Smile - The Weekend is Almost Here!

We received another 6 inches of snow yesterday and last night - yes, we're now heading into our snowy season - the season where it's nothing to get a foot of snow at a time, or even up to 3 feet! But what we're all ready for is some warmer weather - the temps should start to rise a little bit and after the last few months of below zero morning temps, everyone is ready for it!

My weekend plans? STAY HOME! I'm excited about getting some work done on Saturday and scrapbooking on Sunday!

But I wanted to share another recipe I made last night which received rave reviews from Glenn!

Monterey Chicken (for 2)

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves - (if they're thick, slice in two for faster cooking)
Salt and Pepper
BBQ sauce - I used Sweet Baby Ray's
2 cooked bacon strips
Shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
Chopped tomato and chives

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper - Cook the chicken in a skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray - cook chicken 4-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Transfer to a baking sheet.
Top each breast with bbq sauce, bacon and cheese - broil 3-4 inches from heat for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with tomato and chives.


I cooked the bacon first and then cooked the chicken in the bacon grease and that worked great! Just make sure your chicken breasts are pretty flat or they take longer to cook - the chicken cutlets that you can buy would be perfect for this. The only other thing I would change is to spray the cookie sheet before broiling the chicken or line with foil to make cleanup easier.

I rate this 4 stars - super easy to make and a great taste!!

Would You Like To Come Ice Skating At Our Place?

I'm serious - the top part of our driveway is slicker than an ice skating rink - only I didn't know this when I drove up after work yesterday............

I always get a run up the driveway as it's steep and still ice and snow packed - once I get to the top I curve to the left and then sharply turn right to head up the STEEP little hill to the garage. So I did my usual approach yesterday and the car turned completely sideways and then started sliding, and sliding - I missed our other car by inches but there was nothing I could do - when I FINALLY got the car stopped, I couldn't even take my foot off the brake.

And as I'm sitting there waiting for Glenn to walk down the icy hill, the car just starts sliding on its' own, even though my foot is still on the brake - after the 3rd time it did this, I was out of there - I made Glenn take over and of course he got it moved to a better spot.

Why the ice? Our water pipes are still frozen which means Glenn has to run hoses from the well up the hill, into the shop to do his granite - naturally all the hoses don't fit tight and leak some, hence the skating rink (it was 15 below yesterday morning, only 2 below this morning - a real heat wave!). I'm PRAYING for some warmer weather today to melt some of the ice.

On a brighter note, today is Glenn's LAST day to work on granite in the shop - he has rented a place here in Woodland Park to do his granite and will start moving ALL the granite things starting tomorrow! I'm excited for him as it's been a real challenge this winter to get the granite up the steep and icy driveway and into the shop to work on it! He deserves a better place to do his work and the new place should also bring in more business as it's along the main highway!

On an even BRIGHTER NOTE, ALL the granite and big racks that are taking up space on our property will now be moved to the new shop - our home place won't look like a granite factory anymore - all the EXTRA stuff that is still sitting around our property can go INTO the garage now for storage AND the best part, I will be able to park in the garage - no more scraping icy windows!

And where will I be parking the car today when I get home? Definitely NOT up the icy hill!!

Evan Turns 3!!

3 years old - pure joy and excitement -all boy -talks a mile a minute - gives the greatest hugs imaginable - loves trains and trucks - it must be Evan!

Evan's birthday party was Saturday afternoon up in Denver - and what a fun party it was! Besides the usual present opening and cake, we also got to do the Hokey-Pokey!!! Now when was the last time you did that???

Jessi fixed an awesome meal of beef and chicken/black bean tacos and it went down great with the wonderful chocolate cake!! We had fun playing with all the kids and watching Evan delight in being the birthday boy!!

Keep smiling that special smile Evan - we love you!!!

The Homecoming!

We've been home almost a week now - enough time to realize that sometimes, things just don't go as planned!

Not only did we come home to frozen water pipes but the second night as Glenn was trying to unthaw the pipes, the sewer backed up - yep, it was full - not seeping over to the leech field like it was supposed to because it was too frozen!

