What's For Dinner?

Last night I made this delicious chicken recipe that I found on Kraft Foods. It was a hit with the hubby and the kids!!

What You Need

2 cups instant brown rice, uncooked

4 small  boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp.  dried oregano leaves

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup  KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing

2 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 cup  sliced stuffed green olives

Make It

COOK rice as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Add chicken and onions; sprinkle with oregano. Cook chicken 3 min. on each side or until chicken is lightly browned on both sides and onions are crisp-tender. Add tomatoes, dressing and garlic; stir gently. Continue to cook 4 to 6 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF), turning chicken after 3 min. Stir in olives.

SPOON rice onto serving platter; top with the chicken and sauce.

Uncle Sam's First Name Isn't Daddy

I had these blog articles forwarded to me.  They are definitely worth reading since it is clear NBC's Brian Williams won't report them.  Off to do more house cleaning in preparation for Grammy and Pawpaw's visit later this week.  I want to take the kids outside, but it is ridiculously hot with heat warnings.

Big Hollywood Breitbart

Obamacare

Cal Thomas

David Limbaugh

Another Good One from David

If You Read One Book This Year, Make It This One

Wow. This book is great. You will learn so much about yourself. You will learn so much about survival. Do you know what the Rule of 3 is? Did you know in 1972, after a bomb exploded on board a DC-9, flight attendant Vesna Vulovic plummeted 33,000 feet and survived? Did you know on average, people who attend church regularly (at least once/week) live seven years longer than those who don't? Do you know where the safest place is to have a heart attack?

Here is an excerpt from the book: "Stan remembers looking out toward the Statue of Liberty (from his desk on the eighty-first floor) and seeing the most terrifying sight: A giant gray aircraft with a U on its tail was flying straight at him. There was no time for pauses. He dove beneath his metal desk just as the 767 slammed into the building. Everything between the seventy-seventh and eighty-fifth floors was destroyed." You'll have to read the book to learn the rest of Stan's story.

This book reinforced to me how so few people there are who have survivor skills. They expect other people, or the government, to be responsible for them if something goes wrong. In a survival situation the only one you can depend on is yourself (and God.) Read the book and discover what kind of survivor you are. One more thing, the safest place to have a heart attack is the Las Vegas Strip. Bet you didn't see that coming... you'll have to read the book to learn why.

We're Back...

Please appreciate this post.  It took forever because I put up so many pictures.  After logging 1000+ miles on the car (no thanks to yahoo maps which gave us wrong directions on more than one occasion), we have made it home. First off, we would like to thank our wonderful families for providing lodging and tons of yummy food!! You are always welcome here.

We started out meeting my nephew, Matthew, and his girlfriend, Allison, in Indianapolis for some of the best pizza on the planet at Bazbeaux on Mass Ave. Sooo good. Yes, I was hungry, but it really is yum-o pizza. Their cheesy garlic bread, also quite good.




We then headed to Ohio for two nights to visit with cousin T.J., Jenna, Ally, and Annabelle. You guys were awesome hosts, and we had tons of fun. It was great to play euchre again. The kids stayed up both nights until at least 11pm. They were in bed by 9pm, they just enjoyed the company of Ally and Annabelle. Needless to say it definitely started to show within 48 hours.

Lunch at the Park

Noah gives the girls a push on the tire swing

Cheers!!!

Fun in the Pool

I don't know what Noah's deal was... maybe the less than 8 hours of sleep??

I took this picture of Annabelle and just thought it was very cute so I posted it.

T.J. and Jenna watched the kids for us one night so Mike and I could meet Doug and Casey, Mike's sister, at the Cards/Indians game. Okay, I don't know who the guys were that showed up in the Cards' uniforms, but let's just say they were not performing up to par that evening. I am not used to seeing them get goose-egged. I guess the pitcher for Cleveland deserved the Cy Young last year.  (Game photos by Mike)

Progressive Field

Play at the plate...

You're OUT!!!  Heh, heh, heh... (that was the only play worth cheering about.) 

This, my friends, is called a brush back (or more like I'm going to take Albert's head off.)

Go Mustard!!!

Our final day with T.J. and company took us to the Cleveland Zoo. WARNING... ALERT... ALERT... DO NOT GO TO THE CLEVELAND ZOO ON MONDAYS WHEN RESIDENTS OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY GET IN FREE!!! It was sooo crowded. Typically, the zoo charges admission so on free days, it is madness. We did manage to eat lunch and get some Ben & Jerry's as well as visit the Dinosaur exhibit.

We don't have Koalas at our zoo

Jenna and I are ready to star in the next Jurassic Park movie!!

Can you tell my kids are a little leery of the dinosaur??

