Happy 12-1/2th Birthday, Big Brother!

Welcome to another edition of this wonderful Friday Photo Flashback, hosted by sweet Alicia at More Than Words.  It's our pre-digital photos - you know the ones - take the picture, change the flash cube, take the roll of film to Fotomat (yes my sister used to work at one), throw out the half-developed or double-exposed images, or the ones where we're looking the other way, and then save the rest in shoeboxes.  Yeah those!

This flashback is in honor of my brother, Jeff.  He was born on February 29th, 1960 - Leap Year!  It seems only fitting as my dad was born on Thanksgiving, and my grandma was born on New Year's Day.  My birthday very often falls on Election Day which is not nearly as fun-sounding or exciting as any of those, but I'll take what I can get. 

If you're counting actual years since my brother's been born, he'll be 50, but since OFFICIALLY he only gets a birthday every 4 years, he'll be 12-1/2 this year.  Here's a picture I found of one of his birthdays, and I'd have to guess he's maybe 3 or 4.  Rockin' on a Yogi banjo - ahhh, life's good.  That is one happy birthday boy. 

Pop on over to Alicia's for some more flashback fun and have a good weekend!

The Eiffel Trifle

I did it - I finally used my new trifle dish that I got for Christmas!  Yesterday at work we had a "tea party".  It's not technically a party since I work at the library and we're not allowed to dance on the tables or put lampshades on our heads, but boy do we know how to chow down.  We all bring in food and it's put out around lunchtime and the grazing begins.  It's a fun way to break up the monotony of the cold weather and long winter days.

I saw a picture of an Oreo cookie trifle awhile back and ever since I got my dish I knew that would be the first thing I'd try.  On the box that it came in, there's a picture of a layered taco salad so that might be the next thing.

It's basically layers of crushed Oreos (mixed with melted butter), whipped cream/cream cheese/powdered sugar, crumbled brownies, and chocolate pudding.  If you want the recipe, feel free to e-mail me.  I just went online and googled "Oreo trifle recipe" and it spit back about a dozen different ones and I picked this one at random.  They were all very similar.

Here's my assembly line...

And one more side view of the finished product.  The good news is that it will feed about 50,000 people because it's so sweet, a little is just enough.  Hopefully when I get to work today I can have just a little more and we'll see if it's better the next day. 

I just love getting new kitchen toys like this.  Next stop...Fondue!  My fondue set has been sitting there recovering from the first time I used it when I had friends over and we had to air out the house for a couple days from burnt whatever-it-was.  (Hint: Go eeeeeasy on the fuel stuff).  Maybe next Christmas if I'm good I'll get a food processor.  All the cooking shows have them so I must need one. 

World's largest!

Thanks to Angela at West Virginia Treasures for hosting this fun meme every Tuesday.  It's time for Show & Tail and it's all about the animals - the furry or feathered kind, not the human kind, if you know what I mean.  Actually this story has a bit of both.

She never said it had to be a live, breathing animal, so this week I'm sharing an animal of the FAKE kind.  We've driven twice now from St. Louis to Arizona and the Grand Canyon.  We took our time, stopped at all the fun tourist traps, and got to the hotels early enough that the kids could swim and we could relax after a day of driving. 

The drive is very long and flat, to say the least, and littered with armadillo roadkill.  Here's how out of it I am - I thought they were extinct.  Yeah, they're not, and if you want to see one (or ten dozen), just glance out your window anywhere in Oklahoma (or thereabouts).  OK, back to the story...somewhere in Kansas maybe (?) we saw sign after sign advertising the "WORLD'S LARGEST GROUNDHOG"!!   Well we were all over that and stopped as soon as we saw the turn-off.  Not only that, it was our lucky day and it said they had two-headed snakes, six-legged cows, and various and sundry other bizarro things.  We got there and we saw the two headed snake - mounted on the wall!  Sure, they had other weird stuff including the man who was running it - it was quite the experience.  Oh yeah, and we had to PAY to get in!  Ok, where is the world's largest groundhog you ask??  Here you have it...