So the sewer was pumped out - not a problem - but the pipes are still frozen - yes, we do have water to a degree - Glenn can hook up a hose from the actual well into the house and at that point, we do have water for the day or the evening. But it freezes again each morning - so showers must be taken in the evening!

Then yesterday, the 3rd thing happened - the hot water heater went on the blink - after trying to take a shower twice, I finally gave up! Supposedly it was just having issues because Glenn kept draining the water out to work on the frozen pipes! I'm REALLY hoping there's some hot water when I get home from work!

It's been an interesting week at our house - we're both trying to look at the bright side of things though - as in "it can't get TOO much worse"!! Ha Ha!

Homeward Bound From Cozumel

Has it already been 5 days??? Is it really time to pack up and head back to Colorado? I guess.....

We woke up early that morning so opted to get the packing done and out of the way before we headed to breakfast! One last day of that great orange juice! One last day of snapping a few more pictures! One last day of visiting with my family!

The "sisters" picture just wasn't the same this year without Teri!!

All too soon our ride arrived and we headed to the airport - and yes, I got my shopping done there - my bookmark and Christmas ornament were found with ease!

We boarded the airplane and waited.... and waited..... and waited. The problem: American Airlines had brought in a person that did not have the right paperwork - and until they released her from immigration and decided what to do with her, they would NOT allow our plane to leave - bummer - especially since the majority of us had connecting flights in Dallas to catch.

We waited some more - we actually waited a little over an hour and then they put the person BACK on our plane and we headed out - the pilot was sympathetic with all of us but his hands were tied - he did make up some time in the air and when we landed, I felt sure we had enough time to catch the next flight, even though we had customs to get through!

Customs was fast - but at the next checkpoint, they saw that I had written pharmacy items on the back of our paperwork and we were taken to a special place so they could check out these items! Luckily, I had put down the right amount we had bought them for and there was no problem at all, but it was time consuming of course!

We ran - then it was through security again - and we ran - and then caught the tram as we had no choice this time but it was easy to figure out - and then we raced to the gate - it was 6:30, the exact time the plane was to leave and you guessed it, the doors were already closed. I was not happy.

Luckily there was still another flight out that night at 9:30 so we had some dinner, called the kids and then once again boarded the plane for Denver. We arrived about 10:45 and of course neither one of us had any idea where we had parked the car, as we had left in such a hurry!! For once, my memory served me right and it didn't take long at all to find it! After a quick stop at Jaime's to pick up our things we had left, we headed home and arrived about 1:30am - tired, exhausted and ready for bed - and what did we find at the house? Frozen water pipes - but more about that later..............

Despite all the "bad karma" this trip had, we still had a great time - and I would definitely go back to Cozumel again - beautiful white sandy beaches, salty air, turquoise water - what memories!

Cozumel - Day 4

I slept like a rock - Hallelujah!

This was fishing day for Jim and Glenn - they were excited to head out on their chartered boat and we promised to be waiting on the dock with cameras in hand for their return!



The sun was out - so was the wind. But if you put your beach chair in the right direction, the wind wasn't too bad so we donned our suits, ordered some drinks and read away!! Actually, I tried to snorkel that day, right by the dock. But with my horrible cough, I had no extra air and just couldn't do it - so I just stood on the dock and looked down at the water and STILL saw lots of beautiful fish - the water was so clear and perfect!

Lunch was at the outside bar that day and we all stuffed ourselves to the point where we couldn't eat any more! 3:30 came and we were waiting with cameras on the dock to see if the guys had caught the "big" one! Not quite........ but they had the big one on and both Jim and Glenn fought it for over an hour before it got off. They were SO PUMPED up from trying to reel that fish in and we heard the story over and over again! They did catch enough for dinner though.... that was nice!

The outside grill cooked up the fish along with some side dishes and we had a tasty meal that night! Freshly caught fish is always the best!

It was Glenn and I's last night at the Aura as we were flying home the next day - I'm sure Glenn dreamed and dreamed of the one that got away..............

