Mini Chicken Pot Pies

So today after work I was totally exhausted so I laid down to "read" for 1/2 an hour and woke up an hour later. Then I had to make dinner. I had planned on making this Mini Chicken Pot Pies recipe and knew it was going to be a late dinner.

The recipe says it makes 6 pot pies. We have 5 people and well, lets face it, we all eat more than we should so I doubled the recipe. OH MY GOD. So it made 12 pot pies AND a whole regular pie plate full of pie. The original person must have had some large muffin tins? Or small measuring cups? Either way, we are set for lunches for the rest of the week.  I could have even made more if I had realized that it was way too much before I put the mixture in the pans. I could have split the bottom crust portions in half again. Notice how hers are all cute, mine, over flowing. BUT they were delicious!

I was surprised they actually popped out in one piece.

Do you like my plate?

 My Grandma bought me those years ago. 

I ended up buying more off of eBay since I liked them so much. 

Could have used a bit more of the "juice" inside. 

Probably if I didn't have so much dough on the bottom it would have been better.

They were really good though. I'd definitely make them again.

and look! Dinner for another day.

Kissing Table

Book club went really well. I set us all up at the table (and an extra one) and set the table all up with everything we needed and some pretty dishes. I was going to take a picture and forgot. Bummer. One lady called me a show off, isn't that weird? I'm trying not to take it personally. I THINK she was joking.

Two people didn't come, two people didn't finish the book because it was too trashy (haha) and one just didn't finish but was still reading it.

So one lady told us a really funny story.

She had a glass table and she kept finding all these kiss marks on it. She told the kids "stop kissing the table!" and of course, the kids insisted that they didn't kiss the table. So she'd clean it off and again, there would be all these kiss marks on it.

Then one day the cat sat on the table. And when the cat got up? There was the kiss mark! And then she says

"It's was his BUTT HOLE making the kiss marks!!"

I swear I about died laughing. So gross!!

Random Sunday

Six hours til book club! All I need to do is take a shower, clean off the computer desk, hang up the curtains in the living room, clean my bedroom and go to the store. Piece of cake!

Scott worked outside on his big pile o'crap on the side of the garage. He was actually getting rid of stuff and just left to go to the dumps. My little boy is growing up!

Saturday when I got the mail Jess got her first college acceptance letter!! So exciting :) It's hard to believe I can have kids that are so old when I'm just a youngster myself.

Did you go shopping on Black Friday? I wasn't planning on doing any but my friend called me and asked me if I wanted to go to Penny's with her so I did.  I got a couple things, not too much. It's so hard to
buy for my kids. They mostly just want expensive electronic stuff. The days of lots of little inexpensive toys are OVER. Although I guess they could get sock and underwear!

Well that's about all the random so far for today! Trying to get myself motivated to finish up the cleaning (although I did get most of the computer desk cleaned off while I was sitting here.

(you can find that cute picture here)

Thanksgiving Recap!

Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving? It's it crazy that the busy shopping season is upon us? I'm really not excited about Christmas this year. Must be because my kids are bigger? No one believes in Santa anymore so that pressure for the nice Santa gift to put under the tree is off. Tempted to just buy everything online so I don't even have to go to the store :)

So here's a little bit of Thanksgiving!

The most darling little baby girl!

Jess finally got to see and hold her :)

Even this was super cute :)

Scott, His brother (Ava's Grandpa) and Ava

Mom & Ava

MMMM Sweet Potato Pie. Only slightly burnt. :)

Adrian was super cute, she started off all dresssed up and slowly became a normal toddler if you know what I mean! Lost the hair bow, the pony tail, the cute socks. I love how she gets excited when she sees us walk in the house. Sadly she is no longer calling Melissa Lala. I guess they all have to grow up sometime!

They put several tables together so it was like we were all sitting around one huge table. It was fantastic! I just love it like that. We had 16 people plus the baby. 

After dinner my Mom and I cleaned up all the dishes. I think it took like forever, and that was even using disposable plates and silverware.

Scott went into his after meal slumber. For like TWO HOURS. Seriously. If you are tired you need to get up and walk around. You shouldn't be falling asleep at someone's house on Thanksgiving.  Everyone wanted to write on him for falling asleep. Jess finally got up the balls to do it and wrote on him with some eye liner. When he woke up he went to the bathroom and came out with it all cleaned off. Of course he was hella pissed but what do you expect? You should at least be a good sport about it.

