Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Snowy Day

It's been a great Saturday so far. A lazy morning with a big breakfast followed by an afternoon of productivity!

I woke up this morning expecting to see about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Instead, I saw this. Mostly just wet...with a few flakes. Those crazy weathermen did it again! They fooled everyone into going to buy milk and bread and then we hardly get anything. Oh well.

After a while, though, the flakes really started falling and it was really pretty. No accumulation, but it was fun to watch for about an hour. You can sort of make out a few falling snowflakes in this picture:
After watching the snow fall and catching up on watching Friday Night Lights, Jeremy and I did a little cleaning around the house and then decide to head to Lowe's to get the materials we needed to transform our hall coat closet off of the kitchen into a much needed pantry. Here is the finished product:I don't think I've ever been more excited over 4 little shelves!

I'm off to watch "3:10 to Yuma" now!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Cold Night Soup

Since the temperatures are dropping these days it seems like a good time to make a pot of soup, curl up in front of the fire and watch some good TV - oh wait, there's not much good on right now, but LOST will be back soon! Never fear! Anyway, I tried this recipe the other night and it's really yummy! Hope you enjoy!

Cold Night Soup
Paula Deen

1 lb. lean ground beef - browned and crumbled
1 onion, diced
2 cans hearty vegetable soup (I used Campbell's CHUNKY Savory Vegetable Soup)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can lima beans
1 can niblet corn
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel)

Brown beef in a large skillet with onion until no pink remains. Drain well.
Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
I made a skillet of cornbread to go with it and it was extra good!

Enjoy! :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Goodbye Old Friend!


I've done it! I've officially given up my favorite drink, Diet Coke, and for that matter all forms of soda in general. The first day was easy. Day 2 was more tricky because I had a caffeine headache and REALLY wanted a diet coke with my lunch. Yesterday was no problem and so far today I'm ok. It's Day 4 of my promise to give up soda and things are going well so far! I don't drink the real stuff, but I know that the diet variety is still just as bad for me. All those chemicals and ickiness just don't need to be consumed! Granted, I'm sure I get chemicals from other things I eat and drink - I'm not that naive, but at least I can control this one.

I guess I was inspired by my dad to give this up. Dad was drinking probably 6 or 8 of these a day. He gave them up, so I know I can, too. He had a horrible allergic reaction a few weeks ago to (he assumes) some diet grape soda he decided to try. It was not pretty and he got pretty sick and even spent the night in the hospital.

I'm not on a diet or anything like that. I guess I'm just making an overall attempt to be more healthy and consume a lot less caffeine (I still have coffee in the mornings, so I haven't eliminated it completely) and "ickiness."