Cozumel Continued.....

I wish I could say that we woke up to sunshine but alas, it was cloudy again - but not for long!


I had a tough night - did I remember to mention earlier that I was sick when we left? I knew something was coming on before we took off but it really didn't get bad until we arrived in Cozumel. I'm not sure what I had (or still have in fact) but I DO know that I had a horrible cough - I didn't even want to hear myself cough, so I can't imagine what the other people thought! So my night was not a great one as I woke up early and started coughing, and just couldn't stop it seemed!

After a hot shower though, I rallied and was ready to start the day! The mopeds arrived around 9:00 and after doing test drives and donning our helmets, we were off!! We drove and drove, past beautiful white sandy beaches with the ocean changing color as we went by! At one point, we stopped and walked down to the beach to take some pics, grab some water and check out the souviner stand! I couldn't believe the color of these coconuts!





Cozumel is a MUCH bigger island than Isla Mujeres!! Our butts were getting darn sore by the time we stopped at the famous "Coconuts" bar and grill! The place was great and we sat at a table that overlooked the ocean, had some great drinks (on the rocks of course as there is NO electricity there) and some awesome guacomole, chips, and chicken quesidillas! What a neat place! There were some huge iguanas around - this one just wouldn't come out enough to get a full shot of him!

Then it was back on the mopeds for our next stop, a tequila factory - or so we thought! I ran to the counter to make SURE this was the right place and it was, but they don't actually make the tequila there, more of a museum type place with some tasting of tequila. We opted not to go in and headed next to the Mayan Ruins. They were interesting, although the mosquitos loved Jim so we hurried along so we wouldn't get eaten alive! Funny how you're used to the wind by the ocean but as soon as you get inland, the wind is NOT there!

From the ruins we headed into the town of San Miguel to do a little shopping and to find me some good ole' amoxicillin to help my cough! Sure enough, we found a pharmacy that had some great prices on it so stocked up, did a little more shopping and headed back home! Since it was "Carnival", there were a lot of strangely dressed people and we saw a lot of the floats sitting on the side of the road! I bet it's one heck of a party at night!

Next on the agenda when we got back to the resort was our annual farm meeting - so we all gathered up our paperwork and met in our room - the meeting went well and so we were on the MOST important part of the meeting - where to meet next year!! We have the list down to 3 - Aruba, Belize, or Costa Rica - so it must be time for me to get busy and start doing the research once again - and THIS TIME, TERI AND JAY WILL BE WITH US!!

After relaxing and cleaning up a little, we headed out to dinner - by now the wind had subsided and we actually got to eat at the outdoors restaurant - lobster was on the menu and it was served with an interesting sauce and some fantastic sweet potatos (and I don't like sweet potatos!) By the time the 4 course meal was done, we were exhausted once again - too tired to change into our suits and hit the hot tub! We had the memories of the day to fall asleep to......

To be continued...............

Cozumel - Day 2

A great night's sleep is always a luxury when you're sleeping in a strange bed! I expected to be woke up by sunshine streaming through the patio doors but it was cloudy and windy out!

Minutes later we were out the door for breakfast! One different thing about this all-inclusive is that there were no buffets - we ordered off a menu in each restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed that! Breakfast was great, especially the fresh squeezed orange juice!

Since it was so windy out, we opted to take advantage of our rooftop which was somewhat protected from the wind - and soon the sun came out! I tested out the lap pool on the roof - BRRRR - much too cold to even consider!!

Before we knew it, Patty, Leonard, Jim and Brenda had arrived! We helped them unpack and soon were lying in lounge chairs at the pool! The sun was out by now and it felt GREAT!! Lunch was just a few steps away and we enjoyed shrimp cocktail and some great fish!

Check out this rooftop bar with the hot tubs!! The views were amazing from it and they were setting up for an outdoor wedding! I walked down to the wedding later on and watched a little bit of it - very romantic!

