Fast - Simple - Tasty

Although I haven't been posting new recipes lately, I HAVE been trying at least one new one a week from my EZ Meals that I subscribe to! But I fixed a new recipe last night that I must share, simply because it's so easy and quick!!

Easy Beans & Rice

1# ground beef
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of petite tomatos
1 can of grn chiles - mild
Minute Rice
Sour Cream

Brown and drain the ground beef, seasoning well with salt, pepper and garlic salt - add black beans, tomatos and chiles and heat - spoon over minute rice and plop some sour cream on top and you're done!! Now how easy is that???

Raindrops On Roses and Whiskers on Kittens....

.....these are a few of my favorite things!!! AND one of my favorite things to do is to be with friends at our monthly get-togethers!!

It was "choir girls" night out last night and you'll never guess what we did!! We attended the 45th anniversary celebration of "The Sound Of Music", held at Tinseltown, where we saw the newly re-digitized (if that's a word???) version of the movie on the BIG screen AND to top it off, it was a sing-along while we watched the movie!! Yes, the words were printed right on the screen and we all sang those familiar tunes to our hearts' content!! What fun it was seeing the crystal clear mountains in that movie and all the little details that you just never paid attention to before!!

What a great, classic movie - we used to watch it every Christmas when the girls were growing up but we actually haven't watched it for many years now - so it was a real treat to watch it again and sing in the movie theater!!

Friends and a fantastic movie - what a fun combination!!

Preparing For Winter...........

We actually STAYED HOME this last weekend with NO company - I know - you're in shock!! I was trying to figure out the last time we were home with no plans and I think it was sometime last summer................life is busy............

But we planned a work weekend because:

1) wood needed to be cut for the LONG winter ahead
2) the pile of scrap lumber that has been sitting out back FOREVER was begging to be cut up with the chainsaw and stacked neatly under the deck
3) the summer/winter clothes switch was in dire need of getting done as it's certainly not capri weather anymore
4) the old camper needed to get brought to town so we can sell it (at Glenn's work)
5) the storage area was so cluttered you could hardly get to the freezer
6) the garage needed a good cleaning and some rearranging done

Yes my back and arms are sore today - my cold seems to be a little worse from all the wood dust - BUT the above list is DONE, crossed off that never-ending list and there's a smile on my face from accomplishing SO MUCH over the weekend!!

The Riverwalk - San Antonio #4

After the Alamo, it was on to the Riverwalk!! I'd heard a lot of comments about the beautiful Riverwalk in San Antonio and I have to agree - it's one special place!! Walking, you just kind of wind around and around right beside the water, with shops and restaurants on each side! Here's a picture of Helen and Joe before we took our ride!

I was lucky enough to be the first person to get on our boat so I sat at the very back which to me was perfect because the boat was going in that direction, hence I had no one blocking my camera shots!!

It was a pretty ride - lots of foilage and trees to see, along with all the people walking along the Riverwalk! Our guide pointed out the things of interest and I snapped shots as fast as I could!

Helen says it's beautifully decorated at Christmas - I can only imagine!!

After the Riverwalk it was time for chow!! We ate at Pat O'Brien's and decorated ourselves with the Mardi Gras beads that were on the table!! The grandkids love to wear these when they come to visit so now I'll have a handful more to put in the toybox!!

Our evening consisted of looking at more pictures, eating pizza and drinking wine (yes, we finished one more bottle!), and watching a couple of movies!! Even though we had seen it before, Helen and I laughed and laughed together watching "New In Town" which is set up in Minnesota!! Only a true midwesterner can appreciate that movie!! And after I told her how good "Letters To Juliet" was, we ran to Blockbusters and watched it too!!

I enjoyed church the next morning where both Joe and Helen sing and play in their praise band - and after a delicious brunch, it was time to head to the airport - yes, all good things must come to an end!! But Joe had one more photo opp for us!! These boots are famous in San Antonio so a picture in front of them was a MUST!!

Thank you Helen and Joe for a simply marvelous time!! I enjoyed each and every minute with the two of you and I hope someday I can return the hospitality when you come to Colorado!

San Antonio Fun - #3

Another beautiful day in San Antonio!! Joe was going to join us on Saturday for the "tour" of downtown!! But FIRST - we had to find LuLu's Cafe!!

When Jaime found out I was flying to San Antonio, she called and told me I HAD to find LuLu's and eat a cinnamon roll - not just ANY cinnamon roll but a 3 1/2# one!!! She was watching the Travel Channel one night and this place was #9 on the list - famous for its chicken fried steak and LARGE cinnamon rolls!!

So Joe put the address into his GPS and we were off on an adventure!! And yes, we found the place - a cute cafe with large painted drawings on the windows!

And the inside - one of those "home type" places where the waitressess are SO friendly!! Of course we had to tell the waitress our story of how we FOUND this place and we ordered coffees and ONE cinnamon roll!!

