Perspective

Today I went and volunteered for a local women’s shelter. One of my best friends works for them and every year they put on a HUGE donation drive to help their clients and others who might need it. I was supposed to go and help last year, but work got in the way (of course) and I wasn’t able to. Luckily, I made it this year and loved every minute of it.

I am amazed at the generosity of people, even in this crappy economy. There were SO many things there, and they are expecting a ton more items in the next couple of days. Without going into too many details, I heard about some horrible situations that women had escaped from – that NO ONE should have to ever deal with. It shocked me. One lady was dropping off some donated items and told us that her sister was abused 35 years ago, and that a shelter like Genesis wasn’t around then – and if it hadn’t been for her family, her sister wouldn’t have made it out alive. I was able to meet the family that my group of friends “adopted” this year. I know there are millions of stories just like hers, and it made me feel blessed that that is one thing I will never have to deal with.

No matter how bad I think my life is at any given time, someone always has it worse than I do. Not once has my husband laid a finger on me. Not once has my father laid a finger on me (exception: I was spanked as a child, and I’m sure I deserved it – but that is not what I’m talking about here). Not once have I felt threatened by my family members or husband. Never. I can’t imagine what these women are going through and have already been through.

While I may complain that I can no longer afford our precious DirecTV, that I can’t go out and buy whatever I want, that I live in a crappy house, that my dad has cancer, that my husband has no job – those things are all temporary and will get better. I have a roof over my head, I have food in my cabinets and refrigerator, I have a family that I love and that loves me, and I have a group of supportive friends that are always there for me.

I’m going back to help again on Friday. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I got home today.

My goal for next year – you heard it here first – is to volunteer my time. While I can’t help very much monetarily, I CAN give my time. These people deserve all the help they can get.

I’m thankful that I was given this opportunity today to see that I really am lucky and blessed to have all that I have.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

We tried (yet) another tortilla soup recipe tonight, because I have been craving it like a mad woman lately. This one turned out to be GREAT and we will definitely be making it again!

The recipe is from Allrecipes.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce 1 medium onion, chopped 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups water 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 bay leaf 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro 7 corn tortillas vegetable oil

Directions:

1.	Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker.Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3.	Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4.	Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.   * Kevin said that it needed more salt (we didn’t add any salt at all). Instead of making our own tortilla strips, we used regular tortilla chips, and of course we also covered it with cheese! We also (accidentally) shredded the chicken just a tad more than was necessary in the food processor, but I liked it better that way – made the soup a little bit thicker!

Thanksgiving food

We went WAY overboard this year. The worst part is that we thought we were cutting down – not so much. According to our list, we were making fewer dishes, but after seeing everything – nope. We had way too much food. It was all excellent, though!

Turkey

We had one turkey smoked at a local BBQ restaurant, and Kevin roasted a turkey using Kidd Kraddick’s brown bag method. We used a pomegranate glaze and oh man – it was excellent. We will never have another turkey smoked at a restaurant again – this recipe was so easy and turned out so much better than the other turkey. In the past we’ve always had Greenberg turkeys, but I’ve never been a big fan. Never again!

Mashed Potatoes

We used Pioneer Woman’s mashed potato bake recipe. We doubled the recipe, thinking that 5 pounds of potatoes wouldn’t be NEAR enough – uh, wrong. They were great, but so filling (probably due to all the butter and cream cheese and half & half). We will definitely make again next year, but we learned that 5 lbs. of potatoes is plenty for our family.

Sweet Potatoes

This year we tried Paula Deen’s sweet potato recipe. I just ate a huge bowl of it. I haven’t been able to quit thinking about it. We doubled this one as well, and didn’t end up needing to – but if we hadn’t then I wouldn’t have been able to have it for dinner tonight, right?

Squash Casserole

We make this every year, and every year I say that I need to write down the recipe (it’s in my sister’s recipe binder) and I never do. So, if I actually end up doing it I will post it here.

Club Crackers

Everyone loved these. I added vanilla to them this year. They were great, but I was an idiot and they all stuck to the pan, so it ended up being more like Club Cracker Crumbs.