T.J., Jenna, Ally, and Annabelle

Group hug to say Good-bye

Next we had a brief visit with Grandpa Paradis and Ida in North Olmsted.  Grandpa had a great time visiting with Mike, and Ida kept the kids entertained on the organ.

When your hotel is only 5 minutes from a National Park (Ohio's only), you have to go check it out.  Well, there really isn't much to it except for hiking and biking trails.  I think Glacier Bay National Park (AK) was a bit more scenic.  It took forever to find a "National Park" sign, but we finally did and had to get a photo.  (I remember when we went out West (30 years ago) the "National Park" signs were huge, and we got a photo in front of each one.)

  

Finally, we arrived at Uncle Bill and Aunt Judi's house for a delicious spaghetti dinner.   We got to see Katie, Jessie, and Zack as well as their cousin.  (I feel bad, I can't remember her name.) Bill and Judi's daughter, Tamara, and her family came as well.  The kids had a great time playing with Tamara's daughter, Mia.  They also showed some interest in the baby kittens.  After a nice visit, we headed back to the hotel for a swim before leaving for home the next morning.  Thanks for the memories, everyone!!!

Can you tell our kids are seriously lacking sleep?

So close...

The next LeBron (we won't tell anyone he lowered the goal :-)

Tamara's family

Carlie and Judi have some play time

The Whole Gang

Summer Fashion Forecast

As most of you who know me know, I love Ann Taylor Loft. I would say at least 80% of my wardrobe comes from there. Thankfully, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law know this and keep me stocked up on gift cards. LOFT Trend Director Alia-Ahmed Yahia gave The Budget Babe a sneak peek at this summer's hottest trends. You will see in the video, she is wearing a pretty little dress. I just bought that same dress, but in a blue floral print, last weekend on final sale for $14.88. I think her dress is from the upcoming fall collection, so maybe the blue floral was from this spring. Who cares. It was less than $15!! Love the tunic, but I will wait till it goes on sale. I've got the white denim covered, but I'm not crazy about the hat. How 'bout you... anything you want to buy??

Cardinal Nation Update

It's been some time since I have given an update on Albert and the boys. Well, it's not pretty, and I am glad the Rockies are leaving town after winning three straight. Here are the current standings:











TEAM           W       L          %        GB
Milwaukee  33      24      .579 -
St. Louis       31      26      .544        2.0
Chicago        28      26      .519        3.5
Cincinnati    29      27      .518        3.5
Pittsburgh   26      30      .464       6.5
Houston       25      30      .455       7.0

It's not looking good, but at least we are ahead of the Cubs. Hopefully, they can turn things around as interleague play begins this week. And, I really don't want to go all the way to Cleveland to see them lose. (Photo taken by Me)

Sunday Seconds

Today's installment of Sunday Seconds comes from Texas Rangers' CF Josh Hamilton. If you do not know who he is, Josh was a top draft pick who, in the early 2000's, had a severe addiction to drugs and alcohol that caused him to be suspended from baseball. He now has his life together and made the All-Star team in 2008. Here is Josh's story...

The Work Continues

Actually, the work we were paying Mr. Jim to complete is finished.  I learned quite a few things while he was here.  For instance, the reason our light switches are only 3 feet from the floor is because back in the day, building codes in the area required that fire stops be placed halfway up the wall to prevent the roof from catching fire.  So, the switches were placed below the fire stops instead of above.  My skills at mudding and taping have vastly improved as well.  The big thing I learned is that if we ever move to a bigger house, it will NOT have popcorn ceilings.  It is a pain to scrape off, but if you want to pay me a lot of money I would help you scrape it off.

We just have a lot of sanding and painting to complete. And, the carpet will be put in on June 10th so we will finally have our bed back. Sleeping on the air mattress has caused me to definitely miss my sleep number bed. I am happy and satisfied with everything, and no more renovations will be taking place until student loans are paid off. I will post more updates once we get a little more painting done.

Before painting and sanding is complete...

After painting and sanding and crown/base moulding...

What a ceiling looks like after you take the popcorn off...

This will take some time to sand and paint...

If you have ever been in our house, you may remember the small door in our hallway that housed the switch for the old ceiling fan in our bedroom.  (I know, why would someone wire a ceiling fan into the hallway?)  Anyway, gone now... Whoo-hoo!!

7th Heaven

I finished this book rather quickly. Definitely better than the 5th and 6th installments. I guess the television series based on these books didn't do the books justice because I really think the concept is good. There is an underlying tone that I have noticed... rich people are evil (they are always getting killed), big business is bad. Whatever. At least the whack jobs that are committing the murders are brought to justice in the end (some of them.) Now, I must patiently wait for someone to return the 8th book in this series to the library. Because it is a "New Release", I can't put a hold request on it. Bummer.