Our House

Life has been rather busy lately. Work always keeps us busy, but lately it's been working on our new house! We closed on our house this past Friday.  So we have been rather busy getting things turned on and cleaned up, buying this and that, and, of course, painting. I do not have any pictures yet but will....eventually. Needless to say, my WEEK off for Thanksgiving will be filled with more painting and MOVING!

Two-Thirds Homemade and Our House

Tonight's dinner was two-thirds of the way homemade. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese (the non-homemade portion).

I wish I had an exact recipe for the fried chicken and potatoes, but I don't. They're both things you have to just keep trying until it's perfect (or, nearly perfect).  We know from experience--the first time we tried frying chicken, the pan was way too hot. The kitchen and living room were full of smoke. We had to open windows and doors. The first few times we (well, technically, me) made the potatoes, they were the consistency of glue (those are Bailey's words). Bailey is now responsible for making mashed potatoes--his turn out much better than mine.

Here are some guidelines/suggestions for making the fried chicken.

• You'll need: chicken (I don't do bone-in chicken--just make my own chicken tenders), flour, an egg, milk, and some oil to fry it in. And, any seasonings you'd like to add to the flour--I like to add some paprika and/or Tony Chachere's seasoning, but you could just do salt and pepper.
• Cut the chicken into tenders/strips.
• Mix the egg with some milk (enough to dip the chicken in before dipping in the flour mixture).
• Dip chicken in egg mix and then flour mix (repeat, if you'd like). Then I let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes so the breading sticks.
• Pour some oil in a pan (enough to coat the bottom plus some). Heat oil over medium heat (again, I remind you--don't let it get to hot).
• Once oil is hot, start frying chicken. (I usually test it out with one piece). Fry chicken on each side for a few minutes--until golden brown, or cooked through. Try not to touch/flip chicken too often--that causes the breading to fall off.

Yum!!

A few guidelines/suggestions for homemade mashed potatoes.

• 
  
  You'll need: several potatoes, milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste
  
  
  
• 
  
  Peel potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces. Put potatoes in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let boil until tender, about 15 minutes. (As I said, this is Bailey's job so he's the judge of when they're tender enough).
  
• Drain potatoes and return to pot. Then mash them up--we use our handmixer. It does a fabulous job. While mashing, or mixing, add a splash of milk and some butter (as much or as little as you'd like). Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
  

Recipe for macaroni: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese from a box. However, I'm planning on trying to find a homemade recipe for this too.

Moving on to something else....we found out earlier this week that we may be closing on our house within a week or two. Now, I've got to decide on paint colors and a few appliances. Hopefully, more on this subject later.

Our Trip to Auburn

Bailey's brother, Bedford, is a manager for the Ole Miss football team and gets two tickets to each game, home and away. So, a little while back, Bailey and I decided we would go to the Auburn game. Although the outcome of the game wasn't too pretty, we really enjoyed our trip. Here's a recap of the trip....

We left Friday morning amidst all the rain. We detoured to Oxford to pick up a few things and then got on the road again. We stopped in Tupelo to eat lunch at Abner's and then continued on. Luckily, we didn't really have any rain after leaving Oxford. However, we ran into A LOT of traffic in Birmingham. It took us AT LEAST an hour to get through Birmingham, probably longer. As we sat in stop-and-go traffic we tried to keep ourselves entertained. Here are a few pictures of the things we encountered while in this traffic.

This Alabama tag is dedicated to farmers (like a Choose Life, college , wildlife tag, etc.) If you can't see it very well, the top reads, "FARMING FEEDS" and this particular driver's name must be Bill. So, if you read it altogether it states, "Farming feeds Bill." We found it amusing.

Here's the Pink Package Store. We just thought it was picture-worthy. In the parking lot beside it was a Crown Royal race car.

This is a Sonic with a playground. The first one I'd ever seen. (We also saw a Sonic with a playground when we stopped in Fulton on the way home.)

