Xmas Lights Around AZ

Day after Xmas

The holiday was festive and interesting.. My Canadian neighbors are home in Peoria for the holiday w/ lots of creative decorating and more holiday spirit then my family. It was fun to watch them get ready for the big day.. Light out side and a big huge tree trimmed beautifully..

I have not been in much of a mood to be online as of late this past week DD had her foot surgery and is slowly recovering after her a few days in the hospital...

For the next 30 day I am doing a budget challenge for myself..I will post more about this later....

Holiday Cookies

They always say don't use newspaper well I am going on the big 40 in a few years and my mom still uses newspaper every year to put the cookies on and we are all here to tell the story..

Pets

Who couldn't fall in love with this face????

This puppy is one of my mom's dogs...Lucky....

Fall Pictures

Tree in the back yard of my neighbor yet and get lots of yellow leaves near my shed....for me to clean up every year. Hard to believe I took a picture (not shown here) on Saturday with a few leaves and Today I have a huge amount leaves fall fast....


This is my Pink rose bush that I don't do anything with and it grows just fine every year....

Message From a Friend

This coming week is National Mental Health Care week.
You can do your part by remembering
to contact at least one unstable person to show you care

Well .. .. . my job is done. Your turn! Please send an encouraging message to a disturbed friend….just as I've done. I don't care if you lick windows or take the special bus.... you hang in there sunshine, you're special.. Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back. Today's Message of the Day is: Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance

Menu 4 Dec

Wed 1- Potato Soup
Thu 2-Leftover Soup and crackers
Fri 3- Bought a Rice and Cheese burrito for $4
Sat 4-Leftover from Lunch
Sun 5-Chicken Wraps
Mon 6- Turkey taco's Mexican rice and refried beans
Tue 7- Leftovers
Wed-Homemade Pretzels w/ Cheese and pizza sauce
Thur-Baked Chicken Wraps
Fri-Fix it yourself
Sat-Fix it yourself
Sun-Pieces of Chicken/String Cheese/Chips & Salsa
Mon-Leftovers from Lunch out w/ daughter...
Tue-? forgot
Wed-Dinner out w/ grandparents
Thur-Leftover dinner
Fri- Turkey burgers and chips
Sat-Homemade Chicken Pot Pie from freezer
Sun-
Mon-
Tue-
Wed-
Thu-
Fri-
XMAS-

** Note to self make burritos to freeze this week on my days off cheaper & I have all the ingredients...make stuff for dd surgery as well...

Baked Potato Soup

Over the weekend at work a co-worker brought in a huge pot of Ham & Potato Soup however I was unable to try/have it due to being pork free so of coarse I went in search of a small batch that I could make/try for myself. After reading many I decided this was the one to try...Baked Potato Soup
From as usual my fave go to website All Recipes. After reading most of the ingredient I set about to create a great soup. I wanted to added extra veggie as well (to use up my supply of stuff in freezer/Refrieg) I am not picky about having a soup be all about just potatoes.

1 tbsp of garlic
1 tbsp of Yogurt butter
1 tsp of EVOO
3 tsbp of Flour
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of celery
2 potatoes diced
1/2 cup of minced green onions
6-8 stems of Asian Basil
3 cups of Chicken broth
1/2 cup of half & half
Pepper

In a small pot I sauteed the butter/evoo/garlic added basil and greens onions mixed well poured 3 tbsp of flour over mixture and cooked a few mins to that I slowly added the chicken broth and whisked well. Allowed to heat well. then poured that into my new 2 quart mini crock-pot I added the nuked diced up carrots- celery-and the hot mixture allowed this to cook for 1 hour.
At quick tasting it was VERY Bland so off I went to making it taste better
This is what I added to my individual bowl

1 cup of shredded cheese
1 more diced potato
LOTS OF PEPPER
2 tbsp of sour cream
More green onions

Verdict: It was pretty good.. It is something I would make again with the extra items plus more of all of them :O)