New Concoctions

My neighbors think I'm off my rocker. . .but I've made some very interesting food discoveries in the past week. It's amazing what you can do with limited ingredients.
Discovery #1 - impromtu chip dip: I had potato chips & once in a while I like to dip them in ketchup. . .don't knock it. . .have you ever had really crispy french fries? This is like the same thing. But this isn't the discovery. I decided to combine the ketchup (organic of course) with some organic raspberry preserves. This was INCREDIBLE! Remember a while back when Tastefully Simple had the Raspberry Chipotle sauce? This is better because there was something in the TS stuff that inevitably sent me running to the bathroom. . .sorry for the explanation there.

Discovery #2 - made at lunch today as a matter of fact. . . have you been to PB Loco yet? This idea was inspired by that place. The boys had quesadillas. . but I ran out of cheese. . .so I had to punt for my own lunch. We have Peanut butter. . . we have cream cheese. And we have raspberry preserves. . why not combine these??? Oh, & let's not forget the green onions! So I took a flour tortilla, slapped some cream cheese, peanut butter & rasp on it. . .& then cut up the green onions. . .wrapped that baby up & then heated it in a pan for a few minutes to meld the flavors a bit. Voila! This was absolutely YUM! I think PB Loco has a version like this only they add lettuce & shredded carrots. . .& maybe some other stuff. Very filling!

Off to the races tomorrow. . . no pun on that one. I'll have pics to share I'm sure:)

Getting in the Game

I have rolled out of bed at 5:55 AM the last 2 days to walk with my dear neighbor, Kim. We walked for about 30 minutes yesterday & maybe 40 today - subtracting the time it took to coerce a small dog named Cheese back to his yard. It feels GREAT to get moving. It is exhausting come this time of the evening. My body says, "TIME FOR SIESTA!" My kids say, "TIME FOR FIESTA!" No, they don't really speak Spanish. But you get my point. Of course, come bedtime tonight. . .my brain will kick into its 2nd wind & tell my body it can't quite sleep yet.

I have some cool pics that I need to share with you. I just need to get my computer to clear up some space. I need more RAM. I'll work on it. This weekend should supply me with even more adventures as we're going to the NASCAR race at the Milwaukee Mile. Cooler yet. . .we have VIP Pit/Garage passes!!! I'm not a NASCAR junkie. . .but this is going to be cool. Young guys working on cars. . . hmmm. . . need I say more? Of course, I'll be with my loving, adorable husband.

Time for soccer. I'm going stag - well - that is, I'm going with my 3 little men. Daddy is still at work with Jerrick Johnson. . the NASCAR driver who came to visit Rasmussen College today. I'll share pics later:)

Come together

I've been blog surfing & commenting. Figured I'd better update mine now. We have SO MUCH going on here. And as soon as I figure out what the heck is going on with my Kodak EasyShare software I'll get some pictures posted. Baseball has come to an end & Soccer has revved up. We think Summer is actually going to stick around now too, but one never can be too sure. We are in WI after all.

I planted my first ever veggie/fruit garden. HOLY Shnikees, Batman! Why didn't someone warn me it would be THAT much freakin' work? Of course, I have clay. . not exactly the medium of choice for a garden. And we had someone come with a tractor to break up the sod & work the dirt. But then I waited a bit before getting out there so I needed to till it quite a bit. Of course, this required a tiller. We didn't have a tiller. . .so I went & bought one that attaches to a weed whacker. I am woman. HEAR ME ROAR!!! I bought a manly tool. . .OK, it's a womanly man tool. . .but a man tool just the same. And it worked for the most part. Let's not kid anyone, clay was meant to be molded, not planted. Maybe it will loosen up & be better next year. Maybe I'll shoot monkeys out of my butt. . . sorry, had to.

My boys have discovered many living creatures in the back pond (storm retention pond that is). The little stream that flows from it is in our backyard so the boys have a blast finding frogs, toads, turtles, tadpoles, etc & they like to take said creepy, crawly critters in a pale or whatever they may find to contain them, up to the house. We have a tote container full of polywogs & frogs out front right now. I'm sure some animal of prey is having a great buffet this evening. Nice. And this evening the 2 older boys, along with neighbor boys, decided to have a mud fight. Double NICE. Have you ever smelled swamp mud? Not exactly rosey. Kind of reminds me of smelly, stinky, moldy sock smell. Ewww! And clay. . . so nice when it stains! Hey, maybe I can just rub THAT on my skin instead of spray on tanner! (Thanks to my gardening experience, I am red right now.)

Summer vacation has begun. Who's vacation is that?

My Parker turns 6 on Friday. . . yup, 6 on Friday the 13th. . . creepy combo. We're having his party on Saturday. . . hoping for sunshine! The garage still has my garage sale stuff in it. . .slowly getting rid of that.

Time for night night.