Done!

1012 miles!

Some News

We're moving.

It's not a little move.  We're really moving.

Go big or go home, right?

We are packing up and moving a few states over.

This new state is a bit of a drive from our West Texas town.  It has mountains, and trees, and pine cones, and rivers, and lakes, and snow, and rain, and temperatures measured with words like "below zero".   And after the election this past November, it also has marijuana.

In other words, this new state is the complete opposite of West Texas.

It may seem kind of sudden, but, honestly, God has been planning this move since Honey was a kid.  I truly believe this move has been in Honey's heart that long.  He is over the moon excited about his new job and coworkers.  It's not often you get to have the job of your dreams.

The rest of our little family is mostly excited, with a little bit of scared mixed in.  This is the biggest adventure that's happened to our family since the twins were born.  I think "mostly excited with a little bit of scared" is a pretty good way to look at a big new adventure.

I'm not sure I'll know what to do when phrases like "...temperatures well above the century mark..." and "...send in your pictures of the haboob that passed over the area..." are not part of the local weather forecast.  Apparently there are real places, lo, even in the great United States of America, where the flip flop is not a practical shoe choice.  And the realtor in our new state may or may not have laughed at me when I asked that he show us some houses with central air conditioning.

There will probably be some fishing, hunting, hiking, snow skiing, 4 wheeler riding, tubing, and reading on the deck in our future.  I'm positive there will be some culture shock, some fashion faux pas, and some closed toe shoe purchasing.  But it's nothing the Hairdryer family can't handle, right?

The one where I empty my brain of all the randomness

- I turned 38 last week.  And today?  I'm craving turkey and cheese on a sandwich thin for lunch instead of bean and cheese nachos from Rosa's.  It's like I don't even know myself anymore.

-Thirty eight has also declared war on my complexion.  Seriously.  Puberty wasn't this bad.

-I've had it up to here with Iron Man, Pawn Stars, Grease Monkey, Auction Hunters, and NBA Playoffs.  Last night I needed some girl TV, so I holed up in my room and watched some Downton Abbey.  The Christmas special from season 2 is my favorite episode.

-I'm 90 miles away from reaching 1000 on the spin bike.  I'll for sure make it by May 20.  I hope the t-shirts are cute.

-It's finally strawberry and avocado season again.  I love avocados...they make me want to LICK THE BOWL CLEAN.
-And...I miss these.

There is no reason they should be a seasonal product.

-I helped chaperon Bubba's choir trip this weekend.  We were gone 27 hours and 12 of those were spent on a charter bus.  But a happy mistake made it to where Bubba and I had to sit next to each other on the way to the music festival.  I loved the 6 hours we had to whisper, laugh, nap, and watch the sun rise together.  I probably won't ever get to do that again.  Good times.

-Only 18 more days of packing lunches.  Can I get an AMEN?!

-May is crazy busy this year.  Is the end of school kicking anyone else's tail?

Today...

...I drank a cup of my morning coffee without any added sweetener.  I added my favorite Vanilla Coffee Mate, which I suppose counts as added sweetener, but none of my old friends sugar, splenda, truvia, equal, or sweet n low were added.  I'm not sure why.  It's not that we were out. It wasn't an accident. I just didn't stir it in.  I'm not worried, it's probably just a phase.

...I baked a pan of Grands cinnamon rolls.  After Honey and the kids left for the day.  Because they sounded good. And because I can.  Did you know that the oven still works even when the kids are at school?

...I admit it's been quiet around the blog lately.  You know when you were little and your mom told you that "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything"?  Right now, life is telling me something similar to that.  Today there are parts of my life that just aren't internet appropriate.  Some day they will be, but today they are not.  Instead of writing around them I've chosen not to write anything at all.  And that's OK.