We attempted to play some games with everyone but only my one brother would play with us a bit. We played a couple rounds of spoons and a game of Yahtzee before we gave in to trying to watch a movie. The movie was rather slow and Adrian was tired so they ended up going home. After the movie was over we said our goodbye's and went home.  It was a pretty nice Thanksgiving! 

I hope you had a nice one too!

Early Thanksgiving Dinners Rock

We went to my aunt's house for a Thanksgiving dinner tonight. It was kind of crazy with her 2 kids, their kids, some extra kids and us. My dad, step mom and my step brother's son came over too. I took little helpings to eat hoping that there would be enough food for everyone. My aunt did all the work herself and I could tell she was exhausted. On the way home we were trying to figure out how old she is and I think she's getting close to 70. Not that you could tell to look at her. She's definitely aged well.

Tonight we learned a few lessons.

1.) If someone places a glass of booze on top of the refrigerator, "I" will be the one that opens the refrigerator, causing the glass to fall and break all over the floor.

2.) If you're child cries and you don't even get up I will think you are a bad mother.

3.) If my dad leaves without saying good bye I might be a bit pissed off.

4.) Some people should drink a lot less.

5.) Kids meeting cousins they barely know and hitting it off is pretty awesome.

All in all it was a pretty nice time with exception of me now smelling a bit like whiskey and coke after it rained off the top of the fridge but I guess there are worse things I could smell like.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving! Make sure you wear your stretchy pants.

Got Goop?

Well it's the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and I really hope you have went to the grocery store by now. If not you might want to skip it and go to Denny's.

There were SO many people at the grocery store today. You can tell the people that don't usually grocery shop with a plan. They are running back and forth all over the place, stopping right in front of my moving cart, just begging me to run over their ass. I swear I almost hit the same chick like 5 times. By the last time I almost did it on purpose to teach her a lesson.

And of course, I am, once again in charge of making the celery with the goop on it. Is that a tradition in your family? The best part about it is the cute little jars the goop comes in. What? You don't know what I'm talking about?

The problem with this stuff is you never know where to find it in the grocery store. Last time I bought it, I think I spent a good half an hour looking for it and had to call my mom to ask where to look. I finally found it by the cream cheese and did a major :DUH:

So this time, I went to the cream cheese aisle. While I was standing there I think about 50 people came up and bought cream cheese. What the hell do people use all this cream cheese for on Thanksgiving??

So I'm standing there looking and NOPE it's not there. DAMN. So then I slowly walk the whole dairy area. Nowhere. I usually skip over most of the frozen food section but I went down an aisle to get Melissa some very nutritious pizza rolls. I had to stop to fix my pony tail and oh my God. There it is, right there!  Odd little place to put it, displayed between the frozen food freezers but hey whatever.

Then I saw it in three more places.

So we're good to go on the cheese stuff for the celery. I'm kind of excited my dad's sister invited us to come over for dinner tomorrow night. She's doing the whole turkey dinner on Wednesday, which is kind of going to spoil the meal for Thursday, but whatever. I am going to be able to see a bunch of family members that I don't get to see very often.

We are going to my brother's house on Thursday. Can't wait to play with the baby!! What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Are you cooking?

Girl's Treat

I'm so beat! Today has been a busy day. Work, dentist to get my crown (actually wasn't painful for the most part!), came home to kids that apparently tried to kill each other all day, a sink full of dishes (no surprise) and one frozen pizza to feed 5 people.

I just spent about an hour making my menu and shopping list for the week and I'm not even cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

So anyways! Saturday was Girl's Treat. Jessica (don't yell at me for putting pictures on here) and her boyfriend (hi Brian!) went with 5 other couples out to dinner, in a fancy limo and then skipped the dance. Silly kids. They didn't want to go to the dance apparently, so they went to his house and watched movies with his sister afterwards. (so they say)

Jessica's friend came over and did her hair again. Then she did the mirror pics. I don't know how teenagers can do these so well. I never know where to look. On a side note, maybe I should actually pick a color and paint the bathroom wall?

I made her pose for a few picture outside before we left.

We went to the "picture" house to take pictures.  

The girls all look so grown up. Look at the heels!! 

