Stressed But Blessed!

A good many things have been on my mind lately. Okay, maybe lately is not the right word, more like constantly. Things are sure changing fast around here and my poor brain is in overdrive trying to keep up with it all.

Another one of the Herd is graduating this year, my 1st born of my 3 biological children will graduate in a short 2 months time. I remember clearly getting ready to have her and being so scared. I had no clue how to raise a child but I was sure having one! I think she has turned out alright, all things considered. I mean she broke a few bones and got a few bruises along the way but she is a smart, happy, beautiful young lady so I guess I figured it out! Here is my little girl, all grown up!

 

She has such a future ahead of her and I am so proud to be her Momma but I have to admit, its killing me the thought of her leaving home and venturing out into that big scary world. She has always been fearless and head strong, qualities I know will serve her well as she heads out into adulthood. She is going to be going pre-med and plans to be a flight medic/firefighter....yeah, that's not helping the worry factor any but I cannot deny her passion and I never would! Just have to pray really hard and try to trust God will watch over my Mac. He loves her even more than I do if you can believe that!

 

Hoss has been hired by LSU to be an instructor for their fire school program. I cannot tell you how excited he is about this and I am too! I am just so proud of all he has managed to accomplish all while working 2 jobs and helping raise a small army of kids with me. This new position could mean big things for him down the line but even if he never goes any higher, he is so in his element teaching firefighting to newbies! He LOVES to train people to be the best that they can be and he will be right at home with LSU doing that for sure!

 

 

 

We are still house hunting. We are so ready to have our own house again! Starting to think that it is just never going to happen and I get discouraged some days, The housing market here is just so insane! We looked at one house and it has no central heat/air, no washer/dryer hook ups, needed to be rewired and plumbed, hadn't been updated since it was built in the 1940's! Lets not even mention the cleaning up outside that needed to be done and they wanted $90K for it!!! I refuse to pay that for a house I will have to put that much into to make it livable! It's just crazy here, you have no idea. Things in our price range are rat holes or they are gone as soon as they are up for sale! Its been almost 4 years of looking and nothing.....until now.

 

We are trying to purchase a house but it is not a done deal yet! I am trying so hard not to get my hopes up but oh Lord, I want this house!!! I am so worried it is not going to come to be and then I worry I am worrying for nothing!! In case you haven't noticed, my designation in this family is Chief Worrier! We are just trying to trust that if this house is what God wants for us, it will happen. If not, something else will. It's so hard to be patient.

 

We have been dealing with a wayward child for awhile too. I am not going into detail there just know she was raised right, but chooses to ignore her raising these days and it is causing a lot of stress for her Dad and I. Nothing we can do about it because she is out of the house but pray and let her figure it out on her own. Man that sucks, do you hear me?? It sucks! Please say a prayer for parents everywhere with wayward children, and pray for that child too. They need the help!

 

 

Today I ordered a book marker with my sweet Grandmother's obituary on it. It's kind of a thing in my family to have these little cardstock mementoes, if you will, of our loved ones. I never got one after her funeral in October. Not sure if my mother didn't order any or if she just failed to give me one, either way today I order one for myself and one for each of my children. I wanted one and well, I don't need my mother to get it for me. I miss my Grandmother everyday and I cry a lot in private because I just have days where the grief is too much. She was my rock and I miss her terribly.

 

 

 

Still very much struggling with the drama that is my mother, some things I think will just always be the way they are. I cannot make her love me and be a real mother and I have grown so tired of chasing her love and I am done. I deserve better. She doesn't know the person she is missing out on and I hate that for her. I don't hate it for me because I have been blessed with so many other mothers in my life and I know what a mother's love is thanks to those women! I know someday she will need me when her world crumbles and time will show her. Pray for her, she needs it.

 

While all this is weighing on me, both good and bad things surrounding us, I know in my heart that I am stressed but so blessed as well! Things can always be worse and I try do hard to be thankful for the wonderful things I have been given. God is with us and He loves us so much. He has blessed this family beyond measure!! We praise Him in the sunshine and the rain!!

 

Have a good weekend everyone! Know we love you all and life is good!

 

Love From Louisiana,

 

Sandy

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

I found this recipe awhile back and my family really loved it. I decided to make it again last night and about half way through the process, I thought I should share this!

