September 2011 | Page 3 of 4 | Midwestern At Heart

So You Think You Can Sleep

So first off, I must tell you this because to me it is funny… I actually had people saying to me…. me of all people… don’t forget to take pictures. Um… if you’ve followed my blog any at all, you’ll notice, I LOVE photos :). Ok, just sayin :).

So to start things off we went and stayed at my parent’s house Friday night, September the 2nd so we could just leave from there. It was my mom, dad, grandma, hubs, and me going to Hawaii.

Some background details: Back in January my mom was talking to me one morning and this is the way the story goes:

Mom: So your grandma wanted to go to Hawaii. Apparently your grandpa wouldn’t take her because he was stationed there back during WWII and never felt he needed to go back. She’s been asking everyone in the family to go with her. Your Aunt Ellen (actually Great Aunt Ellen) said she’d go with her so then Floyd (AE’s boyfriend) said he’d take her (as in AE) so your grandma backed out not wanting to be a 3rd wheel. So then AE & Floyd backed out. So your grandma has been asking other people to take her. When your dad found out, he volunteered us to take her so I guess this summer your dad and I are taking your grandma to Hawaii.

Me: Well you know, PC and I are going on our 1-year anniversary this year and we’ve been contemplating where to go. I’ll bet it wouldn’t take much convincing and he’d be willing to go, but only if you guys could wait until our 1-year anniversary since that’s when we’re saving our vacation for……

So needless to say, they agreed, we sat on this all winter and summer long, waiting for September 3rd to come around! And then…………..

WE WENT TO HAWAII!!!!!

We went to the Island of Oahu and stayed right on Waikiki beach, but I won’t jump the gun just yet… back to Friday night the 2nd.

Since our Anniversary was actually Sunday the 4th, we really couldn’t take the cake with us to Hawaii…. so we cut into our wedding cake top on Friday night.

(more…)

Hey

Hey
Hey you
Hey you in there
You
I’m talking to you
Hey
Hey
Hey you
Hey
Hey
……..
……
……..
……

Think that annoying Stew commercial on TBS 🙂 (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, youtube it, I’m sure it’s out there!)

So did you miss me? Oh you didn’t know I was missing, other than I hadn’t been by to comment on your blogs…. Well, that’s because I pre-scheduled posts for all last week while I was on vacation.

For multiple reasons I was asked not to announce it on my blog until after I got back, so I did as I was asked. Don’t worry I’ll get caught up on all your blogs, I promise, it just might take me a bit. I have to get caught up on lots of things.

So I have 2,500ish photos from this trip, don’t worry I won’t share them all with you, however I’ll go through and share some of the highlights as I get through them myself 🙂 What’s really funny is my digital photo frame at work has just over 2000 photos and I told one of my co-workers I’d probably come back with every bit of that and I guess I didn’t disappoint. I took 3 camera’s, my Nikon D5000 with a 32gb memory card, my Kodak water camera with a 16gb memory card and my Nikon Coolpix with a 2gb memory card plus I had my iPhone, hubby’s iPhone and even my mom’s iPhone which I used all of the above at one point or another. I know, I guess I need a life maybe ;).

Anyway it’s Monday so I wanted to participate in the Hunk of Meat Monday so here’s my recipe. Mom made it a week ago Friday and that’s what we had before we left for Hawaii (if you didn’t get it by my sweatshirt)

You had to go back and look at the sweatshirt didn’t cha?

So on with Hunk of Meat Monday brought to you by Beyer Beware:

Crock-Pot Spare Ribs

Ingredients:
Boneless Beef ribs covered in Chili Lime Rub (all sides). Place in the crockpot. Then cover in enough beef broth to just cover (about 3/4-1cup). She also added some Rotel and mushrooms (both optional). Let it simmer all day on low. Then pull the meat out after 6-8 hrs and let the meat rest. In the mean time thicken up the sauce with some cornstarch to make a gravy. Then mom made mashed potatoes. So to serve, place a couple slices of bread on a plate. Shred the meat and place on the bread. Then serve with potatoes and cover all with gravy. Can we say YUM!!??!!??

9.11 Never Forget!

This is a photo of a photo since I don’t have my scanner available right now (sorry for the quality)

10 years ago today was a Tuesday. My roommate’s alarm went off like usual on Tuesday mornings way before I had to wake up and she always set it to go off LOUD! and then she would sleep through it. I got annoyed and started grumbling at her to shut off her dumb alarm and then put on my shoes and stumbled my way to the bathroom (community bathrooms in the dorm). As I was walking back to my bedroom to go back to bed I remember hearing Tom Brokaw’s voice very loud booming down the hallway and knew that wasn’t a good sign. I took off walking down the hallway to figure out where it was coming from and what was wrong. I walked into a girl named Jessie’s room and turned around and sat on her bed as I was asking her what was happening and just then I witnessed via the tv the second tower being hit. I seriously thought it was a bad joke so I asked her what was happening as I sat there in a daze watching the TV. 10 years later and I still remember where I was and how I felt about the news. Where were you? Do you still remember?

