Special Day!

  This morning I was thinking back to what I was doing when I turned the big 40! I realized that was a big year for me because I became a Correctional Officer for Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 

If I remember correctly I was the oldest one in my class at the Academy. It was ten weeks of hell trying to keep up with the younger students. Especially when we did our hours of  PTO in a town that was nothing but lot's of high hills that we ran up and down for the first hour of the morning. Then back to the academy for another hour of exercise. I have to tell you it was one of the hardest things I have ever accomplished in my life.

I still can't believe I passed the grueling exercise part of it. Not to mention hours at the firing range and passing it.

What made me think of this time in my life is because my wonderful son Clint turned the big 40 today.

Thank goodness Clint is accomplished business man and is not having to do what I did at forty.

I had a woman just last week ask me how did I ever work in a prison. I told her you do what you gotta do to make a living.

  Hard to believe that forty years have passed in what seems like a flash.

Now Clint has his own beautiful family! His lovely wife Andrea gave him a surprise Birthday party at a local Barb-b-Que place called Salt Lick. As you can see I did not crop this picture and look at all the meat sitting in front of me. Ribs, sausage and brisket.  It was served family style with all you can eat and I am pretty sure no one left hungry.

 It's a tradition in his family for everyone to wear this Birthday hat on their big day. lol....Sitting next to him in this picture is a long time friend from college Tony. It was fun seeing a few of Clint's friends I have not seen in a while.

What's really funny is I got a text from Clint this morning telling me that he was now officially old. I laughed so hard when I read this because I was working on trying to figure out medicare paperwork today. I told him when he is filling out that paper work is when he can text me that he is officially old. lol

It seems like only yesterday that I held him in my arms and cried because of how God had Blessed me with another beautiful, healthy, precious son.

Clint really has accomplished a lot in his forty years and I am so proud of him. Especially proud of  him for the way he takes care of his family. Never have I seen a man devote so much time with his children. There's nothing he wouldn't do for his family and friends.

We all love him very much and wish him another forty years and more of special Birthdays.

Another Birthday we celebrated on Sunday was my darling grandson Bailey. His party was at Chucke Cheese where he and his friends could play games and eat pizza.  Bailey turned 9 and had a great time with family and friends helping him celebrate his big day.

The night before his party he spent the night with me at my oldest son Chad's condo. We had so much fun being silly. He told me the next morning when we were leaving Chad's on the way to his party that Chad was a really nice guy. I told him he sure was a nice guy.

At Clint's party I managed to snap this picture of my daughter Christi with her boyfriend Paul. 
I love this picture and wanted to share it with you. I have not mentioned Paul to you because I did not want to jinx their relationship. lol  What a cute couple they make and Paul is a sweetie!

They dated a little in High School and then several months ago Paul found Christi on Facebook and now their together again. I haven't seen Christi this happy in a long time.

I feel bad I did not get a picture of my oldest son Chad at the party. He was sitting on the other side of Paul.

Christi told me that Paul in his younger days was kind of afraid of me because the first time he came to our house to pick her up for a date that I answered the door in my uniform and told him what I expected from him dating my daughter.

I told Paul I was sorry if I came down to hard on him and he told me that I was not mean. I was just simply being a parent concerned for their daughter. I really like this man. lol

As you know lot's of changes going on in my life right now. My boss is here from Nevada. She and I will be busy the next few months trying to figure out my move. Right now she will be here with me a lot because she is getting ready to build some little houses out here on this property.

Also she is having some much needed work done on this ole farm house and my home will probably be torn up for the whole month of March. Not looking forward to the disruptions of construction work. Tinkerbell will probably be stressed out even more than myself.

Listen at me complaining this is work that has needed to be done since I moved in here. Funny it's getting worked on as I am preparing to move out.

So if you notice I am missing in action then know that I am possibly at my wits end and can't remember how to turn on a computer. haha This house is not big enough for all of us.

Hope all is well with you! I know some of you are going stir crazy from all the snow. I do wish I could send you some warmer weather.

Well this has been a long post but I wanted to share with you some of the pictures I took over the weekend.

Be gentle on you and I love when you come by for a visit.

Sweet Dreams and Love to all
Maggie

Life Is Good!

As most of you know my oldest son Chad has been a Juvenile Diabetic since the month he turned 13.
I cried for a very long time for him. It changed our lives in the way we looked at a lot of things and how we ate. Of course it changed Chad's life completely. It meant giving up so many things he enjoyed having and not to mention five shots a day and too many finger pricks to mention. Yet never in all these years did he ever feel sorry for himself and complain to us or anyone else. How many times in my life have I wished that I could be like my Chad. He is my hero.

 Back in the 80's I had no Internet so it was not easy finding recipes for diabetics like it is now. I was lucky enough though to find a recipe book that I depended on a lot for some delicious meals. The book is Cooking for Love and Life Volume 1.

The weather is cold and rainy here today so it made me want something comforting to eat. I thought of this recipe and wanted to share it with you.