...I really want to take a trip to Disneyland.  Because you can do Disneyland in a couple of days, and that's all I want...just a couple of days. Enough time to see all my favorites, watch the fireworks, and post a few pictures on Instagram.  You know when you crave comfort food?  I'm craving a comfort place, and Disney is one of those places.  I don't necessarily want to take the kids, but I know that I would miss them if I went without them.  And they would KILL me if I went to Disney without them.  Honey?  He couldn't care less about Disney.  I'm pretty sure if I asked him to take me to Disneyland, he'd say, "Isn't there a girlfriend that could go with you instead?"

...I am making this for supper.  We usually grill pork chops.  And by we, I mean Honey.  I don't grill.  I don't even know how to turn on the grill.  But Honey is swamped this week and I'm trying to cook out of the freezer, so crock pot pork chops it is.

...What's going on with you today?

Y'all!

I've already posted the recipe for Green Enchiladas.  It's here.

In this post it's named Green Chicken Enchiladas.  I made two changes from the original recipe  1) I used chicken instead of ground beef, and 2) I used corn tortillas instead of flour.

But the rest of it is EXACTLY the original recipe.

Enjoy!

New Mexican Breakfast

One of the things that Prayer Group has done over the years is exchange recipes.  A few years we actually brought recipes straight out of our recipe boxes.  But most years, as we've taken turns hosting, we just end up sharing how to make what we serve, and the guests go home with several new dishes to try.

I have a recipe that I got from one of the girls way back at our very first PGR. It is for Green Enchiladas, and it is wonderful!  I'll have to share it some time.

Several years later at another PGR, one of the girls made an adaptation of the Green Enchilada recipe and served it for breakfast.  And it was yum!

The original recipe involves actually filling and rolling enchiladas.  It's a process that I find particularly tedious, and as with most things in my life, 'lazy' trumps 'taste'.  So, I set out to turn the breakfast recipe into a breakfast casserole recipe.  And, it was a smashing success if I do say so myself.

I'm calling it New Mexican Breakfast, because I use our New Mexico green chili.  But it has Velveeta in it, so there is a nod to Texas in there as well.  Tonight we're serving it with biscuits and hash browns.

New Mexican Breakfast

8-10 corn tortillas
10-12 eggs, scrambled
1 lb. breakfast sausage, browned and drained
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/2 lb. Velveeta
1 sm can green chopped green chilis
4 tbsp. flour
2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with 1 layer of corn tortillas.  Brown and drain sausage and set sausage to the side.  Using the pan the sausage was cooked in, scramble the eggs.  Get them done, but leave them a little softer than normal, and layer eggs over the tortillas.  Put a second layer of tortillas on top of the eggs.  Melt butter in a large sauce pan.  Add Velveeta, chili, milk, and flour and warm until melted and combined.  Add sausage to sauce and warm.  Pour sauce over tortilla and egg layers.  Bake at 20-30 mins or until all bubbly.  Let sit 3-5 minutes before serving.

It's mandatory rest day for Tour de Crazy.  It is MUCH needed, by the way.  Don't endurance athletes carb load on off days?  I think I saw that on TV once, so I'm pretending that's what they do.

This was my fortune from a few weeks ago...I'm finding carbs at my house today...but I had to share.

I thought Rosa's was the only eatery that spoke my language, but apparently, Panda Express knows.

I could make this stuff up, but why would I when it just happens all on it's own?

Tour de Crazy

Remember when I started spinning?

The gym where I take classes decided to host a challenge that would whip everyone back into shape after the holidays and get us all through the mid-winter blues.  We are now in the midst of the "Tour de Crazy".  It's actually called Tour de 'name of the gym', but Tour de Crazy fits much better.  Because crazy is exactly where I will be by Saturday.

The idea is to simulate the Tour de France as much as possible while only riding one hour a day for 14 days, indoors, on a stationary bike.

Which is pretty much nothing like the real Tour, but, whatever.

Today was day 10.  I have been on the bike 8 out of the last 10 days and ridden 158 miles.

One hundred fifty eight miles...that is about how far Honey drives to go to work every day.

My bum is sore.  I'm so thankful for my padded riding shorts.