One thing about this recipe. It can take awhile to get all the chicken ready, or at least it does me. I realize most people do not cook for a small army like I do but just wanted to warn you. This is not a hard recipe at all just can be time consuming if you are trying to make a lot at one time. I actually made enough of the chicken to freeze it already fried for the next time we want this so as to speed the process up a bit. You could even make the sauce up ahead of time a freeze it if you wanted.

This chicken is great for just about any kind of chicken dish. You can use it for sesame chicken, General Tso, even orange chicken. Its just a good basic chicken to keep on hand.

Hope y'all enjoy this as much as we did!



Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken

3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breast
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
canola oil

Sauce

1 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbsp ketchup
2/3 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp garlic powder


Rinse your chicken breast in cold water and place on a cutting board. Sprinkle them with the salt and pepper, cut into small pieces and set aside in a bowl.  Pour the cornstarch into a small bowl and the beaten eggs into another small bowl.

                                                 Told you I was half way through when I decided to blog this!
                                                                        Note the mess in the bowls! lol

In a large skillet, heat up about 1/4 inch of canola oil. Dip your chicken in the cornstarch 1st, then in the egg and place in the hot oil. Brown your chicken pieces on both sides and remove with a slotted spoon to a greased 9x13 pan, like so:

 

Once you get all your chicken browned, its time to make the sauce! In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients together and make sure it is mixed well.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir it all around!

 

 

Now you will bake the chicken at 325 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to coat the chicken evenly as it bakes.  It will look like this when its done:

Yummy, Yummy!!

 

Try this one out, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Wonder if God tells people to "Have A Six Flags Day?"

    
  A roller coaster. Yeah, that's what we'll call it, a roller coaster. My life is a roller coaster. I am not the biggest fan of the roller coaster to be honest but I have a few I like so maybe they aren't all bad. One curve after another followed by an upside down loop or two, some steep hills and low valleys pretty much sums up these last few months for me. Not sure the ride is over just yet either.

   We just keep putting our hands up for the ride attendant to check our safety harness as we go one more round on the coaster! All we can do I guess, make sure we are locked in and secure before we take off.

   I the last few months I have had some health issues, buried the one consistent person in my life, my Grandmother, had major family issues, major house issues and just generally had a crappy go of things. We are still standing, I am not sure some days how but the fact remains we are.  Just haven't had the heart to blog anything lately.


   I think God is kind of like our ride attendant. He never promises us an easy walk through the amusement park of life but He is the one who is there making sure we are secure in our seats! He is there at the beginning of the ride and at the end as well. He is also watching out for us all along the ride ready to come to our aid if we call out to Him. I hate to think how bad that ride would have been without Him.

  Maybe I am a little loopy making this comparison or maybe I just need a day at Six Flags, who knows? I just know its been crazy lately but it could have been so much worse and I thank God for getting us through the rough spots!

  Have a great day everyone and hopefully I will be cranking out some useful blogs again soon! 



Love You All,

Sandy

Monkey Bread 101

So I have this cousin whose name I will not share, (initials are K.W.), who messaged me asking how to make Monkey Bread.

 While I thought everyone knew how to make this , it seems she did not know, even said I could laugh at her for not knowing!

Well now, I wouldn't do that but I did tell said cousin that I would make a post about it and she could then no longer be ridiculed for not knowing how to making Monkey Bread!

Okay so maybe she isn't exactly being "ridiculed" for not making Monkey Bread but for dramatic effect, let's all agree now that happened!!! LOL!

So for K.W., I proudly present:

Monkey Bread 101

4 cans, 10 count each, "whomp" biscuits

 (We call them Whomp Biscuits because you have to whomp the cans to get them to open!)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 stick of butter, melted

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 gallon sized ziploc bag

1 Bundt pan

Non-stick spray

1st thing you are going to do is cut your biscuits into 4 pieces and place into a bowl. I use a clean pair of kitchen shears for this, much quicker!

Here is the biscuits I used

Here they are all cut up and in the bowl

Now put the white sugar and the cinnamon into the ziploc bag

Add the biscuit pieces a few at a time and shake to coat. Only do about 8 or so at a time or they will stick to each other and not get all that wonderful sugar all over them. You want that, trust me, you do!!