The boys? Look like boys to me :)

Aren't the flowers pretty? And her nails of course :)

I wasn't in a very good picture spot for the couples, but you get the idea :)

Brian and Jess

and then they drove off in the limo. 

Doesn't that look fun?

Sign me up, I want to go next time :)

Don't Be Pointing At Me!

So yesterday I got a call at work from the school. Of course I was on the work phone while my personal phone is buzzing like crazy. I got off the phone and saw it was the school. I look at the clock and see it's 2:30, which means it probably isn't good news because

1.) no one could have missed the bus yet
2.) they already had lunch so no one forgot their lunch

and

3.) it's the school.

So I call back right away and it goes to the office, which
it does not matter what classroom the call was from. The office lady, I'm pretty sure hates my guts, but I always just try to be really nice to her anyways since that job has got to suck.

She said that no one called from in the office. About that time my voice mail went off so I told her I bet the voice mail will explain it. I hung up and listened.

I hear some shuffling noises.
Teacher in the background "what did you do"
Trevor: "Hey mom" (sounds really sad, almost like he'd been crying)
Teacher in the background: "what did you do"
muffled: "mooommm I bent Christian's finger"
Teacher: "tell her if you do it again you're going to get in trouble"
Trevor repeats what she says than says "talk to you later bye".

So I'm like well that was a bit awkward? Why doesn't the teacher just call me herself and tell me what's going on? It was time for me to go home anyways so I leave and end up waiting at the bus stop for the bus.

Trevor gets in the car like nothing ever happen. I'm like hey, so what happen today? You bent someone's finger? He gets a bit flustered and says "no... I BIT his finger".

And I'm thinking HOLY HELL!! They didn't even like suspend him from school for the rest of the year?? If my kid got bit on the finger I'd be totally pissed. Of course I'm asking him why he bit the kid's finger and he said that they were in their group and the kid stuck his finger in his face so he bit it. Nice.

So I called the teacher after I got home and told her how weird I thought it was that she had the kid call, although I could understand that was like a punishment, and how it was awkward on my end since I couldn't really even understand what he was saying. She said that he bit the kid's finger but the kid was ok (apparently he didn't break the skin or anything). She said that he also bit someone on Halloween. I was like um why aren't you calling me and telling me when things happen? And I'm surprised that you didn't send him to the principal's office? She said she did send him in to talk to the Vice Principal. I'm wondering why it isn't standard to send a note home when things like this are going on? Or email?

I talked to Trevor about what happened and grounded him from the TV for the rest of the day. Which of course I caved after a couple hours (I hardly ever ground my kids so obviously I'm not very good at it ;)) I think he got the message. Hopefully this is the last of this but somehow I doubt it.

The girls of course, thought all this was hilarious and started calling Trevor "Nibbles" every time they walked by. Gotta love big sisters...

Who's Embarrassed Now?

Thursday night I went to the Christian book club. Although, we had decided to not talk about the book yet since a lot of people hadn't had time to read it yet.

The book wasn't in our county library system and it wasn't available on Kindle. That's something to think about when you are picking a book for a book club selection. You should always check and see how available the book is. I usually check to see if it's at the library, on Kindle (since most ladies in my book clubs have one) and how much it will cost.

I almost didn't go since they weren't going to discuss the book but just hang out. But I decided I'd go anyways. Then I found out my friend wasn't going to be there and almost didn't go again, but I had promised my book to someone so I just went.

I had a pretty nice time even though all the ladies that come go to the same church, and I of course, don't. It just cracks me up because no matter where I am with a group of women the subject almost always turns to sex. These ladies weren't an exception.

via

One lady though, kept putting a pillow over her head and someone called her out about how she was embarrassed about what we were talking about.  Now, most people I hang out with are VERY open about  sex so it's really surprising to me that people like this still exist. I mean, if you have five children you'd think you would have talked about sex quite a bit. But I guess maybe instead of talking about it, you're just doing it? I dunno. I just find it kind of funny. I asked her if her mom ever talked to her about sex and she said no way! And of course, she said she didn't talk to her boys about sex either.

Definitely not from the same world as me.

Anyhow, we are getting together next month to actually discuss the book (The Swan House) and I found out that there is a sequel (The Dwelling Place) so I ordered it off of Amazon last night.

It's raining and it's supposed to rain all weekend. Sounds like a good time to curl up with a book. What are you reading?

