Charo's Tree

Yeah! Charo's tree is finally done! I have been working on it for a couple of weeks and it just didn't seem quite right. I kept adding a little here and a little there, but I still wasn't convinced it was a great tree. Finally I decided to go to the Galleries to find a tree skirt, (I bought the material to try to sew one, but decided it just wasn't going to happen,) and to see if they had anything wonderful that would make the tree amazing. Thank goodness I ran into Raelynn McCormick. I didn't know she worked there but she was an angel sent to rescue me. She volunteered to bring a sack full of ideas and try to help me after she got off work. Ten minutes after she got to my house the tree looked amazing! She was a whirlwind sticking picks with colorful balls on it here and there and adding a few sparkly snowflakes and BAM! I now have the most beautiful tree I have ever seen.

Raelynn is my new hero! Some how she managed to work all day, fix my tree and then that night had a beautiful cake with marzipan autumn leaves for decorations for her boys to take to the appreciation dinner for mutual.

Tonight I was so proud of my tree and feeling good when Darren said, "Weren't there lights on the top of the tree?" You've got to be kidding me! It is all decorated, everything is wired on and the top strand of lights quit working. That means I will have to undecorate to fix them or put a new strand on. It will never look quite the way Raelynn had it if I have to undo it. I might just have to bribe her to come back and help me fix it!

All of a sudden I am very sad about having to move the tree out of my house to the display area next Wednesday for the public viewing. I have kind of grown attached to it. It is such a happy tree! I love looking at the little huts and banana leaf people while I work on my computer. It makes me happy to think about the friends I made in Africa. The only thing that makes giving it away a little easier is that the money from the sale of it will hopefully help build a new school for the school mates of the little twelve year old boy that died while we were in Kenya.

Now I need to add the thing I am grateful for today to add to my countdown to Thanksgiving. I am grateful for an amazing husband who figured out what was wrong with my washing machine so I didn't have to pay a repair man $400 just to tell me some weed trimmer line, and some other garbage was blocking the drain!

The only thing is now I don't have an excuse for not doing the laundry because the machine is fixed!

I have this wonderful recipe for Pumpkin Spice Pie. If you can find the pumpkin spice flavored pudding it is yummy, but it is hard to find sometimes - especially in a small town.

Michelle's Pumpkin Spice Pie

Beat 2C. cold milk with 2 packages (4oz. size) of pumpkin spice flavored instant pudding. Then add in 1/4t. cinnamon with a whisk until blended well. Spread 1 1/2C. into the bottom of a graham pie crust. Then add 1 1/2C. whipped topping to the remaining pudding mixture and stir gently. Spoon this over the layer in the crust then top with more whipped topping. Refrigerate for one hour then serve.

Gratitude List and a Turkey Tip

I usually try to do a gratitude count down of what I am thankful for twelve days before Thanksgiving - but since it has been a little crazy around here lately, I am starting a few days late.

#12 - I am grateful for the sunshine - to warm up these cold days!

#11 - I am grateful for a new vacuum cleaner that works great to clean up all the dirt that comes in on the dogs feet - (The sunshine I was grateful for in #12 melts the frost every morning and creates mud!)

#10 - I am grateful I can manually tell my washing machine to spin and then drain because it quit doing that on it's own.

#9 - I am grateful for three amazing children who are hard workers without me even telling them to be. Last night Alex spent almost three hours, washing, waxing and detailing his Dad's truck because he wanted to do something nice for him. WOW!

#8 - I'm grateful for good friends who bring me treats when they know I am struggling. (Hint, hint)

Tonight for mutual we are having our annual gratitude dinner for the grandparents in our ward. I'm not excited because the young men have decided to serve clam chowder which I am not a big fan of. But it will be fun to meet with the youth and the elderly and talk about what we are grateful for, but what happened to the turkey?

A few years ago, I experimented with rubbing mayonnaise all over my turkey before I cooked it and then once again about half way through the cooking time. It turned out so moist I do it every time now. (It also works great on chicken - except when you bar-b-que because it falls down into the flames - igniting them and charring the meat - I won't do that one again!)