Project 52: Yellow

Pumpkin Bars

Oh are you looking for something oh so good? Well since Pumpkin season is coming up upon us I thought I would share these scrumptious bars!!!

Oh I’m sorry, these won’t make you do this, PROMISE! But, Please enjoy! And nope, this time I forgot photos. Maybe someday I’ll come back and add photos 🙂 Or if you make them, take a photo for me and I’ll put it up here with credit to you!

{Pumpkin Bars}

{ingredients}
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 can pumpkin
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts

{directions}
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with the following frosting.

{Frosting ingredients}
3 oz cream cheese
1/2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp milk

{directions}
Mix until fluffy, then spread evenly over bars.

Dear God via the Dog

Dear God: Here is a list of
just some of the things I must remember
to be a good Dog:

1. I will not eat the cat’s food before he eats
it or after he throws it up.

2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish,
crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.

3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a ‘face towel’.

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad’s
underwear when he’s on the toilet.

7. Sticking my nose into someone’s
crotch is an unacceptable way of saying ‘hello’.

8. I don’t need to suddenly stand
straight up when I’m under the coffee table.

9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before
entering the house – not after.

10. I will not come in from outside,
and immediately drag my butt across the carpet.

11. I will not sit in the middle of the living
room, and lick my crotch.

12. The cat is not a ‘squeaky toy’,
so when I play with him and he makes that noise,

it’s usually not a good thing.

Extreme Mac & Cheese Challenge

Wanna know how it works? Go here to see all the details!!

Otherwise, join me on my journey won’t you please?!?!

I started out by just googling mac & cheese recipes blog so that I made sure to find a blog featuring Mac & Cheese and being the Mac & Cheese Connoisseur that I claim to be I stumbled across a bunch of different recipes that looked super yummy! But then this one, caught my eye, I found it on Kevin and Amanda.

Start with 2 cups of penne noodles. I used the multi-colored ones because we’re getting away from “white” pastas at my house, as well as white breads really.

We added some EVOO to our water just so the noodles wouldn’t stick together. And of course added salt to flavor the pasta.

While that is all going on, coat a small baking dish with some non-stick spray.

And dump your noodles in when the water comes to a boil. Truthfully I should have used a bigger pan, but I couldn’t find it.

Once the noodles are done drain the water.

Place half the cooked noodles into the shallow dish.

Top them with a couple pats of butter (aka a couple tablespoons)

1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

And about a cup of Colby Monterrey Jack cheese.

Then place in the rest of the noodles.

ack! Noodle overboard! We had 2 casualties that night :(. haha

Followed by a couple more tablespoons of butter.

And the rest of the cheese.

Then we added pepper which the recipe didn’t call for but we like pepper in our Mac & cheese. Then 3/4 to 1 cup of milk or 1/3 of the bottom of the dish.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

And here is the yummy, cheesy, goodness.

My only suggestion is with 30 minutes, I wound up burning some noodles so I’ll cut back 10 minutes off the cooking time next time.

But other than that, it was delish and super easy! Also a quick fix.

I served mine with a jalapeno cheese hotdog.

Print the recipe

Also shared with Simply Delish Saturday!

http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=103216

Becoming the Woman of his Dreams

April 13, 2010, I had my atm Fiance answer these questions. Then asked him if on our 1 year anniversary if he’d answer them again. Well, we’ve hit the 1 year Mark as of Sunday so it is his turn to blog again and answer these questions.

~How would you describe the woman of your dreams?
Most Simply… YOU!!!!!

~What do you wish your wife understood about you and your longings?
I wish my wife understood how much I truly love her! I wish she understood that I could not make it one day without her! And I wish she understood that I am in this marriage for eternity! (more…)

Happy Birthday Memaw!

Today is my beautiful Mother-in-law’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday Memaw!! (haha and no she isn’t my Memaw, that’s what my daughter & husband call her so it just stuck)

And here is a recipe my Mother-in-law makes that is OH SO YUMMY! You should Make this today in honor of her!!

Salsa Pronto

1 Can (14.5oz) Mexican Style Stewed Tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp hot sauce

Put tomatoes in a blender (or food processor).