In the meantime, another couple walked in who were from Ohio and we started visiting with them - they were here for the same reason - their SON had watched the Travel Channel and insisted THEY come here also so we all got a chuckle out of that!! And before we knew it, our cinnamon roll had arrived - or should I say cake???

Believe me, it was ONE HUGE CINNAMON ROLL!! More than enough for the 3 of us - we ate what we could and took the rest home in a box!! Here's Joe digging in.................

Joe insisted on buying Jaime a t-shirt from LuLu's and I'll be delivering it to her in a little over a week!! What a great time we had there!!

Next it was on to the Alamo - lots of history here and it was interesting to not only read about what happened, but to see a short movie on it also! I think everyone has heard of "The Alamo" but not a lot remember what actually happened there!

They had a great store there for souviners and I picked out my other item I collect, a bookmark! There is a HUGE oak tree out back that was sprawled all over the place - not sure I have ever seen a tree this large!! I couldn't begin to capture all the limbs that went out for dozens of feet!

And then it was on the The Riverwalk............ To be continued..............

The Hill Country - San Antonio - #2

Friday morning dawned beautiful! Helen had to work for a couple of hours in the morning so I enjoyed coffee on her patio and just relaxing till she got home! And then we were off to the Hill Country!!

Our first stop was the Gourd Festival in Fredericksburg - have you ever been to a gourd festival before?? I had no idea they even had then and we were both totally amazed at what we found! There was every type of gourd imaginable and they all had been turned into the most beautiful and unique decorations ever! Some of the items sold for up to $1000 - way over our budget!!

We walked around and around the place, checking out all the different designs - it was easy to decide what I wanted to buy as I had seen the item the minute we walked in the door! Of course it was a Christmas ornament - similar to the ones you see hanging below on the tree! Mine looks like the "old-fashioned" type of gourd that you usually see in the fall, and it's painted with blue bonnets, the pretty blue flowers that grow like crazy in the spring!

And next it was on to Luckenbach!! Remember the song "Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas, Willie and Waylon and the boys - this successful life we're livings', got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys." I have to be honest - I always thought Luckenbach was just a regular town - NOT!

It's out in the middle of nowhere and consists of a large general store where you can buy beer and soda, a post office, and a large dance hall where a lot of wedding receptions are held!!

All in all - one fun place!! Lots of picnic tables outside and you grab a beer (or in my case a water) and sit outside and listen to whoever happens to be strumming their guitar and singing that day!! It's open mike session all the time!! Here's a shot of the inside of the general store - they had a strange collection of items inside!!

And we enjoyed listening to these folks play and sing - the guitar player sitting down had a great voice and it was quiet and peaceful, just sitting there relaxing!! I could have sat there for hours!

Next it was off to Helen's favorite winery - Sister Creek!! We took a quick tour of the winery but opted not to do the tasting as Helen already knew what was good!! She joined their club that afternoon and took her first 3 bottles home for us to enjoy!!

Now I have to admit, I'm not crazy about wine - sure, I'll drink wine coolers but find most wine to just not be much to my liking - until I tried the wine Helen drinks - oh my gosh - I LOVED it!! It's described as "summer in a bottle" and I agree!! Sweet enough for my liking with a bit of sparkly to it!! Naturally it's only sold in Texas though so I'm hoping they'll ship to Colorado!!

After a fantastic meal of crock pot roast, potatos and carrots, we sat once again at the kitchen table with Joe and talked the night away - while sharing that bottle of icy cold wine!! Helen discovered that if you put it in the freezer for a while, it's even better!! And I totally agree!!

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

San Antonio - Part 1

The suitcase is unpacked and the clothes are slowly getting washed and dried so it must be time to blog about my trip to San Antonio!!

I worked till noon last Thursday and then took my boss out for lunch since it was going to be Boss's Day on that Saturday! And then I was off to the airport in Colorado Springs! I chose to fly out of the Springs not only since it's closer and easier to park, but I dreaded the thought of driving to Denver and fighting the traffic by myself!

My flight left on time and I was into Dallas pretty much on time too - but my connecting flight was in a completely different wing of the airport! I really thought it would be in the same terminal but no such luck - so it was a fast walk to the tram and then a LONG walk to the gate - I was starving of course by this time and when I found the gate, they were already boarding! But I decided to take a chance and get a burger to eat on the plane which worked out just fine!

And then I arrived in San Antonio!!

It's always tough landing at an airport in the dark because you can never quite get your bearings but then again, I have no sense of direction anyway! I was actually scared when I got off that plane, wondering if I would recognize Helen in person!!! And I later found out that she was thinking the same thoughts - after all, it had been between 15 and 20 years since we had seen each other!!! But there she was, looking JUST THE SAME as I always remembered her!!

Oh my - it was SO GOOD to finally connect after all these years!! And it was great to meet her husband Joe - he's quite the character!! There was SO MUCH to talk about and we just sat at their kitchen table and talked a mile a minute for the next couple of hours - we DID let Joe get a word in every now and then!!