You can also season the mayo before rubbing it on. Here is what I like to do:
Put some mayo in a bowl and stir in some seasoned salt OR lemon pepper and a little lemon juice works great too. Using a paper towel rub it all over the meat then cook like you normally would.

Lilly

I forgot to mention we got a new family member two weeks ago. She is an eight year old border collie named Lilly. One of our neighbors has been struggling with her allergies and asthma and suddenly became really allergic to Lilly. So Lilly came to live at my house. She is very loyal and after the first few days, has realized this is her home and hasn't tried to go back to the neighbors house.

Lilly definitely fits in at our house as a ranch dog. She herds the horses like a pro and chases the deer off wonderfully. All I need to do now is teach her to pick up the paper in the morning and she will be able to earn all the extra dog food we have been going through.

Of course it isn't all good. Yesterday, she and Kody also decided to chase my neighbors chickens out of our yard as well. I heard all kinds of noise going on outside and when I looked, all I could see was a TON of chicken feathers flying around. When I finally got the dogs to come back to me, I saw two frantic chickens sprinting back to the neighbors yard. Thank goodness there wasn't a death just a few bald spots!

Darren went to Lake Powell to winterize the house boat. Sadly, I guess that means winter is really here. The boys helped me put up and decorate the Christmas tree yesterday. It seems a little early to all of us, but we had to move the tree's in the storage room so we could put away the screens and patio furniture so it seemed like the right thing to do, plus I have to keep up with the Dastrups, Alexanders and Laris families! They still one uped me when they turned on their Christmas lights on outside their houses last weekend.
Maybe next weekend we can remedy that!

It has turned cold and windy here. That always makes me want to eat more - like I'm preparing to hibernate or something. This morning I was craving biscuits and gravy. That never happens unless it is cold outside.

Sausage Biscuits and Gravy

Cook one package of sausage then blend in 1/4C. flour and 2 1/2C. milk. Cook, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper then serve over warm buttermilk biscuits.

A New Favorite Soup

Last week Darren ran into one of our old neighbors who was looking for a place to keep three of his horses for a month until he can move them up to Wyoming. I have a huge field so we told him to bring them up. I have fallen in love with one of them. He is a big black gelding. I forgot to ask what his name is, so I just call him Zeus. He is a movie star. His owner said he was in one of the "Work and the Glory" movies as well as a civil war enactment movie that he couldn't remember the name of.

I don't need one more horse, in fact I'm trying to downsize, but he is amazing!

I came up with a new twist for my hamburger soup this week. We were going to eat it for left overs on one of our busy nights but I didn't think we had enough for my growing boys to get full some extra ingredients to make Cheeseburger soup. It was so yummy!

I know I have posted my hamburger soup before but I have no idea where so here it is again - the just add the last few ingredients to change it into cheeseburger soup.

Hamburger Soup

Brown one pound of hamburger, then add 1/2C. chopped onions, 1tsp. garlic, 6C. water, some sliced carrots and celery (I like to use the leafy tops for more flavor), and 2 sliced potatoes. Then add 1tsp. season salt and 6 beef bullion cubes.
Simmer for several hours.
For Cheeseburger soup, add one can of Campbell's Nacho Cheese Soup and one small block of Velvetta Cheese. Right before serving stir in 2C. sour cream.

A Chicken Knocking On My Door

Our friends the Hansens came out to stay with us on Friday night. They said they were coming out to get some locks from Darren for a little business they have set up, but I think it was really so their sixteen year old daughter could see my seventeen year old son. We stayed up late Friday watching movies and laughing. Then Saturday we rode horses, went for rides in the Razor and went up to see some petroglyphs.

Saturday night, I heard a big bang on my back sliding door and my kids all started laughing. Evidently one of our neighbors chickens was pecking on the glass. It was cold outside and I don't blame her - it looked nice and cozy in my family room with the fire going!