Spray your Bundt pan with the non-stick spray. Spray it GOOD! Be sure you get around the part that sticks up in the middle too.

The next step is to take the pieces out of the bag and start layering them into the Bundt pan. Just shake them to coat and throw them in. Continue until you have all the pieces coated. This step takes a bit of time.

When you get to the last pieces you can sprinkle the left over sugar cinnamon from the bag over the pan too if you'd like. Don't have to but I do. I mean what's more sugar going to hurt at this point?

Now you take your melted stick of butter and the 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar and place it in the same bowl you had the biscuit pieces in. (No sense in dirtying up another bowl) and mix it up together. It will be grainy but that's how you want it.

Pour over the biscuits in the bundt pan. Be sure to pour it evenly over. Scrape the bowl to get all that sugary goodness out!

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it stand 5 minutes then place a plate over the pan and flip the Monkey Bread out onto the plate! Be sure your plate is bigger than the bundt pan or has a lip because the caramel like stuff inside will run off the plate if not contained.

Fresh out of the oven:

And On the Plate!

Look at how the light catches the glaze!! Beautiful Deliciousness!!



Chicken & Dumplings....the Easy Way!

When I ran across this recipe on Pintrest I just had to try it! Man I was not disappointed one bit! I love some good old chicken & dumpling but rarely have the time to make it anymore. This easy casserole has all that gooey, chicken deliciousness without all the hassle!

So without further delay, I present to you:

Chicken and Dumpling Casserole

4 cups of cooked chicken*

3 cups chicken broth*

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking power

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups milk

2 cans cream of chicken soup

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a 13x9 baking dish, melt the butter in the oven.

Shred the chicken & spread it on top of the butter in dish.

In a bowl, whisk together milk, flour, salt & baking powder. Slowly pour mixture over the chicken but DO NOT STIR IT INTO THE CHICKEN!

In another bowl, whisk together the chicken broth and the cream of chicken soup. Pour over the flour mixture but again, DO NOT STIR IT IN!

Bake uncovered for about 40 to 45 minutes.

* I use canned chicken I had gotten on sale when I made this but if you have some left over turkey or even some you can boil and debone, then use it! I like to use large cans of the chicken just to save time!

Took 3 of these to have enough chicken. They are 12.5 oz cans. I just empty it out into a small strainer to drain it, then use a fork to shred it up.

* For the chicken broth, I use this:

I keep this for all my broth needs if I am not boiling my own chicken or turkey. Its is cheap, this container has lasted our family for almost a year! 1 tsp of this & 1 cup of water is the same as 1 cup of broth. You can find this in the "Hispanic" foods section of Walmart. 

Buy the Knorr Caldo Con Sabor de Pollo...seriously cheaper than bullion and MUCH taster!

Brown Paper Flooring 101

Upon deciding that I had totally lost my mind and that I needed to remodel my youngest 2 girls room while they were away, I looked at my flooring options. I didn't have a ton of money to spend and really wanted something unique. What I found was Brown Paper Flooring and my adventure began!

Yes you heard me right, PAPER! I did some research on this and concluded this was what we needed. It was very cheap, (I have about $65 in about 130 square feet of flooring), very pretty and holds up really well.

To start this process you need to buy:

• Rolls of brown craft paper. Usually found in the tape and packing area of Walmart, they run about $5 for a 75 sq ft roll. Figure up the square footage of the area you are doing and add just a little extra to account for overlap and such. My area was 130 sq ft and I used 2 rolls of paper.
• A gallon of Elmer's Glue All, sold at most hardware stores for around $15
• 1 gallon of fast drying, high traffic polyurethane coating in whatever finish you like. I used a high gloss from Walmart, ran about $30.
• KNEE PADS....seriously, this is a MUST! You spend most of your time on your butt with this project but you will need knee pads when you are trying to lay around the wall edges!

I did this over concrete that had 50 year old tiles on top. I removed the tiles and washed the floor several times just to get it ready for the glue to stick once I started. My floor was nice and even, no holes that needed filling. If you need to fill in any spots on your floor now is the time to do so, otherwise you could end up with bubbles in your flooring.

