Salted Peanut Caramel Bark

I just whipped this together. Got the recipe from another blog I read but I will give it to you in a little more detail because I had to figure most of it out. Here goes:

3 lbs. Chocolate Almond Bark (they come in 1 1/2 pound bricks at Walmart so get 2 and they are currently $1, ONE DOLLAR PEOPLE)
1 jar dry roasted salted peanuts
1 1/2 cup Caramel Bits (right there with the chocolate chips on the baking aisle)
Sea Salt

Get 2 cookie sheets and cover each with wax paper. Put the chocolate bricks in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on HIGH for 90 seconds, stir, 90 more seconds, stir, then 15 second intervals until melted. Remove from microwave and pour jar of peanuts in chocolate and stir. Let cool for a few minutes and then add the Caramel Bits. Stir until all ingredients combined. Pour 1/2 of mixture on 1 cookie sheet and 1/2 of the mixture on the other cookie sheet. Sprinkle sea salt on top. You now have 2 options: put in refrigerator and let harden and break apart (takes a little longer) or put in freezer and let harden and break apart (faster and you might get to clean out your freezer real quick........kinda like me!). Enjoy! Total cost today of this fabo dessert:
Chocolate Almond Bark: 2 bricks at $1 each 2.00
Peanuts (bought at dollar store) 2.50
Caramel Bits 1.98
Sea Salt, I already had
Total 6.48

I CANNOT MAKE THIS UP Y'ALL!!

Baptized in Tabasco

In April we adopted a puppy named Gypsy. She was about 4 months old when she was abandoned on my in-laws land and so we brought her home. Ginger was so thrilled as I am sure you can imagine. Gypsy got her name because she was a vagabond, restless, wild girl living on the open plains of North Texas. And she had no home. Until we came along.

Chuck was the most resistant to this addition to our family. And he is the one she loves the most of all. She gets up with him in the morning, naps in his lap any time she has the chance, and goes wild when he comes home.

Gypsy may weigh 14 pounds but she has the destruction skills of a Labrador Retriever. She has destroyed countless balls of yarn (not the cheap stuff), cell phones, ear buds, dog toys, shoes, Christmas lights, etc. The Baby Jesus was the last straw (pun intended).

I have this wooden Nativity that just has Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus with a Christmas tree. I bought it 10 years ago in Canton and it is one of my favorite decorations. It is about 3 feet tall and about 18 inches wide. It is HEAVY and bulky and I carried it to the car in Canton which is no small feat. I look forward to enjoying it every year.

This year it came out of the attic and poor Mary's grapevine wreath halo was a bit disconnected but easily fixed. I put the decoration in the same place and noticed straw all over the floor on Saturday and couldn't figure out where it came from. Sunday I figured it out and posted this on my Facebook page:

Most heard phrase in our house today............"GYPSY!! Quit chewing on the Baby Jesus!!" The Baby Jesus has been relocated and was only slightly harmed. Mary and Joseph were unaffected by this attack.

And many of my FB friends suggested putting Tabasco on the Baby Jesus. I had put the decoration in the garage and was really mad about it as this is one of my favorite decorations. I am talking really mad. So this morning I posted this to my FB page:

And the Baby Jesus was baptized in Tabasco, in the sprinkling Methodist way because Tabasco immersion is ill advised, and brought forth and placed in the Manger. And Gypsy approached him, smelled Him, licked Him, and sneezed on Him. And she looked upon Big Mama Mary (that would be me) and BMM said, "go and sin no more." And the Baby Jesus remained in the Manger until He will rise again to the attic at the end of December in the year of our Lord 2010. And all God's people said, "Amen!"

Hallelujah!

Re-

Rejuvenate, reactivate, reiterate, renew, refocus? I don't know which re it is but I have decided to start blogging again.

Let's start with where I have been? I quit my job in June. I was tired and needed to focus more time on my husband, my children, my extended family, my home, and myself. The theme for this summer was "keep moving or you might wind up in the trash" because oh LORDY! I cleaned out some crap!! It was very strange for the first month because I didn't know what to do with myself initially and then everything just fell into place. I had absolutely no intention of going back to work at all and was happy selling Scentsy and meeting new people that way but there was an online instructor position open for a local community college and it just fell in my lap. Now I work from home during the week and will start meeting with my class on the weekends in January. So far I am challenged, learning a lot, and enjoying it.

