my blessed life

Well, yesterday was a rough one and I'm glad it's over and today is here:) I did end the day on a good note by listening to a great routine by this comedian . Laughter really is the best medicine!! I'm also grateful that our internet is working this morning. Last night there were, ahem, issues , apparently.....arrrgh!! I did make some good chicken enchiladas last night and wanted to share that recipe with you. Chicken Enchiladas (from Southern Living) 3 cups chopped cooked chicken 2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese 1/2 cup sour cream 1 (4.5 oz.) can chopped green chiles 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro 8 (8") flour tortillas (I used corn) vegetable cooking spray *** 1 cup sour cream 1 cup green taco sauce (I used red*) Toppings: diced tomatoes, chopped avacado, chopped green onion, sliced ripe olives, cilantro ~~~~~ Stir together first 5 ingredients. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange in a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Coat tortilla...

the kiddos getting ready to go skating in their *monster hoodies* made by my sister--aren't they adorable?! While we were in Arkansas visiting family over the holidays we decided to take the kiddos ice skating one night. You don't find too many ice rinks in the South, but there is a place not too far from my parents' house that is a lot of fun. We had such a good time! Granted, I'm not great on ice skates since I only try it once every few years:) Vince is a little better than I am, thankfully. It was the first time for the kiddos to try it out and they were so excited--they had visions of the Peanuts gang floating in their little heads! Well, it was definitely harder than they thought it would be. I mean, Snoopy makes it look so easy! Mr. B enjoyed it, but tired out a little more quickly than The Princess. She really did great! By the last few laps around the rink she didn't even want us to hold her hand--she had it down:)

Now that the holidays are over it's time to get back in the swing of things with my menu planning. This past week drove me nuts because I didn't have a plan in place. I have really come to rely on them, they make my weeks go so smoothly. I have set a couple of cooking goals for this year. 1.) to make at least one meatless dinner a week and 2.) to try at least one new recipe from the cookbooks in my collection each week. This week I'm trying one from Rachel Ray YUM-O The Family Cookbook . Monday: breakfast burritos (for dinner!) Tuesday: pinto beans and cornbread Wednesday: chicken enchiladas * with rice Thursday: deep dish pizza (small group night) Friday: cornflake crusted Talapia * (from RR's cookbook), baked potatoes and green beans Saturday: fajitas * with cheesy fried potatoes Sunday: roast, carrots & potatoes *I plan to post these recipes with pics as I make them throughout the week. Oh--and you may have noticed that I've changed up the sidebar...

Some of you may know that we've been striving to become *greener* in our household. We still have a long way to go, but we made some major improvements in 2008 and we hope to do better yet in 2009. Recently I found a great little idea for all of those Christmas cards that we send and receive. Now, I LOVE Christmas cards! (Strangely enough, addressing Christmas cards is one of my favorite things to do in the holiday season.) And even though our budget was as tight this year as it's ever been, I couldn't not send out cards. I just shortened my list:) Now that the holidays are over though, it's time to sort the cards we received. Each year I always have four piles: one for those special cards to keep, two for the pictures to go into my album, three for those that I can recreate into next Christmas' gift tags and four for those to toss. Well, this year the first three piles were the same as usual, but the fourth was different. I found a great *green* idea on Katie'...

Well, it's already January 2nd!! Did you have a good New Year? I hope so--we sure did! Ours was nice and relaxed. On New Year's Eve we stayed home with the kiddos. I prepared a sort-of-antipasto meal for us and then we went into the backyard and shot off a few Roman candles. The kiddos loved that! Afterwards we tucked them in bed (before 9), then Vince and I relaxed a little with some sparkling grape juice and a little tv. Not that exciting, I know, but it worked for us this year:) Maybe next year we'll go on a hot date--it's been a few New Year's Eves ago since we had a chance to do that. I'm not big on New Year's eve parties, but I do like a nice date with my hubby at a *fancy* restaurant. What about you? I noticed everyone has been choosing "cozy night at home" on my little sidebar poll. On New Year's Day we invited some friends over to just hang out, eat, watch some football and play some Cranium. That was a lot of fun! Like good Southerner...

This year I made a few craft projects for some of my Christmas gifts to family members. I made them using some kits that I got at-- guess where ?!--Hobby Lobby:) I made two of these *JOY* banners. The kit came with the letters and ribbon then I picked some scrapbook paper to cover them and then glittered the edges. Next I made a couple of *NOEL* banners. I did these in two different scrapbook papers; one more traditional and vintage, the other more fun and contemporary. The last craft project was a fun set of *HO HO HO* letters for my sister. This picture doesn't do them justice, they turned out really cute! I had a lot of fun putting these projects together--they were fun and economical gifts!

May your new year be a blessed one!!