Who's In??

My kitchen kind of smells like ass right now. I'm pretty sure this is where the smell is coming from.

Yes, I know, that's disgusting.

I was having a little mom-tantrum. That was my way of showing that I'm SICK of doing the dishes.

The other day I did dishes THREE TIMES. Yes I know there are three meals in the day but that's a lot of dishpan hands. The next day I did them again after breakfast.

That night I made dinner and somehow ended up getting up from the table before everyone else. Over an hour later I looked over and the food was still sitting on the table even though everyone had got up.

And then? I got mad. WHY does no one else offer to help out? Should I really have to ask other people in this house to help me? Shouldn't they be able to see that there are NO CLEAN PLATES and wash one (or ten).

I think someone might have noticed a bit since he put away the stuff that was clean in the dish drainer. (I just washed the pan that is there to make dinner in)

I remember when I was a teenager(ish) age and there being a woman on the news who was on strike. She put up a tent in the yard and refused to come back in the house until the family cleaned it. I remember thinking that that was really dumb. But now? I think it's genius.

Although I think it would be better to do it in the time of year with optimal weather.

And maybe instead of a tent I'll just go stay at at a hotel. One with a pool and cable tv (and I'd actually get to hold the remote!)  I could refuse to come home unless the house was clean and the laundry was done and put away and the toilet was washed and the dishes were clean.

Hmmm I'm kind of liking the sound of this. Who's up for a momcation???

Have You Seen My Pluots?

Well yesterday it was pomegranates, today it was PLUOTS! At work there are a bunch of "test" trees and there was one row full of pluots. One of the gals thought we should pick them and take them to the food pantry since they were just falling off and/or getting picked by the birds. We filled several boxes and bags. They were the size of a fist. I had one and it was pretty good. The skin was thinner than a plum but it pretty much tasted like one. Aren't they gorgeous?

I took some to my friend after work and ended up visiting with her for a couple hours. It was nice catching up and giggling like teenagers about stuff. I need to do that more often ;)

We're A Bunch Of Theives

There is a neglected pomegranate tree down the street. 

The person that lives there doesn't do anything with it and it's just covered in pomegranates right now.

They're delicious!

Flavorful Fingers

I was flipping through a magazine when I came across this ad.

"Not all love notes are written. Some are made."

And of course, with her holding a sandwich my mind was instantly sent back to when my Grandma used to make me sandwiches. They were always the best sandwiches ever! Even though there was nothing special about them. Grandma made them so they just tasted better!

I heard someone say once that the person made it had flavor in their fingers and that's what made it taste better.

True?

Maybe it was just made with love <3

One of these things is a lot like the other...

Isn't it weird how sometimes you end up reading similar books without even meaning to? A few months back I listened to The Help on audio book, and saw the movie, then my mom picked that one for her book club selection. Which either I didn't blog about or I just can't find. But I'm sure you've heard about it. If not you need to climb out from under your rock.

And then I read a few other books but not too long ago I picked up a book that I had bought in the library sale room for .25. It was called The Penny. The Penny is about a young white girl who is being abused by her father and becomes friends with a black girl and her family in the time of the civil rights movement. There is a lot about the desegregation of schools and about how the whites and the blacks didn't hang out in each other's neighborhoods. It was a really good book, you should check it out if you haven't read it before.

Then the new book club group I'm in picked The Swan House to read. The Swan house is a story about Mary Swan. Mary Swan is a rich little WASP as she refers to herself several times in the book. Her artist mother is killed in a plane crash. After she dies she leaves quite a little mystery about herself, which Mary Swan works to uncover. While she is busy doing that she falls in love with a black boy (during the time of the civil rights movement).  It really is a great book.



So you see, I ended up reading three books about the civil rights period of time, all by chance. I have to say I'm kind of glad I was born after that was all over with. It seems like such a scary time to live.

Makes you go hmmmm

I just read the weirdest thing on Facebook.

“The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial  

in any love story. It changes the relationship of two 

people much more strongly than even the final 

surrender; because this kiss already has within it that 

surrender.”

Which, in itself isn't weird but then two people were commenting on it about how their daughters have decided to keep their first kiss for their wedding day.

That just seems to absurd to me. First of all, what kind of guy would wait years to kiss a girl (according to these posters these girls had boyfriends that don't mind waiting for two years already) and really? It's just a normal part of life.

