weeks.....I remembered my camera and took photos. :) Woohoo...a few more weeks and school starts.

Pea Pickin Cake

This was my birthday cake. It is a Pea Pickin Cake...it wasn't pretty, but it was really tasty. I got the recipe from my cousin's wife. Here is the recipe:

Pea Pickin Cake

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix

11 ounce can mandarin oranges (juice and all)

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 box of instant vanilla pudding (small)

Mix all together. Bake in 3 (9-inch) round cake pans for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees in greased and floured pans. When completely cooled, frost and refrigerate. Can be made 2 to 3 days ahead.

Frosting

16 ounce container Cool Whip

1 large package of vanilla instant pudding

20 ounce can crushed pineapple (juice too)

Combine all ingredients; frost layers of cake and refrigerate.

I hope you'll try it. It is really good and it was even better the day after....breakfast cake. Billy was so excited and kept saying "birthday cake" all day. He couldn't wait any longer at one point and took the cake out of the fridge and had it on the couch. Too funny. Summer Break sucks....kids 24/7...argh. Hard on the crafting (or even thinking)....I managed to finally finish my tags for the Summer Loving Tag Swap yesterday. I need to get them in the mail today. I need to work on two more projects...treasury shadowbox and Christmas ABC pages. I haven't had a lot of chance to look for fun stuff for the box. I screwed up the first one and had to order another box....double argh. My partner and I agreed to a later mail out date....so some of the pressure is off. :) I need to cut out the backs for the pages....27 of them...oy. I know what I want to do...it is a matter of cutting out the backs. Lazy ass procrastinater....that is what I am. Before I forget...Amy and Jane win the extra tags/books...congratulations. I guess I need to go and get some stuff done. :) Have a good day!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday....I'm 39...not ashamed of my age. Small blog absence.....things have been nutty. I got three swaps taken care of (as you can see).....charms, little books, and mailed out the tags from my Secret Garden Tag Swap. I had the hardest time getting the backs off of the vintage jewelry.....after that it wasn't bad....I enjoyed gluing them onto bails. I made two little books instead of one....yes, a food theme....I can't help myself. The one example of the fruit book was the wrong one....I needed to get them in the mail. I hand drew and watercolored them. I used the cutest fabric (that I've had for about 18 years) for the covers of the books. I didn't have much choice in paper (local UPS had super thin, linen finish, and card stock), so they are a little thicker than I wanted and not all of them folded up good....I am bummed.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure (it was all theirs) to join my guys in Phoenix for the Comic Con. Think Silver Bella for geeks, nerds, and the like. Everyone wore their badges with pride....everywhere. Billy got to join his Dad and Brother twice.....he took an Imperial Cadet Training Course....he wore the stormtrooper helmet the whole time. I was upstairs bored off my ass in the hotel room most of the weekend. Thank goodness they had USA on cable. :) It is going to be a long summer. They don't have summer school for Special Needs children here, so Billy is going to be a handful. Fun, fun, fun. I've been working on my shadowbox for Stevie...oy. I, also, need to work on 12 tags for Jonnelle's round of the tag swap. Nothing like having a great idea and being foiled by your printer/scanner that doesn't love you anymore. The printer works...the scanner not so much. I need to get a new one...scanners are important....I don't like using original vintage ephemera (photos and such) if I can help it. I have ABC pages that are due at the end of the month as well. I know what I'm doing for those....it will just involve a lot of cutting...procrastinating (as usual). Oh well.

Okay...now for the fun part....since it is my Birthday.....I'm going to have a giveaway. If you would like to win a set of Secret Garden Tags (shown in the last picture), just leave a comment on this post. I will leave it open until the Army's Birthday (Flag Day to civilians). I have two sets of tags, so two winners. I'll probably throw in sets of wonky little books as well and who knows what else. Good luck and now I need to figure out when the commissary opens....I want to bake my birthday cake, but I'm missing one ingredient.

I've signed up...now it's your turn

All that lovely fabulousness is from the amazing Amy Powers. The top photo is one of the projects in her new online magazine (www.amy-powers.com/mag/birthdaysubscribe.html ) and she turned around and made it into a swap (www.inspireco.blogspot.com/2011/05/birthday-treasury-swap.html ). Of course, I signed up...it is a swap I've never done before and my birthday is coming up....perfect. You fill out a small survey, so that she can match you up with a like-minded soul. I lucked out and got Stevie (http://www.myartcanvas.blogspot.com/) and both like very similiar things...awesome. It will make it a very enjoyable swap. Yes, the partner turn around time is quick...that Amy is on the ball. You have until the 31st of May to sign up.

Another swap to join (because we still need 8 more gals) is the next round of our Tag Swapper Group. Jonnelle is the hostess this go around. She chose the theme "Summer Lovin" and they are due to her by the 17th of June. If you are interested in joining us (and getting on the master list for the next round), email her at scraps4alex@live.com .

I found the cutest little craft store today. Right here in Sierra Vista...so nice to know that I don't have to drive into Tucson for some things. Much better selection than our neighborhood Walmart. I needed bails and they had a better selection than Hobby Lobby did back in Georgia. The prices are reasonable as well. Happy, happy. It left me enough time to get in a little thrifting. I've been working on my little book for Michelle's swap. I still need to figure out my front and back covers. I did something a little out of my comfort zone for the pages....I'm really happy about them though. I just need to pick my favorites and put them on the template. The best part...in today's paper was a 10% off color printing coupon for the local UPS store. Not extreme couponing, but it makes me happy to save some pennies. :)

I almost forgot.....I mailed off the tags in the last round (Secret Garden) of the tag swap. We have two extra sets that I will be giving away here on the blog. I need to take photos first. You know how slow I am at that, plus I want to give the girls who participated a chance to get theirs in the mail. So check back next week for a chance to win a set. It means I will have to blog....because I have been sucking at that. :)

A Happy Birthday and Two Week Re-cap

Long two weeks. Let's see....top photo is Day 8 of the Easter Swap..made by Sarah (http://www.mamabubbles.blogspot.com/). It is an adorable chick basket made out of a sweater and fabric. Day 9 was Monique (no blog) and she made pins out of rick rack. I've always wanted to attempt that...now I don't have to. :) The boys had a long weekend that weekend....one had a four day weekend, the other a three day weekend. The last photo is Billy with his Easter haul (and some of his brother's as well). This is the first Easter that he had some idea about the Easter Bunny. They covered it at school...he says, "Easter Bunny" pretty good. I had his IEP that following week..always a joy...at least I don't cry through them anymore. We picked up Hubby the next day at the aiport....the drive went pretty smoothly. We went to the Waffle House right after we got Hubby....it's been four months since we've been to one. Billy loves Waffle House...he can get a waffle, bacon and a coke. He ate his waffle and bacon and some of mine....darn him. Poor baby has been home sick since yesterday. :( Secret Garden Tags have been trickling in....I have eight more sets I'm waiting for....the tags are pretty good. Billy is waiting for me....so last, but not least....Happy Birthday, Mommy!! We love you!!