Cappuccino Coolers

Here's a good drink recipe for those of you looking for a sweet pick-me-up treat for yourself. (My kids would probably have no problem enjoying this either--if I let them!) It is from an Allrecipes cookbook that I have.

(This yields 2-3 servings, so plan accordingly)
1.5 cups cold coffee
1.5 cups chocolate ice cream
1/4 c. chocolate syrup
crushed ice
whipped cream
chocolate shavings

1. In a blender, combine coffee, ice cream and chocolate syrup. Blend until smooth. Pour over crushed ice into glasses (I threw the ice in the blender, too). Garnish each serving with a dollap of whipped cream and chocolate shavings, find a quiet closet to hide in and ENJOY!

Symptoms of Insanity

Knock on wood, we have all been healthy over here. Unfortunately, school has been cancelled for the entire week due to illness. My mental status has taken a direct hit, and as many of you already know I was CRAZY to begin with! Watch out. Here are some examples of my new symptoms. First of all, I have my Christmas cards ordered (half of them are addressed). Now even my husband can attest to the fact that this task is usually never accomplished until at least December. My parents' Christmas present is finished and will be ordered tomorrow. I think that my stomach has expanded three-fold in the last week. Is that a symptom? I can't breath. I think that I may even be starting to look like a pig. I can't roll over. I curse the swine flu, it has done all of this to me--I am sure of it.

Burnt Offerings

I was lucky enough to be able to go out the other night for supper club. This month's theme was 5 ingredient recipes. I was in charge of the main dish. Let's just say that I had a crazy day of running kids and errands, etc. When I came back from picking up the babysitter my smoke alarms were ringing, and my entree was burned. I was really frustrated. However, I was able to salvage the vegies and chicken (the burnt sauce I am still scrubbing from the bottom of my pans!) and the night ended successfully, as usual.

Here's the recipe for Maple Roasted Chicken-Thighs with Sweet Potatoes from Good Housekeeping.com (and yes, this is one that I would make again for my family). I doubled the recipe and cooked it in 2 pans.

4 large skinless chicken thighs with bones
2 small (about 1 lb. total) sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 small onion cut into 1-inch pieces
8 oz. baby carrots or 8 oz. parsnips cut into 1-inch chunks
1/4 c. maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. In 15.5 x 10.5 inch jelly roll pan or large shallow roasting pan, combine chicken, sweet potatoes, onion, carrots, maple syrup, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Toss to coat.
3. Roast chicken mixture for 40-45 minutes or until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced with tip of knife and liquid in pan thickens slightly. Stir vegies once and turn chicken over halfway through roasting.

Chain of Command

I have finally relinquished control of the camera...at least for the moment. Wow, I learned a few things just by looking at all the pictures that my husband has been taking. Probably the most disconcerting was this one.....


This is my project manager, my go-to guy, the man that I get most of my project info from! Talk about reliable. Uh-hum....excuse me, was that last truss put in place correctly?? We'll never know now will we. Well, at least he isn't a pilot.


I also was able to see some great shots like this one of a pretty corner.



After living in a house for awhile, you learn all the features that work for you. This one was really high on my list of must-haves.



It just makes my house so unique. I am sure that this single foundation feature in itself sent our resale value through the roof! My husband really knows how to take care of me.


Here is what the house looked like about a week ago before the garage went up.

For those of you who were planning on driving by to see for yourself what is going on...take note of the mud situation. The coffee pot is not hooked up yet, so all that you will be leaving with is a dirty vehicle. Give us a few more months...and maybe a new project manager!

Project Home Builder

Okay, so that is kind of a corny title, but at least it isn't project home wrecker! So, I have been getting a lot of questions about the new house. However, I am not really the person to answer them unfortunately. (I usually have to get my info from Kyle as to what is going on up there!) I rarely am up at the site due to muddy conditions and the current affairs within my uterus. I do deliver supper every now and then to some hungry men, but I have yet to hike up a ladder to actually walk through the house. (Bruce has penciled in an official tour for the wife this Saturday. I will keep you posted.) My husband is pretty handy with the camera, though. He has taken quite a few pics, and about once a week I find the camera hanging around and look at what he has been working on. I was going to post some of the pictures for all of the inquiring minds to see, but when I go looking for the camera it doesn't want to be found. I did find this picture. It will start you off from the very beginning. This is the street that we used to live on, and will be living on again eventually. This is the work that was done to extend the street. Our lot is located in the upper left hand corner (just close your eyes and use your great imaginations for pete's sake.)

...and that is all you are going to get until I find the camera again. I will share, because as you are probably aware--construction photos are so much fun. I have many different photos of footings and foundations that I am just dying to post! So prepare yourselves for an adventure of a lifetime.

Greetings from the Lost "Ranger"

Hello...anyone there? It's me the Strange Ranger. I kind of took the summer off from the computer in general. However, there is snow on the ground again, so I will channel my insanity to the rest of the world.


Strange as this place is, the summers go by way too fast. This one went particularly fast, because we were so busy. I worked quite a bit this summer, as my baby is not so little anymore and babysitters were readily available. My girls all turned a year older, and Kali is in first grade this year.


Bananas...how they have grown just from looking at these summer pics!


(This princess is going to have a hard fall out of her throne come December!)


We sold our house, and are now homeless on the range.



Well, not exactly. We are living in a rental and are currently building another home, because you know once summer was over life might have gotten kind of boring without a project or two! I survived the move, now we just need to tend to that Christmas shopping before the baby comes. I am letting my husband take care of the house building project. He did pretty well the first time around.


It's good to be back. For those of you that missed me...I spared you of an entire summer's worth of whining and moaning! (Too bad for you that winter is here already! Let the craziness begin!)

Our Dirt

Okay, so I was just reading my blog title (about taking our life to the curb), and realized that we have been keeping our amazing talents locked up in the house lately. I need to start sweeping our dirt back outside again. I will spare you any pics of the dirty house. A lot has been going down in this house. After my bro got married, my fam took a trip across the Mighty Mac-i-nac to visit my sister and her rat pack. My other sister, meanwhile has since returned from the other side of the earth to triple her family size! I now have 2 new nephews Greg and Ross, whom I haven't met personally, but they are home safe and adjusting. We also learned that my husband's job is safe for the time being. I was preparing for it not to be, so that was kind of a relief. The snow has finally melted. We had a 90 degree day last week (hopefully it isn't the only one of the year!) Mexican was the theme of the our last supper club (until after summer) that I hosted at my house on our ninety degree day! We made the trip to Iron Mtn. for a Memorial Day BBQ at my sister's house. Mmmmm. I am hungry again. Maybe it is because I am eating for two lately! Maybe that is why my house is dirty, and I have been hibernating. Maybe this will be number five...and just maybe it really will arrive on Christmas EVE!!!! yikes...gotta run. I have Christmas shopping to do!