At 5:30 we met our representative so we could decide if we wanted to do any excursions on the island - Glenn and Jim of course wanted to fish - so they started the process of trying to book a trip for Monday. Meanwhile, we all decided to rent mopeds for the next day and tour the island!

Drinks and dinner were next on the agenda - we tried to sit outside but it was just too cool and windy so the waiters whisked us inside where we had a great meal! Did we have big plans for the remainder of the evening? You bet - hit the sack and sleep - could we POSSIBLY be getting old? I believe so........... To be continued............

Cozumel

Sandy beaches -blue skies - aquamarine water - salty sea air - we must be in Cozumel!

We landed in Cozumel with mixed emotions - excited and happy to be there - disappointed knowing that Patty, Leonard, Jim and Brenda wouldn't be arriving till the next day and even MORE disappointed, knowing Teri and Jay weren't getting to come at all!

Customs was a breeze since there were only about 30 of us on the plane - and of course just doing the carry-on meant no wait for luggage, not that it would have taken very long anyway! For once, we got the green light, not the red so we walked through the doors and immediately were attacked by the time share people! I was very firm with the guy, telling him we were meeting Olympus outside for our ride and he informed me the Olympus booth was right around the corner - and I believed him! After listening to the guy talk about everything to do on the island for about 10 minutes, I was starting to get suspicious - and when he started telling us what good DEALS he could get us, I knew!! I looked at Glenn and said, "We're out of here - NOW!!!" And we walked out into the bright sunshine, caught our ride and were delivered to the Wyndam Aura - our home away from home for the next 4 nights!

Check-in was an easy process and we were brought a glass of wine to drink during the process and then we were whisked to our room. WOW - what a room - the nicest we've ever stayed in! Not only was the balcony a great place with its view of the pool and the beach, but the steps leading up to the rooftop with our personal laptop pool proved to be the ULTIMATE view!!

We unpacked quickly and headed down to the outdoor bar and grill to get a drink and some food - breakfast seemed like a long time ago! But before we even got the quesidilla 1/2 way eaten, the rain came - it blew almost sideways with the heavy wind but we weren't discouraged - how can you be unhappy in Mexico?

We toured the grounds, tried to get Glenn's phone to work (since we had purchased the extra Mexico coverage - thanks to Jessi, we did get it to work!) and before we knew it, it was time to eat dinner! Glenn had to make a quick trip BACK to the room as dinner is long pants only and he forgot and wore his shorts! After our 4 course meal, all we wanted was some sleep! And a comfortable bed, makes for a great night's sleep! To be continued.........

The Morning From #!*#!&#!!

Who would have thought? Yes, we always worry about the weather in Denver, Omaha, and Michigan when we are flying out for our annual trip - but who would have thought we needed to worry about Dallas, Tx - our connection city!

It started about 3:00am on Friday morning - we were sleeping away at Jaime's house (or at least Glenn was - for some reason, I couldn't go to sleep that night so had seen midnight and was just FINALLY sleeping good!) My cell phone rang - dear me - where in the heck did I leave it - I can hear it ringing - and then I remember it's in my purse which is stashed away in the closet! I stumble out of bed but of course by the time I find it, it's already gone to voice mail. I check and see it's from Jay - knowing they're 2 hours ahead of us in Michigan, I figure he's just calling to let us know they're ready to leave so I don't return the call - that was my first mistake!

I crawled back in bed, hoping to get a little more sleep before the 4:15 alarm goes off - but of course I just lay there and worry since I DIDN'T call Jay back - fast foward to 3:45 - the phone rings again - this CAN'T be good!! So of course I answer this time and it's Jim calling from Iowa, telling me the unbelieveable news that all flights to Dallas have been cancelled, due to the fact that Dallas got a foot of snow!


OK - my brain is awake now - and I NOW know what Jay was calling about - so I hang up from Jim and call Jay and sure enough, they're already heading back home - after standing in line forever to rebook, they can't even get out of Grand Rapids till next Monday! Hmmmmm - that would mean like flying in on Monday, spending the night, and flying back home on Tuesday - definitely not anybody's idea of a vacation!