Here is what mine looked like just before I started

Now the night before I started I sat and tore both the rolls of paper into pieces about a foot long, then tore them in half again. I then crumbled them up and placed them into a big laundry basket. This made it much easier to continue working and not have to stop and tear paper.

The next step is to take just a few pieces, like 2 or 3 at a time and soak them in your glue. Now I mixed my glue with water at a ratio of 2 glue to 1 water. This means 2 cups of glue, 1 cup of water. I used an old mop bucket we had to do this in.

You do not want to soak more than about 3 pieces at a time because they will get really soggy and be almost impossible to use. Also you just need to soak them for a small time, just enough to get them wet with the glue. When you are ready to lay a new piece down, gently squeeze the wad of paper to get rid of any excess glue and then gently pull the paper back into the larger size.

Starting in the farthest corner from your door out of the room, smooth the pieces of paper out onto your prepared floor. Try and line the straight edge up with your walls, it just makes it easier for you. You need to gently smooth the paper, it will tear if you are not gentle enough. I tried using gloves but found it was very hard to feel if all the air bubbles were out form underneath so I just got in there and got my hand dirty! I also found that getting a little extra of the glue on my hands aided in the smoothing out process. It gave the paper some added glue that maybe had dried some while working it into place. Use your fingers to add glue to any corners that don't seem to want to stay put too.

Continue along, overlapping pieces as you go! Here is about 1/2 way through my project.

Keep in mind as you go that the more random your pieces look, the better! After you get the entire floor covered you need to let it dry completely. You will know it is totally dry when the entire area is the color the paper was originally. Also, if you happen to tear a part while you are doing this, don't sweat it! Just take a pieces big enough to cover the tear, or the gap if you have some in the patchwork, soak it in the glue mix and smooth it over the tear/gap.

Here is what my floor looked like as it dried

The next step after your floor is totally dry is to stain it! Now you don't HAVE to stain it and I liked the coloring of the plain brown paper but decided to stain it after all! Choose your stain color and get after it! I used a small foam roller and tray to stain my floor, being careful not to leave tons of extra stain on the floor. (On a side note, be sure you ventilate the room WELL when doing this step. If you can, leave for the night because stain is seriously stout smelling stuff that lingers!) This step needs to sit at least 10 hours, longer is better just so the stain has a chance to dry. I stained in the morning around 8 am and it was about 12 hours before I went back to start the next step.

Keep in mind the floor will not be totally dry from the stain, it will be where you can walk on it but the stain will not completely dry no matter how long you wait but give it 10 to 12 hours.

Once your stain has been applied and set for about 12 hours, you are ready to start applying what you will surely think is the easiest part of this flooring process, the polyurethane!!

Here is the floor after the stain has dried:

I love how it looks like tanned leather!



Again, I used a small foam roller and tray set, actually the same tray from the stain, and applied a layer of this to the floor:

I had planned to do 1 coat in the morning after breakfast and then apply a 2nd coat late in the evening, giving 10 or so hours in between coats. However, this stuff dries so fast that in 6 hours time I could walk on it and apply another layer, so I was able to get 3 coats in a day so it really sped things up alot!

MAKE SURE you stir the polyurethane really good EVERY TIME you use it or else you will end up near the bottom of the can and have  a layer that looks like a matte finish instead of glossy. This happened to me but it was easily fixable. I purchased a quart of the same brand poly in a gloss finish and applied 1 more layer, problem solved.

In total I put 8 layers of polyurethane on my flooring. Overkill? Perhaps but it is beautiful and sturdy as can be! We have moved beds across it and it is holding up just fine! If you do for some reason ever get a tear, just get some paper and repair the spot just like you did when you where laying the floor. Follow the steps and it will never be seen!

Here is my finished floor! Ain't she a beaut??

Oh So Yummy Chocolate Cobbler

This is one of my favs, Chocolate Cobbler. Super easy, great for those that love chocolate!

Chocolate Cobbler

2 sticks butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup self-rising flour

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 milk

Chocolate Layer

1 cup sugar

6 TBSP Cocoa powder

2 Cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a glass baking dish, melt the 2 sticks of butter in the oven.

In a bowl, mix together the 1 1/4 cups of sugar, the flour, vanilla and the milk. Once the butter is melted pour the batter over the butter but DO NOT STIR!