Puppy Chow

3/4 box Crispix

6 oz. chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter

Powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together. Pour cereal in large bowl, then pour melted mixture over it and mix together. Pour cereal mixture into large ziploc bag, toss in some powdered sugar, and shake to coat.

 

I’m sure there was more, but I’m tired and onto stressing about Christmas – so if I think of more I will add them!

 

Ready for this to be over with – one way or the other

Today is not a good day for me – I don’t know why I chose today to have a pity party, but I did. If you don’t want to read about my sad life right now or don’t feel like dealing with someone whining, then I strongly suggest you close out your browser window now.

Kevin has been unemployed for 10+ weeks. He has a (very) part-time job, but they are not busy and he gets cut early on every shift. In the past, he has been the one doing the cutting, so it’s difficult for him – but he understands why it has to be done. He IS hopeful about a very good job, but we shall see how that works out. If he gets the job he really wants, it will be a blessing in more ways than one – pay is better, hours are excellent, and it is a privately-owned small company. I really, really hope he gets this one. He is so ready to work and I am so ready to shop!

As you know, we were denied unemployment benefits thanks to his ex-company claiming that he QUIT (when he was laid off). We did everything we were supposed to do, and we ended up filing an appeal. We had to wait 6 weeks (I think – it’s all running together at this point) for the appeal hearing, and we were supposed to get an answer last Monday. A week ago. All we know as of right now is that “the resolution letters have been mailed”. This is what they told us last Monday. Okay, if it’s coming from Austin – we should have had it by now. They don’t send it certified – oh no, that would cost too much money/be too much trouble/be the right thing to do when we’re talking about thousands of dollars – they send it regular old first class mail. Our mail service SUCKS in my ‘hood.

Here’s the kicker: if the appeal was not ruled in our favor, we have 14 days from the time the resolution letter was MAILED (not 14 days from when we receive it) to appeal to the commission. Do the math. If a letter was mailed on, say, Monday and we still don’t have it a week later – we’re working on day 8 of 14 here. I am frustrated beyond belief. Kevin has called everyone he can find a number for at the TWC and no one will tell him anything.

Of course I would love to get the money – I feel that we deserve it just as much as anyone else that has been laid off – but I honestly don’t have high hopes. Every 2 weeks that this gets delayed, it just adds more money to what we are owed. I was depending on this unemployment money to pay bills. It has been so hard (and humbling) to try to make it through on 40% of our income for the last 10 weeks. I hate it. It’s not like we lived beyond our means (much) but I do not like running on amounts this low in our checking account. It makes me very, very nervous. Not to mention, Christmas is coming and I’m panicking about that.

Also – crap has happened that has never happened before. I guess when it rains, it pours.

*Pretty major blowout with my good friends

*Kevin’s windshield busted out in the Wal Mart parking lot

*I broke my back left molar and have no idea how I’m going to be able to afford to get it fixed

*Kevin’s dad had a mild heart attack. Mild, but still a heart attack. We couldn’t afford for him to go see him, which makes me feel horrible.

*Several other things that I will not go into on this blog

I’m just ready for my life to get back to normal. Will it ever???

3 Hour Stew

I found this recipe in a cookbook and thought it looked so simple that I should try it. I haven’t been doing much of the cooking lately, and I honestly don’t miss it all that much. My husband was laid off and is working part time at Williams-Sonoma, so when he gets a full time job maybe I’ll get back in the swing of things. For now, though, easy and cheap is best – and this recipe is both of those things. I bought the cheapest merlot I could find (Kevin said cabernet would probably be better, but we’ll try the cheaper merlot first) and the stew meat was on sale at Kroger. Total cost – about $10.00 for everything. I’ll probably serve it with rice or mashed potatoes, and some green beans or broccoli. Pretty simple. I’ll report back after I’ve eaten it. It took approximately 3 minutes to put together!

Three Hour Stew

1 1/2 lbs. beef cubes

1 can golden mushroom soup

1 cup red wine

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

1. In casserole (I used 1.5 qt), mix together all ingredients. Cover with foil.

2. Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours without lifting foil.

 

Tortilla Chili – soooo good

Well, thanks to Google Reader (the best thing ever), I’ve found several excellent recipes. My husband put this one together this morning and it is SO good! I found it via imperfect, who found it via Clover Lane.

