Happy New Year's Eve!

Reber used to hate New Year's Eve.  I never understood why because it seemed like the perfect holiday for him.  Now we have our own traditions that we both enjoy which include eating Chinese food (yes, we only get it once or twice a year) and watching a whole season of TV on DVD.  Past years have included Da Ali G Show and Weeds.  This year will be Arrested Development, which we've never seen but borrowed from my brother.  

I think God is using this to teach us to guard our time together as a family.  Not that there's anything wrong with going out or spending time with other people, and we need to do that sometimes, but sometimes we need to have our own traditions too and stick to them.  We have been invited to New Year's Eve events by FOUR different people and I've had to say no to them all.  All are people that I enjoy being with, but I am working on creating balance in this area of my life.

Does anyone else deal with this issue?  What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Why I love my job today...

...because I don't have to go!!  I only worked 2 days this week and then 2 1/2 more days next week and then I'm off for another long New Year's weekend.  I'm pretty sure it's due to the budget cuts.  I am happy to have a job, but we get no raise this year OR next year.  Then in June 2010 we tentatively get 2%.  Plus they keep cutting our people so while we are working twice as hard, we get the same pay.  So I think they are giving us this extra time off just to appease us, but that's ok, it's working for me today!!

Time for some relaxing, looking at Christmas lights tonight, and watching a Christmas Story.

Take 5 Tuesday - Christmas Edition

1.  5 Things on your Christmas list

  - A Kitchenaid mixer - already got it!

  - Steelers jacket - wasn't on my list specifically but I love it!

  - A cast-iron reversible skillet/grill

  - A bigger kitchen

  - Some relaxing time off

2.  5 things on your tree

  - Colored lights - I prefer white but this tree was free and pre-lit.

  - Flounder ornament from the Little Mermaid

  - A Bart Simpson ornament

  - Strands of red beads

  - "Our First Christmas" ornament

3. 5 of your Christmas traditions

  - We decorate the day after Thanksgiving b/c it's our only day off together.

  - Watch A Christmas Story

  - Drive around on Christmas Eve and look at lights

  - Make and eat craploads of cookies

  - That's about it.  Just enjoy Christmas!

4.  5 things you like about Chistmas

  - Jesus

  - Food

  - Decorations

  - Extra days off work

  - Time to enjoy family and friends

5.  5 things you don't like about Christmas

  - Christmas cards - I like them but they waste a lot of paper.  I'm only sending them to people who I won't see this Christmas.

  - The "hustle and bustle."   Slow down!

  - Work will be even busier when I get back.  Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean people stop having babies.

  - The whole Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas argument.  It's pointless and makes Christians look bad.  Just say what you wanna say and accept the fact that some people think differently than you.  

  - And to copy Laura, consumerism.

What's for dinner - Mix all the crap in my fridge together and make it delicious

We just got back from an awesome trip to Pittsburgh to visit my family.  My grandpa turns 80 tomorrow and we had a party for him.

I am not very good at cleaning out the fridge before going out of town, so here's what I need to use up:

-Some chunks of cooked turkey

-A block of fat-free mozzarella cheese

-Some leftover pinto beans

-Milk

Sounds like a casserole in the making.  Reber is not a huge fan of casseroles but as long as it has ham and cheese, he will pretty much eat anything.  Here's the game plan:

Make a cheese sauce:

Mix equal parts butter and flour.  Add a couple cups of milk, stirring constantly.  Once mixture starts to thicken and bubble, add cheese.  This step takes a little patience but is really easy.

Mix together:

Turkey chunks

Some ham cubes

Beans (don't have much flavor until you season them so they will go fine...)

Any frozen veggie blend (bonus if it has broccoli because the cheese sauce gets all through it)

Cheese sauce

Top with:

Shredded cheese mixed with bread crumbs and whatever seasonings you like.

Bake at 350 degrees until heated.  See, homemade stuff is easy!

Take 5 Tuesday

Laura said we should try this so here's mine...

1. List your 5 favorite kinds of tea.

I don't really like tea that much so I'll list coffees.

  - Any coffee with very vanilla soymilk

  - At Sheetz, mix together dark roast, Columbian, and Vanilla Nut Cream.  Mmmmm...

  - French roast

  - BK Joe

  - That's it.  I guess I only have 4 favorite coffees.  If I have to drink tea I like peppermint.

2.  List your 5 least favorite kinds of tea.

This is stupid so I'm not gonna do it.  I don't like tea.

3.  5 places you've been recently.

  - Pueblo Grande Restaurant

  - Work

  - The Clocktower Tavern in Staunton

  - Church

  - Home - my favorite place!

4.  5 things you don't like, that most people do

  - Oreo's

  - Chocolate pudding

  - Shopping for clothes

  - The smell of freshly cut grass or evergreen trees

  - Dr. Phil

5.  5 things you like that most people don't

  - NFL football.  I know a lot of people like this but for a girl I'm pretty obsessed.

  - Washing dishes

  - Shopping for groceries

  - Working in foodservice

  - METAL!!

What's for dinner - Martini Chicken

Here's what I'm cooking for dinner tonight.  It is way more delicious than I thought when I first read the recipe.  It doesn't really taste like a martini, but you do have to like olives.  And thanks to an over-the-counter miracle pill called Prelief, I can eat it!

The original recipe comes from allrecipes.com but I never follow any recipe exactly.

MARTINI CHICKEN

A little olive oil

Some type of chicken or turkey.  I am cooking a big turkey breast in the crockpot and then using chunks of that for the recipe.

Black peper

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped, or dried chopped garlic is ok too.

1/4 to 1/2 cup gin

Spash dry vermouth

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup sliced green olives with pimentos

Just saute everything together until the sauce has reduced.

*Note:  You can substitute dry vermouth for any recipe that calls for white wine.  It is pretty inexpensive and the bottle looks classy on the counter.  I bought it for some dumb reason and it's pretty gross by itself but great for for cooking.

Welcome Back!

Hey dudes,

I'm finally back in action with a new computer and the internet.  We decided not to try to recover our old hard drive since we don't do anything that important anyway and it cost $250.  We keep pics on a thumb drive anyway.

Well, I don't feel like doing a whole post right now and I'm still learning how to use this MacBook so hang in there.  For now, go check out the funniest website of all time.

www.engrish.com - be prepared...you will probably spend hours on here.

Blog Time Out

Hey everyone, I am on a blog break for a while because our computer fried itself when our power went out last week. Right now I'm on the neighbor's laptop. So hang tight until our new MacBook arrives and I'll be back!