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa & the 1 cup of sugar. Sprinkle cocoa/sugar mixture on top pf the batter. DO NOT STIR!

Pour the 2 cups of boiling water on top of the cocoa/sugar (DO NOT STIR!!!) and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

It should look something like this:

Three Envelope Picante Roast

This recipe is currently cooking my crockpot and man does it smell good in here! Super easy and very tasty, the best combination for food if you ask me!

Three Envelope Picante Roast

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix

1 envelope brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1 cup picante sauce or salsa

1 chuck roast, (mine is about about a 3 pounder) or any kind of roast really

In a bowl mix the 3 envelopes of mixes with the water. Mix well. Pour just enough of the mixture to cover the bottom of a crockpot.

Place chuck roast on top of the liquid. Pour the remaining liquid on top of the roast. (DO NOT season your roast, there is plenty of seasoning in the mixes!)

Pour the 1 cup of picante or salsa on top of the roast.
Cover and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours.

Once your roast is done, remove the meat from the crock and slice thin. Take left over liquid and place in a sauce pan. Add about 1 tbsp cornstarch to about a 1/4 cup of water and mix well to make it smooth. Add to roast liquid and heat on a medium heat until mixture thickens, making a gravy.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Found this recipe on Pintrest and just had to try it. I love me some Chicken Enchiladas and I love me some good pasta. This little beauty has both! I present to you:

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp fresh minced garlic

1 onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 cans (10 oz each) green enchilada sauce

2/3 cup red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 cup sour cream

4 cups Penne Pasta

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Cook onions, garlic & bell pepper for about 5 minutes.

In a large stockpot cook pasta according to directions while you complete the next steps.

Add chicken, chili's, cumin, salt, chili powder, & enchilada sauces to onions. Bring to a boil then simmer about 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and add the cheese. Stir just until melted. Add in sour cream and mix well.

Drain pasta and then add the chicken mix to the pasta. Mix well.

Serve with extra sour cream, guacamole or chopped green onions.

Looks good don't it??

Make Your Own Shrinky-Dinks!

The kids and I wanted to do something special for the youth group to commemorate their upcoming mission trip to Joplin, Mo so when I came across this idea I thought this would just be too cool! AND I was right, it is!!

Here is how you too can make your own jewelery with homemade Shrinky DInks! Yes I do realize that a lot of people have no clue what a Shrinky Dink is but all I can tell you is they are cool toys from my childhood! They are still available but why buy what you can make? Here is a picture of some I had as a kid:

Basically they are sheets of plastic that you color and shrink in the oven to make little charms, etc.

So to get started you need this:

1 cookie sheet

Parchment Paper

Scissors

A hole punch

Permanent Markers

#6 Plastic Lids from foil containers, any container as long as its #6 plastic!

You can find out what # your plastic is by looking for this symbol with a # in it. Most take out containers are made of #6 plastic too.

Once you have everything together, go ahead and set your oven to 350 and move a rack to the lowest setting in the oven. This way by the time you get ready to bake them, your oven is good and warmed up!

Take your plastic container lid and cut the flat part out like so:

At this point you just go crazy! Scribble all over the plastic or cut it into whatever shape you want! We did 2 inch by 2 inch squares for the pendants we wanted to make! We then used the permanent markers to put our design onto the pieces.

Using the single-hole punch, punch a hole in the plastic so you have somewhere to hang your earring parts or the string to make a necklace. You have to so this now because if not you will have to use a tiny drill bit to get through the shrunken plastic. You need to round the edges with some scissors as well because again, you can't do it after they bake and the edges will be sharp if you don't!

Here is a shot of some small round ones we made too!

Line your cookie sheet with some parchment paper. Place your cut outs on the paper and then in your 350 degree preheated oven.

This what ours looked like before we baked.

While these are in the oven, they will curl up really badly. You will think they are ruined but they aren't! Be patient, they will start to shrink and flatten. When they are flattened out they are done shrinking! It can take anywhere from about 30 seconds to 2 minutes for this to happen.

Here is before and after:

We even made some earrings with the left over wavy bits! The waves make cool lines if you don't color in between the waves!