I tell Teri and Jay to get on the internet and see if they can get ANY type of tickets and call Jim back, all the while hooking up my laptop, grabbing some water and throwing on some clothes. I start the search - Glenn and I can get out of Denver the next day, at a cost of $1750.00 - I don't THINK so!! !But we always take out travel insurance so I called them - how much could we get reimbursed for rebooking flights - 150% they say - at least I know what we're looking at now!!

Patty and I call each other back and forth - back and forth - they've tried to rebook at the airport and nothing is available - I check online since I have the computer and yes, there's a ticket here and a ticket there, but not 4 tickets with one company - NOT looking good!!

Patty's decide to go to their daughter's house so she can get on the computer and start looking - by this time, Teri and Jay have checked and can't find anything out of Michigan!! Bummer!!

Of course our airport taxi, Brad, has been up and sent back to bed - the alarm has long since went off and it's about this time -5:15 - that it finally dawns on me that I haven't called American Airlines to see about getting our little slip of paper that says the flight has been cancelled which is something you MUST have to turn back into the insurance company! Second mistake of the day - I call American Airlines and you guessed it - OUR FLIGHT HAS NOT BEEN CANCELLED!! Oh my gosh - we're not dressed, we're not finished packing, we're NOT ANYTHING and our plane is destined to leave at 6:45!! We throw on our clothes, stuff the rest of our things in the suitcase, tell Brad who is back in bed of course that we're leaving for the airport and RACE out the door - it's a 1/2 hour drive to the airport.

No time to park in the cheap parking lot and take the shuttle as it's a race against time so we park in the expensive lot - it's 10 degrees out and we have our sandles and light jackets on, running through the parking lot as there's not a shuttle to be found!! My, it's cold and a LONG ways to the terminal - we find American and the line is horrendous!! Luckily, no one is using the automatic check-in so we swipe our passports (no luggage to check), get our boarding passes and race down to security, calling Patty on the way to let her know we are at the airport!!

Patty informs me they HAVE gotten rebooked but won't be in till Sat. morning and were trying to see if the 4 of them could spend an extra night, since they will have lost a night's stay! Teri and Jay could not find anything for rebooking so opted to just cancel their trip - darn!!

Security is long - and of course the gal says there are liquids in my carryon bag - I KNOW for a fact there aren't - we travel enough that I KNOW my liquids go in the little ziploc bag and we had already sent them through the machine! So they take my bag for a bag check and the guy finds the problem - fruit bars which are kind of jelly like were mistaken for liquids! So much for my nicely packed clothes!!

Now the real race begins - get to the gate before they CLOSE IT!! We race by a breakfast place and a coffee place and my stomach is growling like crazy but there's no time to stop! Final boarding call - we MADE IT!!! Of course no room in the overhead bins for us but we find a spot about 5 rows back, collapse in our seats and turn to each other and smile - but the fun isn't over yet..................

Of course we had to de-ice in Denver - remember I said it was 10 degrees out???? So we wait in line - watch them de-ice the plane after a LONG wait, looking at each other and knowing that our plane is going to arrive late in Dallas and we only had a 45 minute window as it was to catch the next flight!

We were right - plane is over 15 minutes late landing - luckily we're towards the front of the plane so we race off and literally start running again - our next flight is in the next terminal - I had to idea how to use the trams and didn't dare take a chance getting off in the wrong place so we just opted to run - Dallas is a BIG airport - we run - we run -we run - and my darn leather sandles give me 2 huge blisters - OW!!!!!

Final boarding call - now where have we heard that before???? But the lady at the gate is super nice and says yes, I have time to run to the bathroom AND if I really hurry, to grab something to eat at McDonalds - yes, yes, yes!!! As much as I dislike McDonald's, the thought of some food made me welcome this fast food place with open arms!

We board the plane - plop down in our seats on the almost empty plane because EVERYBODY else was cancelled - and eat some mighty fine bacon/cheese/egg bagels! My feet hurt like crazy and I'm sure I looked a mess but who cares??? WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO COZUMEL!