I picked her up and got in the car to drive her back over to the neighbors house. My friend said she couldn't believe I took a chicken for a ride in the Cadillac. It was windy and cold outside, what was I supposed to do? The worst part was the stupid chicken peed on me! I should have just plucked her right there and made this Swiss cheese chicken recipe!

Place 8 defrosted chicken breasts into a greased casserole dish. Place one slice of Swiss cheese on top of each breast. In a bowl, mix 3 cups of chicken stuffing with one can of cream of mushroom soup and one can of milk. Pour this over the top of the chicken and sprinkle with little bits of butter. Bake 90 minutes at 325*.

Wrestling Sharks

Wow! Where has the last month gone? We went to the Bahamas for a fun family trip in the middle of October and it has been a whirlwind since we got back. I think I'm going to go back and just sit on the beach, listen to the waves crash and watch my boys snorkel for hours.

This is a picture of a shark wrangler we met. He is a very brave but stupid man - he lures the sharks in with a fish head on the end of a rope and then pulls it up to him and wrestles it so tourists can take pictures. We have enough sharks to wrestle in our daily lives - why in the world would you want to do this as an occupation?

Darren was put in as the first counselor in our Bishopric a few days after we got home and the new Bishop asked me to stay on as the young women's president. If this week is any indication of how these two callings are going work together.... we aren't going to have a minute to sit down and relax!

Sunday was full of meetings and trying to finish getting Brayden's Eagle scout paperwork signed. Monday Dar went to Salt Lake for a water association meeting for the cabin while I spent most of the day wiring on the decorations for my tree for the Trees for Charity gala. Tuesday was a presidency meeting, trying to juggle orthodontist appointments, homework, homemaking(or whatever it is called now), planning the ward Christmas party and Bishopric visits.

Yesterday I had to to to the local TV station to have a video made for the Tree's for Charity tree explaining my charity - Koins for Kenya.
Plus, last night we had our Young Women's in Excellence Night so I spent a good portion of the day helping decorate and get ready for the big night. It turned out wonderful - thanks to some very talented ladies that serve with me. I gave a talk about a French painter named George Sueret who came up with a technique called Petite Point. He made amazing masterpieces by placing individual dots of color on a canvas.

Heavenly Father sent us to earth as a blank canvas and each time we do something good we get a dot. The young women value colors help illustrate this. When you pay your tithing you get a white dot for faith. When you read your scriptures you get a gold dot for virtue. If you serve someone else, you get a yellow dot for doing good works. If you choose to go to church on Sunday instead to the lake you get an orange dot for choice and accountability. All of these dots add up and eventually make an amazing person who learns that they are a child of God with a divine purpose in life.
Each person has a great potential to create a masterpiece to present to our Heavenly Father when we return home to him. It went right along with doing personal progress.

Tonight is the Young Women's Stake Axillary training meeting for both Dar and I and then Saturday is an all day event of the World Wide Training for both of us and ward temple night that evening.

AHHHHH! I have had to be creative to do the cooking this week. We have eaten a lot of left overs and Papa Murphy take and bake pizzas.

On Tuesday night at the homemaking night, I ate some yummy chicken chili which was requested by Melissa Holfeltz to post on my blog. I still haven't been able to get the recipe from Julie Stewart but I definitely will get it and share Melissa.! I found this recipe that is similar to her's:

White Chicken Chili

Heat 2T. vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir 1C. chopped onion until tender. Mix in 3 cloves of garlic, crushed, 1 -4oz. can of chopped green chili peppers, 2t. cumin and 1t. cayenne pepper. (You can add
1 -4oz. can of diced jalapeno peppers if you want it spicier.) Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in 2 - 14.5oz. cans of chicken broth, 3C. chopped, cooked chicken breasts and 3 - 15oz. cans of white beans that have been put through the blender with their liquid. Simmer about 15 minutes then add in 1 package of cream cheese that has been chopped into chunks along with 1T. lime juice.
Remove from heat and stir in 1C. shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Serve warm.

It has been so cold and snowy, soup is all I want to eat now.