We had a fun filled 2 days planned so I retired to the guest room and slept great that first night, despite the fact that I had left Colorado with a sore throat and cough!

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

Is that SNOW??

It sure was!! It started snowing about 10:30 yesterday morning and the flakes got larger and larger till it was a winter wonderland out!! Yes, it even started sticking on the bushes and trees!

By afternoon the snow was gone.............and after waking up to 20 degree weather this morning, I'm glad the sun is out and the high is to be 55 degrees!! We're not QUITE ready for winter yet!!

October Sunsets

Had to shoot a picture of our "pink" mountain!! We've been having some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets!! Guess we deserve all this pretty stuff before the snow flies!!

In other news, we bought a different camper over the weekend up in Denver!!! I had been searching most of the summer for one - I knew EXACTLY the layout I wanted but they were tough to find!! One popped up about 3 weeks ago in Denver and I was sure it would be gone but it wasn't!! We looked at it last Saturday and it was perfect for our needs!! Right price too!! SO we'll take the camper up in a couple of weeks to pick it up and sell our old one - hopefully!!

I'm excited about heading to San Antonio on Thursday to see an old friend of mine from Iowa!! We'll have LOTS of stuff to catch up on since we haven't seen each other in probably 15 years!!

The Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch weekend in Denver!! What a gorgeous day we had except for a little wind!! In fact, the sun was shining so brightly that my pictures turned out pretty pathetic!! I couldn't even believe it was me behind the camera most of the time!! OH well - you can't always be perfect I guess!!


We missed having Robby and Jaime with us but hopefully next year they'll be able to join us!!

I wanted pumpkin pie first thing!! The last time I was there, they ran out!! It was excellent and I enjoyed every bite, along with apple cider AND cookies!! We were WELL fed!

Attempting to get a pic of the grandkids with us was pretty funny!! We had 3 cameras going and still didn't end up with a good picture -

There were old-fashioned games for the kids to try and they all loved the stilts!! Rayna did pretty good after one of the helpers took her under her wing!! And no, I didn't attempt this!

The kids all looked so cute in their coordinating colors!! Aleah sitting on the pile of pumpkins made for a cute pic!!

We enjoyed walking around amidst all the other people but after a couple of hours with all the kids, were ready to retreat to the house!!

We loaded up the kids and the pumpkins and said goodbye to the Pumpkin Patch for another year..............

Mueller State Park

Jaime and the kids came down for the weekend while Brad was hunting - and while Glenn was working!

Friday during the wee hours of the night, Kylan was sick - yup, the whole deal - vomiting and diarrhea - poor thing - he seemed to feel fine the next day but to play it safe, we kept him on crackers, toast and diluted juice the entire day!

We did go ahead and take him to the movies with us since he seemed to be OK - but the movie was one I would NEVER watch again and would suggest not seeing!! It was called "Legend of the Guardians" and was about owls - of course the previews looked cute but the actual movie was dark and scarey!! I had to cover Kylan's eyes several times and we really should have just walked out of the movie because it was just not a good one for kids!

But we did watch 2 great movies on DVD - Leap Year and Letters To Juliet - yes, both chick flicks and WELL worth watching if you haven't seen them!!

Sunday we took the kids to Mueller State Park as they have a children's trail that I thought would be cute - of course admission to the state park is $6.00 but because Jaime drove and has disabled veterans' plates, we got in for free - hooray!!!

About the time we went through the gate, Kylan fell asleep - figures - so Jaime sat in the car while Rayna and I did the trail and then I sat in the car while Jaime did the trail with Rayna again!! OF course Kylan woke up and wanted to do it too - oh well, we got our exercise for the day!!

One of the things on the trail was to see how far you could jump - Rayna did the best of course - I barely made it to the first animal!!

Then we headed up to the visitor's center where they have several things for the kids to do and lots of animals to see (taxidermist style)! Kylan picked up one of the phones where a story was being told and kept saying, hello??? hello???

The kids got to trace animal tracks at several different stations and they enjoyed seeing all the different things at the center!

Back at the house, we went out to the deck to drink our coffee and when I went out, a huge fly flew in the house so I said, "I'll have to dig out my flyswatter and find that fly" to which Kylan prompty responds, "You'll have to use a shovel!!"

Jaime lost her sunglasses and a hair towel she had brought down for me to keep at our house - we searched and searched and searched - and just couldn't find either item!! Jaime called me later on last night and said the items had been found - in RAYNA'S suitcase!! At least now I can verify there isn't a ghost in the house!!

Oh, the other weird thing that happened: Ebby (their dog) of course couldn't go with us to the park so she was left on our deck and porch with the gate SHUT so she couldn't escape. When we arrived home, no Ebby - I thought for sure she had jumped the gate - Jaime and Rayna started yelling and looking for her and I went in to drop my purse off and guess what! Ebby is in the house - all the doors are shut - hmmmmmmmmmm................... Maybe we DO have a ghost!!