It's Almost Time..........

for vacation! A few days on a sunny beach will feel great after this cold snap! Out of the snow - into the sunshine - sipping a pina colada by the water's edge - reading a book - listening to some tunes on the IPOD - visiting with family - ah, escape from reality for a few days!

Of course THIS week would be the week that 2 of my favorite shows start their season again, Survivor and Amazing Race - also this week is the start of the Winter Olympics which I LOVE to watch!! No problem - we have a Dish with a DVR to record it all! I spent Monday night programming all the shows, making sure they were in "priority" order!

We noticed Tuesday night the Dish wasn't working properly - I had previously programmed in American Idol to record so ran down to make SURE it was recording and it wasn't - an error message appeared on the screen - so Glenn unplugged the entire system to reboot it - and it recorded.

Last night - same thing - only when it should have STOPPED recording, the entire system froze - you couldn't do anything - change a channel, stop the recording - absolutely NOTHING. So once again Glenn unplugged the entire system.

Today it was time to call DISH and see what was going on - the worst case would be that they need to ship us a new unit - not something I'm too excited about since THEN none of my shows would record for the next 5 days! I left Glenn in charge of calling them while I went to work.

So what shows up on my email about an hour ago? A message stating a new DISH component is being mailed and how to ship back the old unit - sigh - I guess none of my shows will be recording while I'm gone............

Time to put a phone call into Jaime to see if she will record a few of the shows for me since we'll be heading back up to Denver the weekend after vacation to celebrate Evan's birthday - maybe I can sneak in watching those few shows then.................

Cozumel - here we come!!

COFFEE................

Let's talk a minute about coffee!! As everyone knows by now because I mention it EVERY time I write about going to Denver, Caribou Coffee is my FAVORITE place for coffee - the turtle mocha, skim milk, whip cream, dark chocolate is my standard order there and it never disappoints me!

But of course I only order that when I'm in Denver - how about my daily coffee that I drink here at work??? Right now I'm taking turns between Vanilla Bean Supreme and Caribou Blend (which yes, is from Caribou Coffee, compliments of Jaime). I do have an all-time favorite but I'm out right now - darn - and the exact name escapes me but it's something like Caramel Toffee - it is ABSOLUTELY SUPREME in my book!!!

Why aren't I drinking this fabulous coffee right now??? Here's where the "good news" comes in because I get this specialty coffee from my sister Teri - that's right - they sell it at their church and the proceeds go back to the coffee growers - no middle man is involved! I like that idea a lot!! Even though Teri lives in Michigan, we usually see each other at least once a year and guess what, I'm seeing her in Mexico in 2 days - AND - she just emailed me and asked if I wanted her to bring me some coffee!! HMMMMMM - tough decision there.............

What she doesn't realize is that I will be seeing her AGAIN in June when we're both in Iowa and you know what that means?? SHE will be driving - I will be driving - PLENTY of room to bring LOTS of coffee!! See that smile on my face?

Soda and Pop

I grew up drinking POP, not soda! Soda was something you cooked with! But now nobody calls it pop anymore, it's a soda!!

So after getting home from Denver yesterday, I had cooking and baking to do for the Super Bowl party we were going to. I was going to bake a bundt cake that I hadn't made in ages so I turned the music on and started in.

I'm reading the instructions (because I KNEW I had all the ingredients) and it tells me to add in the soda - but when I look above at the ingredients, there's no soda!! I knew Jessi had made this recipe before so I called her and told her I must have forgotten to write down the amount of soda to use because it says to add it, but there's no amount listed - and that's when Jessi informs me that the "cup of lemon-lime pop" IS the soda - duh - I knew that!

Did I grow up in the midwest or what??????

A Belated Anniversary Dinner!

Instead of buying birthday presents for the 3 girls and their hubbies, we have opted to take them out for their anniversary! Yes, I know it's February but this was the FIRST opportunity to take Jaime and Brad out for their anniversary which was last September!! No matter, as long as we get to go, that's all that counts!!

