A little New Mexico in Texas

We had Rosie's Green Chile Enchiladas last night for dinner, Ohhhhh My. I put "Rosie's" in front of it because I put a little spin on the traditional recipes that float around. It was very yummy and hope that it will be a favorite of yours as well! It's very easy and worth the time spent making it!

Rosie's Green Chile Enchiladas




Ingredients:

2 cups Shredded Chicken Breast(Approx. 1 Chicken breast boiled and shredded)
2 small cans of diced Green Chiles
2 small cans of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP crushed red peppers (If you like it spicy)
8 corn tortillas
4 slices of Swiss Cheese
5 springs of cilantro chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix together chicken, green chiles, soup, milk, garlic powder, salt and crushed red pepper together until well mixed. Spread thin layer of mixture on the bottom of an ungreased 8"x9" pan. Put down a layer or tortillas. Mixture, Tortillas, mixture..etc until you lastly spread a thin layer of mixture on top. Top off with Swiss cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and back for 1 hour. Remove from oven and sprinkle cilantro on top before serving.

Then we had blueberry jello set in martini glasses for dessert! Yummy! I had forgotten how happy jello can make a person. Look how happy Carl was to be enjoying it! LOL!



It was the perfect meal after tackling the cabinets all day...

Before:


After:


Inside peak of spices, baking paraphernalia, herbal teas and cocoas (I LOVE COCOAS!!)


I was a little hesitant to buy these beautiful Pfaltzgraff dishes because I am a total freak about my dishes cupboard. Everything has to line up in pairs and be symmetrical. I would have gotten rid of my white set, however I love to throw dinner parties and I have setting for 16 with the white dish set and Big Lots only had 2 set of Seychelles Green Sea. If Big Lots wouldn't have had these 70.00 sets marked down to 15 BUCKS, I would have never....I blame BIG LOTS! (JK..they're one of my FAVE stores EVER...anywho...) 140.00's worth of dishes for 30.00 is my kind of hot smokin' deal!



Luckily they don't look too cluttered nestled on the opposite side from the white dishes.


OHHHH and before I forget, I got a kick out of finding these while unpacking. They are coconut ceramics I made in art class in HS. I sat with Jeff Casad. We were listening to "If you like Pina Coladas" on the radio which inspired the lime capped coconut duo. Jeff made a penguin...I fund that while packing in NM but once recovered, I will post a pic of that too. Haha. Memories.

Tv/Game Room/Office

Built in entertainment nook and closed cabinet doors:


Behind closed doors lies toys/books/activities sorted by age appropriate shelf height:




Built in Office Desk/Shelves/File cabinets:


OCD is serious and I am proud to have a mild case. I loaf it like bread :)

Kitchen Dining Nook

Nothing too fancy, however, definitely improved!

Before:


With some chairs and a table:


With Flowers and curtains:

What we've been up to thus far...

1 of the guest rooms before


After


This is my favorite part!



Guest Bathroom upstairs


After






RosieMacGyver Lamp:
1 Bird Cage Stand
1 Lantern
1 Candle Holder
1 Fake Candle

Super glue the candle holder into the middle of the lantern. Turn on the fake flame candle and put into candle holder. Close door to Lantern and hang from Bird Cage. You have now made a Lamp from a Bird cage and random findings from Big Lots.

Yeeeee-Ow! That's my happy sound!

I am proud to announce that we are currently making our first trip home to Houston with a load of our belongings!

Carl got a tip off from one of his friends that Triad was hiring in Houston, paying the same amount as Higdon in Dallas. He called the Super's office at 8:00 this morning and they told him he was hired, show up tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. for your paperwork and a potty test.

So he called me. I was dancing and singing with Boscoe (BTW, that dog does NOT like to dance with his mommy, he gets really excited and his tail hurts me!) We were jamming out to my iPod, packing up the kitchen, then the bathroom, then the closet, the living room, and finally, the refrigerator. In the cooler the freezer contents goes!