Meatballs

2 tsp low fat oleo
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped onions
10 1/2 oz. can chicken w/rice soup
1 egg
1 lb. ground beef
2 slices soft bread
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. salt

Melt oleo in skillet. Add bell pepper, onions and saute until tender Stir in both cans of soup
Heat to boiling, then turn down heat and allow sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally
While sauce cooks, make meatballs as follows:
In bowl, slightly beat egg, Add ground beef, bread, milk and salt. Mix well Shape into meatballs
about the size of ping pong balls. Drop meatballs in simmering sauce, and cook slowly about 1 hour.

Total 4 servings Per serving 403 calories
Exchange per serving = 4 meats, 21/2 fats, 1 bread  15g. carbohydrates, 30 g. protein, 24 1/2 g. fat


These meatballs are good with mashed potatoes or rice. Now just dig in because it is yummy!

Let me know if you try it and how you like it.

Hope your having a great week! My plans were to paint fences but the forecast for the week is rain everyday. So I will be stuck inside most of the time.

This past weekend I went to my hometown of La Porte and spent it with my best friends the Oliver's.

We did nothing but laugh! I love these get aways with Ruby, Bonnie

and Oscar. Their sister and my sister-in-law Linda was the only one missing. Linda you were missed and I know you regretted not joining us but next time for sure.

We all have those friends where you can share everything with and laugh for no reason. It was that kind of fun. There was not a subject we did not discuss and laugh over. I can not tell you how much I needed this time with my friends.

When I am with the Oliver's it's like I am six again. No worries just good times. 

Of course shopping is always on our list of things to do. We visited several re-sale shops near the space center NASA.  Beautiful pieces that we all wanted but in fear of becoming hoarders we passed them up. lol

I did find a brand new pair of bright blue pajamas with the price tag still attached from Victoria Secret. They were only $4.00 and so cute with cats all over them.

They were excited about the news of my plans to move closer to my babies. We decided that after I get settled in it would be time to get together again. I have never been able to host one of these weekends because Bonnie is highly allergic to cats. On the property where I will be moving

there are living quarters other than my little cottage that we can stay for the weekend. So I am hoping to finally host one of these get aways. Can't wait!

No pictures of this weekend because they knew I would post them on here. lol

Well I need to close and clean up the kitchen. The meatballs were very tasty and I ate too much Only bad thing about me fixing something like this is I eat on it for days. haha

I need to make a lemon pie Friday because it's my son Clint's Birthday and his son Bailey. They have invited me to come celebrate with them so I am so lucky to be able to have two Happy weekends in a row.

Life is good!

Sweet Dreams

Maggie

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all you sweeties I wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day!

My favorite Valentines are the older ones like this one. I am telling my age by showing you what kind of cards that I received in grade school.

Back in the good ole days we would all bring decorated boxes to class to hold our sweet funny cards. I can remember anxiously waiting to take my pretty box home where in my room I read each cute little card from my friends. The box was opened a lot for weeks rereading my treasures.

I have forgotten  how old I was when a boy gave me my first Valentine Box of Candy. Can you?

Even now I love getting cards in the mail and your never too old to be someones Valentine.

Speaking of cards look what I got in the mail from Jennifer over at the lovely blog Ripplespeak.

Jennifer has a special gift with words and her post leave you wanting more of the same. She speaks from her heart both in her art work and writing.

Blogs like Ripplespeak are the reason I am so glad to be involved in this amazing world of blogging.

If you have not yet met Jennifer please take a moment to do so. Your life will be Blessed from finding her site.

I mentioned to Jennifer that when I move to Georgetown I am only taking Happy pieces with me. When I look at it and it makes me smile then I consider it a happy piece. lol

Last week I had to travel to College Station several times and after my appointments I had to visit Hobby Lobby and some other stores that I have missed. Hobby Lobby was having a huge sale so I picked up a few things that I knew I wanted for the little house in Georgetown.

As most of you know my farm house here is decorated in mostly the color pink.

I love pink but I have decided in my new place I will go with Bright Colors.

Colors like these in the two picture frames I bought. Don't you love I have not put pictures in them yet. haha

I never thought of decorating with orange but I have fallen in love with it. Especially love this picture frame with the bird on it.

I bought two of these colorful pillows. Glad everything was more than half off. I am hoping to buy a small white couch for my the little cottage I am moving too.

Birds were everywhere I shopped.  In order to get the new look I am after I may have to start downsizing and selling pieces. I hate hate having garage sales so not sure how to sell some items I have collected over the years.

 Craig's list is free and easy to use but I don't live in a big city and usually people I think meet and exchange their items. I guess I could wait til I move but would rather do it now. EBay is an option but have not been on it in 10 years so I would have to learn all over again how to sell on it.

Maybe I should start up my Temptation Mondays again and showcase all of your beautiful pieces you make for sale and slip in some of my stuff too. lol I do miss doing the Temptation Mondays.