Uh huh, I'm serious - that was IT.  We gave that creepy man a look like, 'You are SO ripping us totally off', and he gave us a look like, 'Yep, I totally am'.  Oh well, it was a nice break and it prepared us for our next little let-down.  We actually thought the Petrified Forest was a forest.  Uhhhh, no.  I know we seem really stupid but I guess we just never stopped to think about it - or look it up.  It was sort of a "wing it" type vacation - no call-ahead hotels or reservations or anything like that.  I'm so proud to say that because I am SOOOO not that way - I'm a planner and for some reason, that time we just didn't. 

 

Pop on over to Angela's for more animal fun!

Sunday (exclamation point)

CORRECTION:  I mentioned in this post that I received the rolls thanks to Blogspark, but I received the VIP coupon from Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark.  Sorry about the mix-up!  Click on the MyBlogSpark link to register to try new things and have fun helping with reviews and product information.  They are very fun and easy to work with!

This is one of my very favorite songs EVER and it's so perfect for today.  I truly love Sundays and all that goes along with them.  If I had an iPod, this would be on there 100 times:

It's my relaxing day, my catch-up day, my thinking day, my family day, and my planning day for the upcoming week.  I know the joke that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans so I consider it more of an "outline" and a "hopefully will get to" list.

Every Sunday, usually without fail, Scott makes a big breakfast.  They say men can BBQ and make breakfast and I give a big AMEN to that.  Today (thanks to Blogspark), we made some Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls to go with our bacon and eggs.  They were the perfect sweet to go with the salty of the bacon and weren't too orange-tasting, just a touch.  I made some crockpot orange chicken a couple weeks ago and it tasted like an orange tree was growing right out of the pot.  Yeah, I pitched that recipe, but I digress (so what else is new?).  A great way to start the day...

Earlier this week (I didn't take any pictures) I made homemade cinnamon rolls with yeast and everything!  I hope Betty Crocker doesn't think she has job security - that's all I'm sayin'.  Enjoy your Sunday ~

Staying warm...

Today's Friday Photo Flashback, hosted by adorable Alicia at More Than Words, is very special to me.  Last week my mom brought over a metal brief case thing and I opened it up to find 100 slides of when my siblings and I were little.  She said she's got plenty more in her basement but was wondering how we could get them made into pictures.  Why she had everything made into slides rather than pictures is a mystery to me, unless maybe because it was cheaper.  There were six of us so money was always a consideration.  I do remember the fun of turning off all the lights, getting the slide projector out and having slide shows at home when I was younger. 

She figured it would take weeks and cost a hundred dollars at least because she wanted a CD made for each sibling.  Ohhhhh, not so granny!  Leave it to me and that sweet Walgreens boy that likes to help.  For just $30.34 I got 100 slides made into 4x6 prints, plus 6 picture CDs.  I was so happy I bought a Three Musketeers (thanks for having those at the PHOTO check-out stand, Walgreens!).  For Pete's sake.  Why I feel like I need to buy chocolate every time I walk in Walgreens is beyond me but there you have it.  Oh yeah, and they were ready in a couple hours - so fab!

I'm the sixth child so my baby book pretty much just says "Girl" and my birth weight and not a whole lot else, so having these pictures is such a treasure.  These photos were from 1966 or so, and I was lookin' snazzy all ready for the St. Louis winter.  My mittens were little dogs or something like that with a big tongue that came out the middle - apparently I was very fascinated!

Pop on over to Alicia's for some more pre-digital photo fun!

A moo moo here...

I finally joined the 21st century and joined Facebook this weekend!  Yep, it's true - I can no longer make fun of all those people who get on Facebook.  It's only stupid and a time-waster if I'm NOT on it, but now that I am then it's OK and it's not so silly.  I'm still in the learning stage and I have to figure out how to not get an e-mail every time someone blinks their eyes or scratches their heads.  And when I get a "gift" I still don't know what that means or what I'm supposed to do with it.  But I will, I tell ya!