This is a picture of Bailey's dream car--a Porsche.

We also saw a baby blue Escalade but I didn't have the camera ready. There were probably a few other things, but these were the most memorable.

We got to our hotel later that evening. We stayed outside of Auburn in the town community of Valley. It consisted of two hotels, a fireworks store, two gas stations, about three places to eat, and a football stadium. Needless to say, we didn't have many options on where to eat dinner, so we ate at Waffle House. It was good, just not exactly what we wanted.

When we checked in we found out that we were in the Eastern time zone. Well, approximately a mile into it. It was a bit confusing but we just kept ourselves on Central time since Auburn is.

Saturday we got up, ate breakfast, and headed to campus. We got there easily and found parking easily (for free, too--it was $30 across the street) and relatively close to the stadium. We walked around for a bit and then talked to Bedford for a few minutes before heading into the stadium.

A quick pic before going in to the game.

This is Jevan Sneed's dad (our quarterback) and a few of his friends. Got to love the rain-covers for the cowboy hats. The state troopers and other officers also had these lovely covers on.

I won't go into details about the game. It had it's ups and downs, but not a good ending. We did get to see a really cool Auburn ritual--where they release the eagle and he flies down to the field. I tried taking a few pictures of it but they didn't turn out well.

After the game we saw another ritual of Auburn's. After every win, they roll an area of campus called Toomer's Corner. Here's a not so great picture of it.

We headed to Chili's (our favorite) to eat and warm up and then headed back to the hotel to relax and watch more football. Sunday morning we made a quick stop at Starbucks and Target before heading home. The trip home was not as eventful as the trip there. All-in-all, a very enjoyable trip with my wonderful husband!

Only Tuesday & Two Recipes

This week has already been extremely long and it's only Tuesday. (Thankfully it is now Tuesday night). The good news is that I only have 2 more days of work this week and then Bailey and I will take a small weekend trip. Friday we're leaving to go to Auburn for the Auburn/Ole Miss game on Saturday.

Last week and the first two days of this week have been pretty draining. (I feel fine but pray I'm not coming down with anything.) I work primarily at the middle school--that's where my office is and where I see most of my students. However, I also serve some students at the Junior & Senior high schools. Last week I felt like I was continuously running back and forth between all the schools for meetings, therapy, and hearing screenings. Yesterday and today have been similar, but not quite as busy. But tomorrow's not here yet. It's not always this crazy, it just seems to come in waves, and right now I'm stuck in the middle of one. I must say though, that I absolutely love my job. And God was so gracious to allow me to have it.

Now to a few recipes.

The first one I found here.

Chicken Rolls

2-3 Chicken Breasts

1 can Crescent Rolls

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

2/3 cup milk

About 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Chop chicken into cubes and cook in skillet over medium heat until done. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. While chicken is cooking, heat soup and milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Unroll crescent roll triangles. Place a few pieces of chicken and a handful of cheese in the center of each dough triangle and roll up.

Place in a greased square baking dish. Place any remaining chicken and cheese in soup mixture. Pour soup mixture over rolls.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Note: Next time I make this I will let the rolls cook for a few minutes before pouring chicken and soup mixture over. That way the rolls can brown a bit more.

I found the next recipe here.

The picture doesn't exactly do them justice.

Green Bean Bundles

 2 or 3 cans whole green beans

bacon slices

1 stick of butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp garlic salt

Wrap handful of green beans in 1/2 slice of bacon. (That's one bundle--make as many as you'd like).

Melt stick of butter and stir in 1 cup of brown sugar (more or less depending on your taste). Add teaspoon of garlic salt. Pour over bundles.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Then put under broiler for 4-5 minutes at the end.

**Note: The few times I've made them, I used cut green beans because that's all I had. Bailey likes them that way because they're bite-size (for him, anyways).

Also, another option is that you use 1 cup Italian dressing in place of butter and sugar.