Since Jessi was supposed to babysit but couldn't because Evan was still sick, Rayna and Kylan went to the neighbors and then we headed to The Montana Grill! They had eaten here before and raved about the "bison" hamburgers! Brad opted for bison ribs but the rest of us did get the hamburgers and oh my, they were delicious! Huge of course so 1/2 of mine had to be brought home so I got to enjoy it twice! We had a great evening together, ending with key lime pie and hopefully next year it won't take us QUITE so long to celebrate!


Kenzie was excited when we put her coat on and plopped her in the stroller for a walk - Jessi had told me that she LOVES being strolled so even though it was cold and windy out, I bundled her up and we went for a LONG walk!

Rayna had her best friend Kealy over so they entertained us with their dances and moves - those 2 are like peas in a pod! (and soon, I'm sure, Nana won't be as much fun to play with as friends!!)

Kylan was his usual goofy self - but he was so excited to see us that both Papa and I received hugs like we've NEVER received from him before!! He's a character...........

No pictures of Evan this time - poor little guy was not feeling good at all - he did rally a little bit when we arrived but all in all, was pretty sick!!

Jaime, Jessi and I did sneak out for some nachos and Caribou Coffee - and Glenn got to do some ice fishing - there's one small, perch sitting in my frig looking pretty lonely!

It will be back to Denver on Thursday night for our flight out early Friday morning!! But I doubt the little ones will be up at 4:30 to go with us to the airport!!

Another Recipe To Add To The Collection!

I'm proud of myself because so far this year, I have kept my goal of trying one new recipe every week!

Last night I tried another recipe out of the file folder called "Tortellini Soup" and it was fantastic!! I have never cooked with tortellini before - in fact, not sure if I have ever even tasted it but I saw it in the store and knew I had a recipe for it so bought it, tried it, and loved it!

Tortellini Soup

2 t. chopped garlic (I used the chopped, fresh that comes in a jar)
1/4 cup chopped onion (we love onion so I used about 1/2 cup)
1 T. butter
1 quart chicken broth
1 14 1/2 oz. can of petite diced tomatos
1 package fresh tortellini, any flavor (I used the 3 cheese)
Chopped fresh basil or spinach (I didn't use any)
Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic and the onion in the butter until soft - add the chicken broth and tomatos and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tortellini about 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with basil, spinach or cheese.

The recipe is super easy to make - serve it with a green salad and some bread or muffins and you've got yourself a meal!! I give it 4 stars and it will definitely go in my recipe book!

Wouldn't You Know.....

2 days off AT HOME and one was spent with a miserable headache!

The magic hour was 3:00am, Sunday morning - have you ever just laid there and laid there, hoping the headache was going to go away but knowing in the back of your mind that it's NOT! I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to crawl out of bed to take some medication but I wait until I can't stand the headache any longer, and by that time I'm miserable and of course can't get back to sleep!

Did the medication help? Of course not! Did I fall back asleep? Yes, for a couple of hours. Did I wake up just feeling marvelous? Absolutely not!

I did dress and go to church but couldn't wait to get back home and be miserable by myself as Glenn was ice fishing for the day! I scrapbooked 3 pages - I talked to my friend in NC for an hour - I put dinner in the crockpot - and I even laid down on the couch in the hopes of feeling better but it was just not going to happen!

I woke up this morning feeling 100% better - goodbye headache!
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On a brighter note, I felt great on Saturday and accomplished what I set out to do: finish deep cleaning the bedroom and bathroom in the loft! DONE!

I also tried my new recipe of the week on Sunday in the crockpot - it was called "Steak Stroganoff" - it was just OK so I'm not going to pass it on as I will probably never make it again - but it was fine for one meal and was easy to make!
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It's February - I always look forward to turning the huge calendar above my desk at work to see what the new picture is of - and this month it's a beach in Florida! That brought a smile to my face, knowing that in 11 days we're headed to the beach in Cozumel! And it looks like we'll have 2 occasions to celebrate while we're there - Valentine's Day and President's Day - the guys will get off easy for Valentine's Day Dinner since we'll ALREADY be eating out!!