Posting my blog name on there was something I hesitated with.  I'm a hobby blogger so I'm not on a fast train to get my name out there, but it is fun to have my cousins come check it out and I love putting faces to names of blogger friends that I talk to.  I even got a Farmville.  I knew if I joined Facebook, that would be the next step for me.  I want to live in the country in true life and if I can't for now, then I'll make my own farm.  I've already got 3 sheep, a cat, and a couple bales of hay.  OH, helloooooo, I got the "Vegetable Virtuoso" ribbon - can you say PRO-fes-sion-al???  Got that right!

Like I said, I still have to learn what to do with gift requests because my son tried to tell me that I need to save such & such, but send such & such, and don't forget to harvest.  For the love of Pete, don't forget to harvest.  And make sure and fertilize your friends' crops if you stop by.  Seriously, Old MacDonald didn't have it this rough!!

My son has the best group of friends and the girls he hangs around with are more than willing to invite me to be their friends and they love it.  I personally like visiting my nephews and telling them to behave.  My son I think, tolerates me being on there.

My one daughter doesn't have a Facebook, doesn't want a Facebook, thinks it's stupid, and on and on.  OK, I get it!  And my youngest daughter thinks anyone over the age of 21 is WAYYYY too old to have a Facebook so when I tried to request her as a friend, she called me and said, "You did not just try to friend me did you??'  Ummmm, I think.  Guess what she did - REJECT ME!!!  Yes, it's true.  Or is it IGNORE?  I don't remember, but the nerve of that child!  She said she has nothing to hide but it goes against her principles to be friends with an adult since adults shouldn't even be on Facebook.  Wow, way to stand up for your principles, honey.

I need to go make dinner now, I wonder if said daughter is hungry or needs clean laundry??  Guess I'll just have to hit the REJECT button!  (or is it IGNORE?).  It goes against my principles to enable helplessness in a pre-adult.  I'm pretty sure she'll thank me someday. :)

Go Cards!

It's time once again for Angela's Tuesday's Show & Tail at West Virginia Treasures, where we share our favorite animal pictures, stories, videos or whatever we have. 

This week I want to share with you some BEAUTIFUL bird pictures that my sister-in-law shared with me.  She was so excited for them to be on the blog, which is beyond adorable and hilarious all rolled into one.  These were taken in her backyard where they get dozens of birds, and especially cardinals, at their feeders every day.  Here in St. Louis cardinals are very common but seeing them in bunches is impressive because they're so colorful in the drab weather.  She even got a great shot of a white cardinal!  These are not so common.  I wish I could show you all the pictures, but I picked out my favs for today...

Here is a female cardinal and a junco.  Juncos look so pretty with their white tummies.

I counted six cardinals in this picture.

This is more like a game of Where's Waldo.  I counted eight but who knows, there may be one or two more tucked in those branches.

This is my very favorite - the white cardinal.  OK, he's not totally white, but he's whiter than a normal cardinal.  Too fun.

Fly on over to Angela's blog to take a peek at the others showing off their animal pics!

My Valentine

In honor of Valentine's Day, I will break my "No pictures of me on my blog" rule and post a picture from 1987 when I married my sweetie (or DH as they say in Bloggerville).  We met when we both worked at the same grocery store.  That was the happiest day of his my life until I started having kids, now I don't have one favorite day.  That was 22-1/2 years, 3 kids, 3 dogs (plus a couple foster dogs) and so many pounds ago, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. ♥

Be right back!

UUUUUMMMM, I woke up today to find all kinds of things on my blog that say "Bandwidth Exceeded" from Photobucket and since I'm clueless as to what that means, what that is, and where all my little icons went, I'll have to disappear for a bit until I find out.  I'll contact Joanna from Southern Girl Blog Designs who did the cute layout and see wazzzzz up.  Have a good Thursday!

Soup's on!

Loaded baked potato soup...