Another thing I really miss is having guest bloggers do a post for my Blogazine Issues. It is a great way to learn about fellow blogging buddies. So who is going to be my first Blogazine Guest for the New Year.

I love reading these post and learning so much about you. Even if you have been a guest in the past I would love love to have you on here again. And if you have never been a guest what are you waiting on. lol

Well dear friends it's late and I have to get up early tomorrow. Just wanted to show you my beautiful note cards from Jennifer and some of my Happy pieces from Hobby Lobby.

Maybe Jennifer would be a Blogazine Guest? I will have to ask her.

Sweet Dreams and Happy Valentine's Day

Love

Maggie

Happy Birthday Tommy!

 

 

Today is my brother Tommy's Birthday. He lives on the other side of Houston close to Galveston so I don't get to see him like I would love too.

 

Tommy is a lot younger than me but out of all my brothers I have to say he and I are more a like than the others. He is a sweetheart and I hope he is having a very special day.

 

Tommy loved to ride horses and would ride with us on trail rides.  He not only loved horses he liked riding in rodeos. In his younger days he stressed me out by riding Bulls. I always feared for his life and with good reason. On one ride he was thrown off and landed on his neck. Not knowing that his neck was broken his friends picked him up and took him to the emergency room where we found out he had a broken neck. For months he laid up in one of those huge contraptions where he could not move for over 8 weeks. 

 

Praise God he was healed completely and now celebrating another Birthday. Happy Birthday Dear Tommy!

 

Last Friday I fell on my stairway inside this ole farm house. Thank goodness I did not roll down the stairs because I did enough damage just falling. I am pretty sure I did not break anything but since the fall I have not felt good.  Lot's of headaches and the pain in my back and shoulder are bad but this too shall pass in a day or two. Just wish I could stay on my feet better.

 

Tonight I wanted something different for dinner so I decided to fix the can of Salmon I had in the cabinet. I love salmon croquet's so could not wait to chow down on them. Well I am mixing the croquet's up and I can't figure out why their so mushy.

 

I dip them in flour still wondering why their not right. Well I start laying them in the hot grease to fry and that's when I realize what I had forgotten.  I forgot to crumble up crackers for the recipe. OH Man I was sick that I forgot the main ingredient.  lol

 

Sometimes I wonder seriously about myself and why I do what I do. Needless to say they weren't very good.

 

I did try this delicious dish the other day and managed to not goof it up. Thought you might want to try it for a different way to fix chicken breast.  I found it a while back and just now remembered I had it.

 

 

 

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts

 

4  large boneless chicken breasts
 

Place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and using a meat mallet, pound the meat to an even 1/2 inch thickness. Alternatively, you can slice the breasts by placing them flat on a cutting board and using a very sharp knife to slice them into halves horizontally.

Sift together:

2 cup flour
4 tsp salt
4 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground thyme
2 tsp ground sage
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper 


NOTE: This flour and spice dredge mix is sufficient for two batches of this chicken recipe. You can store the leftover mix in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for the next time you make this recipe...and there will be a next time.

Make an egg wash by whisking together:

4 eggs
8 tbsp water

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then dip the meat in the flour and spice mixture. Dip the breast into the egg wash and then a final time into the flour and spice mix, pressing the mix into the meat to get good contact. 

Heat a skillet on the stove with about a half inch of canola oil covering the bottom. You will want to carefully regulate the temperature here so that the chicken does not brown too quickly. The thinness of the breast meat practically guarantees that it will be fully cooked by the time the outside is browned. I find just below medium heat works well. I use a burner setting of about 4 1/2 out of 10 on the dial and fry them gently for about 4 or 5 minutes per side until golden brown and crispy.

Drain on a wire rack for a couple of minutes before dipping the cooked breasts into the Honey Garlic Sauce. Serve with noodles or rice.

Honey Garlic Sauce

In a medium saucepan add

2 tbsp olive oil
3 – 4 cloves minced garlic

Cook over medium heat to soften the garlic but do not let it brown. Add:

1 cup honey
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper

Simmer together for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Watch this carefully as it simmers because it can foam up over the pot very easily.

 

 

Hope all of you are well and staying warm. We are still having some pretty warms days. Thank goodness for that because I checked emails yesterday and my utility bill was way over four hundred dollars. I of course nearly freaked out.  It's been a while since my electric bill has been this high so something is not right. Tomorrow I will call them and see if they can send a guy out here to check things for me.

 

When I first moved out here my bills were this high so my landlady insulated the house. I think the windows and doors let in too much cold air but have had no luck convincing them to fix this problem.

 

Before I close tonight I wanted to thank you for all your lovely comments about me making the move to Georgetown. I have read and reread your thoughts and I do appreciate each and every one.  Since they have offered me a trail period there I will give it a try. Not sure if I can do it but won't know unless I try it.

 

Do take care of you and know I think of you often and hope to visit your sites soon.

 

Sweet Dreams

Maggie