And just for fun, here's a picture of our whole meal.

And yes, that is on a salad plate. We typically use them for two reasons: First, my dinner plates don't fit in this particular dishwasher; second, when using a smaller plate, your portions are usually smaller, as long as you don't go back for seconds.

Dreaming of Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching and I couldn't be more excited.  It is absolutely my most favorite time of the year. Here's why:
 1. The reason we celebrate--God gave us his precious baby Jesus.
 2. My favorite color is red and it's pretty much anywhere and everywhere during the Christmas season. (Green runs a close second!)
 3. You get to spend time with family and friends you don't often see throughout the year. (Or you at least get to spend more time with them.)
 4. Food, get-togethers, homemade candy/cookies, parties--what's not to love?
 5. I suppose I should mention that I will now get to celebrate my anniversary at this time of the year. I always dreamed of a Christmas wedding and my dream came true last December!
 6. Giving gifts, and, yes, receiving them too--both are lots of fun.
 7. A break from school/work--who doesn't love a little extra time off?
 8. I once again mention the reason we celebrate, Jesus. He came to give His life so that we may have life.
    I could go on and on with more reasons, but I guess I'll stop.

Hobby Lobby, of course, had their Christmas stuff out in the middle of the summer. I've already been a few times to look at all the wonderful things they have. Over this last week, Wal-Mart has begun to put their Christmas stuff out. I went this afternoon just to look. I've been refraining from any impulses to buy anything. The only Christmas decor I've bought this year was some net/ribbon stuff at Mistletoe Madness a few weeks ago. I can hardly wait to get all the Christmas stuff unpacked. I can't really remember what I have--between leftover wedding decor, wedding gifts, and the things I have acquired from after-Christmas sales.

I have a question for the few of you that may read this thing. I don't have a tree topper for our new (big) tree. I had a star for the smaller tree I had in my apartment. When I asked Bailey if he wanted a star or an angel, his preference was an angel, but I haven't been able to find one I'm crazy about. The tree has white lights and all of the ornaments are predominantly red, green, and silver, and most of them have glitter. So, to my question--what do you have on top of your Christmas tree: angel, star, something else??

Ranch Crispy Chicken and Potato Casserole

Last night I made Ranch Crispy Chicken and Potato Casserole. Both were very good and pretty simple. I found them both here.

Ranch Crispy Chicken
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup corn flake crumbs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
chicken breasts/tenders (I used 3 large chicken breasts cut into smaller pieces)

--Combine corn flake crumbs, parmesan cheese, and dressing mix.
--Melt butter. Dip chicken in melted butter and then coat in crumb mix.
--Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes.

Potato Casserole
20 oz. hashbrowns, thawed
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon pepper
8 oz sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups crushed cornflakes

--Combine all but cornflakes in bowl and mix well.
--Pour into greased 9x13 inch dish and top with crushed cornflakes.
--Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I took a few other pictures but they didn't turn out (could be in part to my ancient dinosaur camera.)

More Fall Decor

Here are a few more things I've got around the house....

This wreath is on the front door. Found the plain wreath somewhere. Bought some picks and ribbon from HL, all 1/2 off.

Here's a close-up.

This is on the side door (the one we use). I found it at Marshall's for a few dollars.

This tray sits on the coffee table. The tray, frame, and candle were all gifts. I have a set of these pumpkins I picked up at Target last year after Thanksgiving. Then I put out some potpourri I've had.

This is on the right side of the mantle. The hurricane glasses were a wedding gift. I bought some brown candles at Target and then stuffed in some of the leaves I purchased at Dollar Tree. The leaf placemat underneath is from Wal-Mart.

And the left side of the mantle. The vase is from a mission trip to Mexico years ago. The arrangement is about that old. I just added a pumpkin and a placemat.

I bought a few of these last year after Halloween for $.25 each at Old Time Pottery (I think).

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