Birthday & Baby Shower

This month was my birthday. For my birthday David & I went out with friends to Texas Roadhouse. It was SO yummy! Of course, I had to be embarrassed!

Also, This week I went back to work at a new company. I am doing the same thing as I was before and I don't mind going to work at this location. I have multiple friends who had already made the change to this company. It was a good first week and I am far happier then I ever was at my last job.
Along with starting my new job this week, my best friend, T, and I put on a baby shower Friday evening for one of our husbands co-workers wife. We had planned it out all nicely and had picked up a key for the community center. It was going to be at a nice location. Well, we got a phone call from David at 4 asking if we could move the location of the baby shower to the toys for tots warehouse. (The husbands were invited to come) T and I made last minute changes while all the husbands called their wives to let them know we had changed the location. T and I made do in the ugly, nasty, warehouse (that is condemned!). We moved tables around and T went to Dollar Tree that week and had gotten table cloths and plates and everything we needed. T, was amazing and did tons for the baby shower! She made cupcakes, and these super yummy croissant things that had whip cream, cream cheese, and fruit in it. She also made these yummy sugar cookies with m&m's in the bag for the goodies bag.
I made a veggie platter and bought a meat platter and made another fondant cake. This time, I made the fondant from scratch! It was a few days process. Tuesday night, I made a red velvet cake. Wednesday night, I made the fondant with mini marshmallows, powder sugar, vanilla, and a little milk. The frosting recipe is really good. Thursday, I assembled the cake with my mom's frosting and the fondant. I then took some remaining fondant and tried to dye the color black with food coloring. For some reason, it turned more purplish, even though I was using the black food coloring. I then made the cake a zebra cake. I then put some little rubber animals on top. The cake wasn't perfect, but I thought it looked really good for my 2nd fondant cake, 1st one on my own!

Busy

So, it's been a long while sine I last posted. Let see what's happen.

1. My big brother got married!

2. I went to Denver and hung out with my sister.

3. I started a Premier Designs (jewelry) business and it is doing really good :)

4. I've done lots of Christmas shopping

5. Had lots of dinners with friends :)

6. Thanksgiving was a blast with my friends who is my family away from my family

7. I celebrated my 5th anniversary!

8. I received a job offer and is taking it as soon as my background check clears!

So, in other words, I have been busy. David worries all the time that I'm bored at home not working, but almost everyday is eventful and I love it!

Happy be-lated Thanksgiving everyone!

Shape Glowdeo

On Friday October 9, 2009, David and I went with our friends again to the night portion of the balloon festival. It's called the Shape Glowdeo. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! All the balloons stayed close to the ground and as the night became darker, you could see the flames in the balloons! Plus we went the night when all the balloons were special shapes. After the balloons we stayed for fireworks also. Fireworks are always good.



The Creamlands Cow



A super cute pig with sunglasses! (stating the obvious)



A strawberry patch that had cows and horses on it



A Shamrock



A Jack-O-Lantern (this was one of my favorites!)



Noah's Ark




An Elephant



A lot of balloons



A Green Frog



A blurry photo of the balloons

Mass Ascension

On November 4, 2009 - David and I met some friends for the morning mass ascension of the 2009 annual balloon festival. The mass ascension was not as good as last years for the day I went with my family. But it is still amazing. I love it and it's just so much fun.



David in front of the balloons in the mass ascension.



Look at all the balloons go!




David and Pikachu (my friends son - this is his blog name)



Nemo is going up!




So many balloons!

If Only I was Human

I have been super busy these past few weeks so I will have a few posts tonight as I am catching up.

A few weeks ago Stella was laying next to me and she propped herself up as if she was human! It was so funny, and on top of it she had a funny face the whole time!



I also remember when I was a kid and we had our dog Strider. Strider was very loved but I remember dressing Strider in my clothes, mainly t-shirts, but sometimes shorts also. Well, David has recently been putting his shirts on Moose. Thankfully not his shorts! Moose was super funny though because he really loved wearing the shirts. The funniest part was when Moose would try to go up the stairs. His back legs would get stuck in the shirt!

Recipes

This one is for you Suzanne! I love to share recipes!

Green Chili Stew (by far so good)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil and brown the stew meat and the onions until onions are translucent; about 5 minutes

Pour in the diced tomatoes with chiles, beef broth and chile peppers. Stir in the garlic salt and cumin. Salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add a little more beef broth or water if needed during simmering.

Stir in cubed potatoes to the mixture and simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

For this, I also added in some other spices that I thought sounded good, such as Ms. Dash's Southwestern Spice. I also make yummy homemade bread to go with this but tortillas go great also. Oh, And I only had 1 cup of beef broth, so I also put chicken broth in it and is was still excellent.



This next recipe, the BBQ Chicken Calzones, was super yummy. We just tried it for the first time, but it is most definitely a keeper. Just click here for the recipe.

That is all for now, but I hope you enjoy the recipes.

What's for Dinner?

Since I am currently unemployed, I have been enjoying trying new and old recipes. It is so much fun to cook and not have to worry about anything else while cooking! I love cooking because I love food so much! This payday (because I shop by payday instead of weekly) we have had, stir fry (thanks Thaomee for the great stuff to use as the sauce!), green chili stew (thanks also Thaomee for that recipe!), bb-q chicken calzones (so good), chicken tacos. Tonight, we are having steak and eggs with hashbrowns. I can't wait for it all to be done! I do have to thank all recipes for all of their great ideas also. Anyway, dinner is great, but I need to go make some eggs now!