While this is by no means a recipe blog (although that would be fun), I do want to share my favorites every now and then.  I got this recipe from my friend Peggy, who got it from our friend Bridget.  That's my paper trail so just in case the Pioneer Woman posts this on the same day, then I'm in the clear - whew! ha ha  I made this the other night and served it with a big spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, and some whoopie pies for dessert - YUMMALICIOUS! 

Baked potato soup
4 large or 6 small-to-medium russet (Idaho) potatoes - BAKED and cut into cubes.  (You can peel them if you want to, but I just cubed them with the skins on).
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups of milk - I just used regular 2%
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
4 green onions, chopped and divided*
12 sliced of bacon (+/-) - (cooked, crumbled and divided)
1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese - divided
8 oz. of sour cream

In a heavy sauce pan, melt the butter and add the flour.  Stir until smooth.  Actually mine didn't get that smooth at this point.  Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly and gradually add the milk.  Cook over medium heat stirring until thick and bubbly - this may take a while, so be patient - it will get thicker.  Add potatoes, salt, pepper, 2 T. of the green onions, 1/2 cup of the bacon, and 1 cup of the cheese.  Cook until heated.  Stir in the sour cream.  Use the remaining ingredients for topping. 
*Note: You may want to skip putting the green onions IN the soup if you're using them to top it - your call.

I got my dessert recipe from The Mennobrarian.  You can get her "whoopie pie tutorial" here at her blog. They're very easy and I used the "cheater" filling of pre-made whipped white frosting.  She can walk you through it and will answer any questions you have. 

Animals in strange places

I'm joining Angela today for her Show & Tail along with other animal lovers.  Pop on over to her blog to link up or visit others.

Today I'm showing a couple pictures of times when we've seen animals in places we just didn't expect to see them.  That's always a fun surprise.

We used to have one of those galvanized pools for the kids when they were little and it got plenty of use by not just people.  One morning we woke up to find a frog just floating along on a little piece of wood in our pool.  It wasn't a big pool, but higher than I would've thought he could jump.  Um, yeah, I'm not sure why we had wood floating in our pool. 

This was back in 2000 and we went to the zoo one day and brought my nephew, Matt.  We got out of our car to walk in and lo and behold there was a peacock on a car in the parking lot!  He stayed there until I got the perfect photo op and off he went.  They let the peacocks walk around the zoo so I guess they're used to people, but this was outside the zoo.  I guess he didn't get the "stay inside the zoo" memo.

Wayyyy too easy

This, my friends, is why bloggers NEVER leave home without the camera.  After I took care of your Valentine's Day dilemma about what to get your sweetie (no problem, I was happy to do it), I thought I was through with my shopping and pondering.  Well, jeepers if I didn't go BACK to my favorite store last night only to be struck by the vast array of even MORE wonderful ways to say, "I love you".  CUPID, ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME???  Put that arrow away, silly, you've outdone yourself.  Now I know how Augustus Gloop felt when he found that golden ticket to the chocolate factory!

My daughter went with me last night to the store, and this was the same chain, but a different location than the one that advertised that really romantic Turbo Snake!  (p.s. if you didn't read that post, it's totally G-rated, don't be fooled).  The sheer brilliance of those in their marketing department - let's just say, they know how to "make THEIR sweethearts happy with the gifts they'll LOVE" (yes, it's in bold, just like the sign). 

Look, honey, now you don't have to worry about your OCD when you go out - shake hands with that stranger and make a new friend! 

Do you live in a rough part of town?  No worries, you're covered.  Go on, pumpkin, walk in that dark alley at midnight...I'll be waiting! 

And finally...well, if your DOG is your "sweetheart", then they want even the dysfunctional to feel loved.  All aboard the chicken jerkey train!

Those are all the suggestions I'm going to share this Valentine's Day.  Just remember when you and your loved one are having a boring dinner out and you're having to smell those expensive roses one...more...time...you could've spent UNDER $5 (except for your dog) and said "I Love You" - and been really clean and disinfected.   