This one is definitely going into the rotation.

Tortilla Chili

4 split boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 8 tenders, because that’s what I had thawed out at the time)
2 cans of Mexican style chopped tomatoes, undrained
2 cans of black beans, undrained
1 can tomato sauce
1 jar of medium or hot salsa (I used Target brand/Archer Farms, because I’m cheap)
1 can chopped green chiles

Cook for 8 hours on LOW in your crockpot. Shred the chicken and dump it back in. Serve with chips and cheese (and sour cream if you so desire, which I did!).

Oh man. Yum.  And it makes a ton. I would assume it would freeze just fine, we will probably freeze whatever we don’t eat.

Awards and random facts

My friend Tarah was lazy and picked me for two awards – so here goes!

Here’s the rules:

1. You can only use one word!
2. Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers.
3. Alert them that you have given them this award!
4. Have fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? Couch
2. Your hair? Brown
3. Your mother? Angel
4. Your father? Helpful
5. Your favorite food? Mexican
6. Your dream last night? Crappy
7. Your favorite drink? Tea
8. Your dream/goal? Happy
9. What room are you in? Living
10. Your hobby? Craftsingeneral
11. Your fear? Death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Austin
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren’t? Rich
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. Wish list item? Vacation
17. Where did you grow up? Here
18. Last thing you did? Showered
19. What are you wearing? Pajamas
20. Your TV? Fox4
21. Your pets? Booda
22. Friends? True
23. Your life? Stressful
24. Your mood? Mad
25. Missing someone? Always
26. Vehicle? Fast
27. Something you’re not wearing? Bra!
28. Your favorite store? Target
29. Your favorite color? Pink
30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday
32. Your best friend? Sister
33. One place that I go to over and over? Work
34. One person who emails me regularly? Jess
35. Favorite place to eat? Chuy’s

More rules…
1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7) Leave a comment on each.

Seven things that people may not know about me:

1. I have to have my pillows a certain way in order to sleep. I usually sleep with 7-8 pillows.

2. I miss my high school boyfriend and think of him often. We were really good friends.

3. My husband is okay with #2.

4. I am more depressed right now than I have ever been before. This is the roughest period of my adult life (so far).

5. I’m actually enjoying my job right now.

6. I love my nephew (just kidding, everybody knows that!).

7. I still cry about my 17 year old cocker spaniel that we had put to sleep almost 3 years ago. I miss him.

I will have to tag some bloggers tonight after work!

Validation

Yes, it’s a long video – but worth it.

At West End

So, I came home to a new catalog tonight that I’ve never seen before – and I love it! It has some really neat things in it, and it’s not all outrageously expensive (like so many things I love).

Here are some cool things I found in the catalog/on the website. Take note for Christmas gifts

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole – 2nd try

I had a great time in Kerrville – the break could not have come at a better time. It makes me realize just how lucky I am to work for such an awesome company that really does take care of its employees. Not too many people can say that, but I can. In fact, I’ll be writing a letter to “the boys” to let them know how much I appreciate them. I’ve seen firsthand how a company can destroy a person, and I am 100% confident that my company would never do that to anyone. As much as I gripe about my job sometimes, it’s really not that bad, I love the people I work with, and I love about 95% of my customers.

I did NOT want to leave this time. I’m stalking the job openings daily.

We went to my sister’s house last night and had an impromptu dinner. I was missing my nephew (and Whitney, of course) and didn’t want to sit at home alone with Kevin all night – so I took all of the ingredients over and we ate dinner.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

• 1 dash(es) Salt And Pepper (to Taste)

• 16 ounces Sour Cream

• 2 cans Cream Of Chicken Soup

• 3 cups Cooked And Shredded Chicken (2 Breasts)

• 2 packages Ritz Crackers (2 Sleeves)

• 1 Tablespoon Poppyseeds

Preparation Instructions

Combine the chicken, soup, sour cream, salt and pepper, and poppy seeds. Add to this one of the sleeves of crackers crushed up. Pour into 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover the top with the remaining crackers that have been crushed up, and the melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I usually serve this with brown or wild rice.