So, here I am today. How did I wind up here? I found this website through another blog I read called www.threenewleaves.com. I could not stop reading it this morning. I want to implement so much of it!! I am not ready to call my diet primal or whatever but BABY STEPS.

Which leads me to something that has been on my mind so much lately. I feel guilty because I am not into material things. I feel very abnormal feeling this way. I know my mom is reading this............so Mom, don't be offended. When it is time to inherit things from both sets of parents (my parents and Chuck's parents) I cannot think of one thing that I will just die if I don't have. I guess my memories are surrounded by people, memories, and stories rather than furniture and things. You get them home and then what do you do with them? You store them, maintain them, clean them, fuss about them, worry if something happens to them. Shouldn't that be what we do with those we love instead of the things they leave behind?

This is where my mind is today. Lucky you.....

My Thoughts on NOLA and Lenny Kravitz

On June 19 I left Lewisville, TX to go to New Orleans, Louisiana to be the nurse for 120 kids and sponsors from my church, First Baptist Church of Lewisville. I love serving my church in this capacity. While we were there we were doing a concert on Friday night and Lenny Kravitz joined our concert for a brief moment. If I had had enough battery on my phone I would have Googled him to see who he was because I had no idea. I took a quick pic and posted it on my Facebook profile as I had done previously that week. I had heard the name before but that was it. There was a student who was really sick at the time and my thoughts were more on her than anything else.

Since I have been home I have had more texts, emails, messages, etc. about Lenny Kravitz. Our group is so thrilled that he came and sang with us but Lenny Kravitz is not the first thing I think about on our trip to New Orleans. NOLA was so much more than Lenny Kravitz.

Here is what NOLA meant to me:

Getting to know three different kids and their parents that I might not otherwise have gotten to know individually by taking them to the ER.

Sitting in the pouring rain without any shelter watching our kids play flag football with 20 kids from the Ninth Ward.

Seeing the joy our kids felt on Friday when they turned all of the sports equipment to two ministries in that same area so that they could continue ministering to kids in that area.

Knowing that there is a Flag Football Camp every Wednesday morning at 10 AM in the Ninth Ward.

Learning that we were in the highest crime area of NOLA.

Having a little girl named Ranja ask me for my ball cap so that her hair wouldn't get wet in the rain.

Cutting the handles off my tote bag to make a homemade belt for Terrance so he could play baseball without fear of his pants falling down.

Having long conversations with Dionte at flag football and him calling me Mama.

Watching our kids wash the feet of 200 kids for Samaritan's Feet and putting a brand new pair of socks and shoes on their feet.

Listening to our kids sing Man in the Mirror with Ishmael and Ishmael doing all of the Michael Jackson parts perfectly.

Having a woman at a hotel randomly stop a friend and I and ask us if we were the "yellow shirt" people and then her telling us how our kids ministered to her at the mall and on the Creole Queen.

Seeing how these kids have grown up and are well on their way to adulthood and realizing how much time has flown since I was their nurse when they were in the 3rd grade at church camp.

Walking the neighborhoods of the Ninth Ward and not being afraid.

Seeing houses that are not rebuilt after Katrina.

Watching our kids minister to our bus driver who continually criticized our efforts in NOLA.

Picking up the sweetest 3 year old girl to take her to get her shoes and having her hug my neck until we got to the place where we needed to be.

Hearing the story of one single mom who had 2 of 4 children swept away in the flood waters of Katrina and recovered them alive.

Hearing the story of that same mom who has so little cook red beans, rice, cornbread, and brownies and feed all of our kids and sponsors at that particular camp. The story of the Widow's Mite brought to life for our kids.

Telling the story of Jonah and the whale to different kids as they were having their snack.

Talking to different students about being a nurse because they want to go to nursing school.

Telling a girl who is 6'1" and has a full ride basketball scholarship to SMU how I really am not afraid of too many people in life.

Watching our kids go get kids in the neighborhoods and let them ride on their shoulders too and from camp.

Seeing our kids cry when Friday came and knowing they would probably never see these kids again.

Learning and realizing what the symbols mean on the houses.