The whole idea is just so other world to me. What do you think?

ETA: Just saw this on Facebook! Why you might want to practice kissing before your wedding haha

Thrift Store Grab Bags

I went to the thrift store after work today. I know. Twice in one week. Bad me. BUT I sold one pattern for 20.00 yesterday on Etsy so I had motivation :)

I found a couple nice vintage sheets.

And then I ventured over to the Christmas section. This thrift store does grab bags with miscellaneous Christmas stuff. I bought a couple last year and got some neat stuff.

They had a few bags of red satin ornament balls too! I bought some white ones last year. My mom had some when I was a kid so they are nostalgic to me. Plus? They won't break when the animals knock them off the tree. Score! One bag was .99 and the others were 1.99. There were also a few in one of the grab bags.

So here's is my haul. I had thought there might be a few things I would like in each bag, and for .99 to 2.00 I figured it was worth it.

Oh and they had this spool of nice satin ribbon with gold edge in the Christmas section too. It's about 3/4 of the way full.

Regular price? 16.85.

And these vintage Holiday Party Invites for .50

Bag number one! The little presents are picks, I think they are vintage.

and

Scary. I think that doll might give me nightmares.

Next bag!

 There are a few vintage things in here. A few broken things. A few things that could be used as toppers on presents or something. AND some CRAP.

 Next? That bendy Santa is what got me to buy it, even though I couldn't see the whole thing. Oh and a felt mouse thing.

Felt mouse thing had a big plastic stick? sticking out of it (not a pick, it's broke). Santa's beard looks a bit sparse but he's kind of cool. 

And this? Obviously I bought it for the bears. Those bears are worth .99.

The little mouse is vintage but has some glue stuck to the back of it. Might be able to do something with it. The angel ornament is nice and that's a gold angel napkin holder and I can fill the little sock boot with something for someone. 

Not too shabby! Of course there is some garbage but I got some fun stuff too. 

Do you ever buy grab bags?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Since I have so much time on my hands today, and Scott isn't home yet with the chips that go with our dinner, lucky you, a second post.

Seriously, I need an internet-intervention sometimes.

So awhile back I won Finny Knits Adopt A Crop!

She sent me a package and inside I got some of her home canned tomatoes, green tomato pickles and seeds! Very cool. I'm sure I'll use the tomatoes real soon. The pickles I'm working up some courage for (I'm not one to try new things very easily) but I WILL try them soon. I promise.

And of course we have to wait a bit to sow those seeds. Should be fun :)

Check It Out

I'm home with Trevor today. He's trying to cough up his lungs. About a week ago I was thinking how lucky I was that I haven't got sick yet. You know, because I'm always dying in November right around Thanksgiving. This should put me right there if I catch it. Awesome.

So since I'm home and because I found these really fun patterns at the Thrift store the other day I opened up a new "more general" Etsy store. Go check it out HERE!

I plan on adding more stuff later. I forgot how time consuming it is listing stuff.

And I made a Facebook page but can't figure out how to link that here. Any advice? You have to say it really slowly and simple haha.

This Weeks Menu

Here's my menu for the week. Days subject to change. Went to the grocery store and spent $145. Mostly for things on the list and a few extras like a pack of TP, etc. Hopefully I can stick to it this week! Last time I made one of these it got stretched out to two weeks with all the "I don't feel like cooking days" that got inserted.

11/7 Mon Hot dogs & chips

11/8 Tues Mexican Mac & Cheese

  

                                                                     Source: kraftrecipes.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

(look I made it and it looks ok!)

I used red salsa instead of green (that stuff is icky) and didn't use a jalepeno. Scott thought it was fantastic and the kids liked it too. I thought it was ok. Not my favorite but I'd make it again since they all liked it so much.

 11/9 Wed Ritz Parmesan Chicken

                                                                        Source: kraftrecipes.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

11/10 Thurs Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

                                                               Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

  11/11 Fri Ground Beef Casserole

                                                                            Source: food.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

 11/12 Sat Mashed Potatoes with Bacon & Cheddar (and probably something else)

                                                                      Source: sippitysup.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

11/13 Sun One Pan Baked Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

                                                                            Source: bhg.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

 11/14 Mon Stew corn bread 

 11/15 Tues meat loaf  

Umm it all sounds good, doesn't it?