Oh Pioneer! and a Flashback

Sooooo, all's well and good in Blogland and crock potters are happily eating their Italian Roast Beef that I posted on Wednesday, right?  Dun Dun Duuuuuuuunnnnn - think again.  I bounced into work bright-eyed and bushy tailed yesterday (as I always do!) because it's such an amazing and wonderful place full of amazing and wonderful people.  Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned that my boss sometimes reads my blog.  My sweet, intelligent boss.  At least I don't kiss up and I think she really respects me for that.  OK, ha ha, on with my drama...

She said to me something along the lines of, "So did you get your roast beef recipe from the Pioneer Woman's blog?"  Excuse me??  She said on the same day I posted my recipe, The Pioneer Woman posted a VERY similar recipe for Italian Drip Beef.  Oh for the love of Pete.  She didn't use a crock pot and the ingredients vary slightly, but they are REALLLLY close and both recipes (mine and hers) use pepperoncinis!!!!!!!!  Do you know how many recipes I have that use pepperoncinis??  ONE - THAT ONE!  We both even used a 2-1/2 lb. beef chuck roast!!!!!!  (Insert hyperventilation here).  I can only assume she's been spying in my windows for years and has been listening to PRIVATE conversations about what we're going to have for dinner.  Since I enjoy her so much and love her book, I will forgive her and let this pass without much hullabaloo.  If it makes you feel any better, I can refer you to the "soccer mom" who gave me this recipe about 10 years ago and I can let my kids (well at least one of them) tell you how much they HAVEN'T enjoyed that recipe for years.  It's a small world after all....

Alrighty then... now that I've regained some composure (barely), I'm joining in Alicia's Friday Photo Flashback because I love that it makes me go through old pictures and get all sentimental.

This was around 1991, and my son Adam and my nephew, Ben, were having a campout in our family room.  They're the same age and this was when they were probably 2-1/2 or so.  We had a small tent that we'd set up in the family room for a little fort and when it was naptime, well, they camped!  I love that Adam is sleeping with his teddy bear.  I won't mention that he still ummm, keeps it "near", although now it's not so fluffy and not so white, but it sure is well loved.

Italian roast beef

With wintertime here, one of my favorite things to use is my crock pot (and also in the fall, the spring, the summer, the full moon, the harvest moon, Groundhog Day, Monday....).  This was a day that was filled to the brim, and yet thanks to good ol' Mr. Crock and my bread machine, I had a hot, homemade (yeah, sort of) meal for my family by suppertime. 

This is a quick recipe for a semi-spicy roast that you can serve shredded on sandwiches or cut into pieces with some mashed potatoes.  I don't eat pepperoncinis (yes, I pick them out like a big baby) but I don't mind the flavor they give this and they're not HOT, so they give it just a kick.  I also use the Mild Italian dressing mix.  Enjoy!

I started with a 2-1/2 lb. beef chuck roast.  I put it in the crockpot frozen around 8 a.m.

Next, I sprinkled a packet of Good Seasons Mild Italian salad dressing mix over it, then dumped in the jar of pepperonicinis (liquid and all).  So beyond easy.

I turned it on low and let it cook for about 7-8 hours or so and then shredded it - I don't pay much attention to the time, but it's pretty long because the roast starts out frozen.

I pick the pepperoncinis out and put mine with some of the juice over a piece of bread...

 

...and my husband tops his, peppers and all, with shredded cheese - any kind. P.S. I really like my bread machine but that's a whole 'nother story.  Yummmmm...

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I want to give a shout-out and let you know about a giveaway at Darcie's blog, Life's Unfolding Story.  I'll do a post on Darcie another time because it is such a small world and I have to tell you about it.  But this is her giveaway ~ 1 night at home full of fun and food.  

OK, I know I'm the only one who has yet to play this game, but it's a game for the whole family and if there's a game where the kids AND the grown-ups are having fun, that's a bonus.  No kids?  Fine, play with friends - in fact, have my husband and me over and we can ALL play!!

Add to that game a choice of either a $25 Domino's gift card or a $25 Pizza Hut gift card.  Stop by now to enter.