Ibuprofen is not 'performance enhancing', right?

I've gotten stronger and faster over the last 10 days.  But it probably has nothing to do with the amount of Advil I've taken, right?

My appetite has increased dramatically.  I am starving all.the.time.  I totally get how Michael Phelps could eat 10,000 calories a day.

I'm losing inches, my jeans are fitting differently.  I haven't weighed though.

One day last week at the end of class I was about as spent as I had ever been and the instructor excitedly announced, "Three down, only 11 more to go!"  I decided that was a bit early to start the countdown.

I've learned that the course we are simulating is heavy on the flat lands in the beginning and then all about the Alps in the end.  So...today we started the Alps part.  I fully expect my mileage to go down since I can't ride as fast on hills as I can on flats.

We were climbing mountains in the Alps for 40 of the 56 minutes I was on the bike today.

I don't know what the Alps look like, but in my head they look just like the mountains around CBH.  It's my happy place when pretending to ride on mountains.

The tour ends Saturday, so there are 4 more days to ride because Thursday is a mandatory rest day.  And then I can wear my Tour de Crazy shirt with pride.  I love a good challenge.  Honey said that he knew I would finish because I always accomplish what I put in my mind to do.  That's fancy talk for I'm stubborn.

In all the months I've been spinning, I've never logged 200 miles in one month.  So, that's my goal for February.

In September I joined the 1000 mile challenge.  I've been logging my miles every time I ride, and when I get to 1000 I get a t shirt.  I'm really wanting to wrap that up this spring too.  My goal is to have that completed by my birthday, May 2.

What kind of work outs are you loving right now?
What is the craziest thing you've ever done for a t shirt?

Keepin' It Real, Yo.

We are cleaning and purging some closets at our house.  I found the tote bag that we used to put all the stuff we received at the hospital when Brooke was diagnosed.  Pamphlets, hats, magnets, business cards, books, papers, "tips and hints", guides.  It's been in the closet for almost 2 years.

(No it hasn't.  It spent a few weeks on our dinning room table.  Then it moved to the closet.)

The prescriptions and daily supplies we needed sat on a corner of our kitchen counter for about a month.  It took that long for me to come to terms with the fact that this stuff is never going away.

Never.

Then I cleaned out a drawer in our kitchen and a shelf in our pantry to store all our stuff.  And then I decided that I would gladly deal with all the extra stuff for 200 years if it meant keeping Brooke healthy and thriving.

Remember this?  It was near the beginning of our D journey.  Oh, sweet order and control.

Today?  This.

Because, now?  Two years later?  Brooke is a little more in charge, and I am a little less in charge.

And this?  This is how she rolls.



She must be her father's child.

A good time for chocolate

I'm not a huge Obama fan.  But, I am a fan of America.  And, I'm a huge fan of God.  So, I pray for Mr. Obama.

(Honestly, I pray for Mr. Obama's safety alot.  Because I dislike Joe Biden even more than Mr. Obama.)

And since the kids are out of school today, we watched part of the inauguration.  Actually, we watched everyone file in, listened to the Invocation that was not quite a prayer, heard a couple of the songs, and watched the two men be sworn in.  Then when the speeches started, we changed the channel.  Again, it's a school holiday, so you can bet we changed it to Disney channel.

We are having Taco Soup for supper tonight.  And every Mexican food loving person knows that chocolate goes best with Mexican.

That got me to thinking about November 2008 when Mr. Obama was first elected.  I posted a chocolate pie recipe then.  I think I'll repost it now.  I'm feeling about like I felt the day after that election in 2008.

This is what we'll be having for dessert tonight:

Chocolate Pie

1 Oreo cookie pie crust
8 oz. Cool Whip Free
1 cup skim milk
1 sm package ff, sf chocolate pudding mix

In a large bowl, combine milk and pudding mix. Add Cool Whip and mix well. Pour contents into pie crust and chill 2-3 hours. Serve cold and enjoy.

Serves: 8

Happy Monday!