We are only driving the truck back tonight so we did not get a chance to bring everything, however, everything is packed for either tomorrow night or Saturday.


DID I MENTION HOW GOSH DARN EXCITED AM?!

Back to my fabulous husband that wanted to get me home.....

He talked to his Super at Higdon and Ron said that he was really sad to see Carl go but if this was the best decision for us than he understood and wished us luck. Ron also told Carl that he would always have a place at Higdon Construction whenever he was ready to come back.

So here we go on another adventure...this one is sure to be THE BEST!

We even got invited to a Halloween party by my friend/realtor Tonya tomorrow night and I got an email from Jason Lebeda that he also lives in a suburb of Houston!

I've already got a fabulous baked potato bar neighborhood party stewing in my brain! Eeek! So happy!

Hope everybody else's day is turning out as good!

Hazmat

Other than our tree, I was left to face the ugly aftermath of the power being off and the creatures lurking in the night of the refrigerator... I am sparing photos of the innards of the fridge, your worst imagination is much more attractive than the truth. So here is a quick 3 picture reference to how my morning went.

infestation



in·fes·ta·tion

1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious.



paraphernalia



par·a·pher·na·lia

1. (sometimes used with a singular verb) equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity.


disguise



dis·guise

1. to change the appearance or guise of so as to conceal identity or mislead, as by means of deceptive garb.


Afterall, I don't want the millions of spore cousins coming after me in the night! LOL. Have a great rest of the week guys!

Ike and Our Home

Galveston Island, 1 week after we were frolicking on the very same beach!
(35 miles away)


A house off the shore being severely flooded
(also approximately 35 miles away from our home)



Debris on the Highway between Galveston and Houston


Downtown Houston off I-45 South
(20 miles from home)


Under the I-45 South Sign on the highway headed toward Galveston
(Literally miles from our house)


The only damage to our home in Spring, TX


The power is off, and will most likely be for the next week. The gas is still on and the water is still good. Carl went home today and threw out the food in the fridge. All is well, God is awesome!

THE RAVE!!!

I have been talking about writing this blog and have some other before and after pictures I might add to this slide show in the future, however, here is my ODE TO MR. CLEAN and his MAGIC ERASER (Even the brand from the Dollar Tree - 2 for 1.00 or the Great Value Wal-Mart brand - 4 for 1.97, works just as well, but THANKS TO YOU MR. CLEAN for developing a product so worth copying!

When I made dinner Friday night, we had pork ribs with my homemade BBQ Sauce. If you have ever had my homemade BBQ Sauce or are a closet BBQ Sauce pro, you will know that it entails LOTS of brown sugar. Any type of sugar will turn into a syrup and in the event you try to bake it on a cookie sheet, you're in for either a struggle to get it off or you must prepare for a funeral for your beloved cookie sheet....BUT NOT THIS TIME!!!

Carl has used this on a daily basis at the house and we have exactly 13 left under the sink in a nifty bowl at his disposal.

Sue also uses this hefty little scrubber on all sorts of household items, such as: walls, trash can lids, license plate plastic covers, etc...

Yee....!

We a have closed on the house...It's so beautiful! I am nervous and excited all at the same time! 2,711 sq ft, 4 bdrms, 2.75 bath, formal dining, formal living, 2nd living room and office upstairs. Ahhhhh, it's refreshing and scary all at the same time to have a place to call home that is yours :)

It's in a subarb of Houston. Spring, Texas to be exact. More pictures to come.

The house....

We a have closed on the house...It's so beautiful! I am nervous and excited all at the same time! 2,711 sq ft, 4 bdrms, 2.75 bath, formal dining, formal living, 2nd living room and office upstairs. Ahhhhh, it's refreshing and scary all at the same time to have a place to call home that is yours :)

It's in a subarb of Houston. Spring, Texas to be exact. More pictures to come.