Watching our music minister tell Lenny Kravitz's manager that he was going to finish the song the kids were playing before Lenny could join our choir and not caring that Lenny might not join us if he didn't succumb to what the manager wanted.

Hoping that Mike Smeaton gets the recognition he deserves for his musical talents because he has worked very hard to get where he is.

Watching our kids encourage each other and worshipping with others and together as a group.

Thanking God that we were able to minister to the people of NOLA and knowing that I will never be the same again.

Farm and Garden

I did plant my garden and I was worried because it didn't look like it was wet enough or was going to grow and I had a couple of friends who doubted my seeds would work. I go out every day after work and look at it.

Here is what I planted: beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, basil, chives, rosemary, strawberries, and bell peppers. The bell peppers haven't gone in the ground yet, they have been in seed pots in the utility room.

Here is what I found today, I was so excited I almost jumped up and down but then remembered I might fall in the pool.
Zucchini








Tomatoes










Squash










Carrots








And my most favorite part: STRAWBERRIES!!!
There are other things that are starting to grow, but these were the most impressive today. There are some cucumbers as well. The one mistake that I did was not telling Chuck to give me room behind the fence as it is hard to work the back side of the garden effectively.

This past weekend we went to East Texas for alpaca shearing. This is our third year to go. We met these people at an Alpaca Seminar that they held 3 years ago and have become fast friends. One of the owners from Rancho Paloma fell and broke her ankle Friday night trying to catch a cria (baby alpaca) so she may be having surgery. She has about 12 in her herd and her husband had to step in and take the reins to get the job done. All went well and they were done by 8:30 and then we were off to Acacia Camelid Ranch in Frankston, TX. Here is me doing my job which was taking the alpacas from the shearer and putting them back in the pasture.
Conrad helped halter the alpacas, put leads on them before they were taken for shearing, and moved them up the assembly line in the pen.









Matthew helped carry some of the cria to the pasture with Mama following behind so that Mama and baby could go to the pasture together.
I had one chance to hold a cria and take it and Mama back to the pasture. I absolutely loved it! That mom and baby are on my wish list, they are gorgeous!

Stay tuned for more garden updates......

PS--the pictures and descriptions didn't quite line up. I am on a learning curve. Please forgive me!

New is the Word of the Day

How do you like my NEW look? I played around with the blog the other day, just wanted a new look. I am hoping to get back in the blog groove.

I have a lot of new right now.

My husband got laid off in January. I started selling Scentsy to make some extra money and because I love the product! I have one recruit and I am going to try to make a little money to help bridge the gap for the time being. I am also going to a Scentsy event in April and to convention in July. This weekend a friend and I are doing an Open House so maybe I can find some more contacts that way.

I am trying out Square Foot Gardening for three reasons: to eat healthier, save money, and to learn something new. I bought the magazine Grow Your Own Veggies for Less which is a Reiman Publication and an offshoot of Birds and Blooms. It is so informative and I have learned so much from reading it. I went to my parent's house 2 weeks ago and actually had time to sit down, read it, and really absorb what I was reading. This weekend I am going to finally get to plant the plants so stay tuned for GardenCam so you can watch the progress!

I also applied for an online writing position about social networking. I have a feeling it will be a while before I hear about it but it is in the works.

There you have it, three new things. What is new with you?

Now Where Were We? Day 5

Sorry, things got wild for a day or two.

Day 5 started at 11 AM with closing arguments for both sides. The defense referred more back to the testimony and reminded me that our friend had gotten $900,000 when his part of the company was purchased and now he was wanting more dinero. Hmmmm. The plaintiff's closing arguments reminded me of exactly how much more dinero he thought he was owed.

Then the judge read us the charge. In Civil Court, there is a question to answer and then based on the answer that the group comes up with you move in a flow chart pattern until you get to the end. We deliberated for 7 hours. Here is what we determined. He was not wrongfully terminated from his employer, all attorney's fees were split down the middle, and he won $503.00. Yes, all of that for $503.00. That was one amount of money he said he was owed for interest upon interest and he got exactly what he asked for. All of that time, money, and energy on so many people's parts for $503.00.

So, there you have it. The decision that changed the world. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

And I got my check yesterday. It was $206.00. Srsly.