I feel like Buster Poindexter…"So we go rum-bum-bum-bum…Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot…"

WOW!

It was a great but I have to tell ya: busy, busy little renegade bee! I’m glad for the week to start because it’s like a vacation from the weekend!

Friday

Funny story:

Once upon a time there was this girl named Rose. She loves the cooler days and looked outside to find a cloudy, overcast day. She had a big day ahead of her so she excitedly hopped out of bed and ran right into her closet! She looked around and gently ran her right hand across the tops of her many soft sweatshirts, long sleeved blouses and sweaters. She settled on a maroon sweatshirt over layered tank tops. (She loves cold weather: she loves layers!) How happy to be in long sleeves again!

When Rose goes outside and gets into her car, she starts to drive down the road when it starts to feel a little warm. A few seconds later she starts to feel slightly warmer. Windows come down, what is it that she smells? A clear crisp, warm November day! She looks up from the thermostat (that reads 78) to see her neighbor staring at her, with bewilderment (Most likely since she’s in layers and a sweater), in his gym shorts and short sleeved shirt….. NO WORRIES! Rose sticks to her guns and continues to Wal-Mart. While at the Supercenter, she sees sandals, sun dresses and tank tops. Then she starts to sweat a little. No pun, seriously sweat. Cause it was friggin’ hot!

The end.

After I got home from Wal-Mart I put groceries away. Boscoe and I also had a fetch-a-thon in the back yard. He crashed on the floor while I swept and mopped the foyer, kitchen and kitchen nook. I started spaghetti sauce and vacuumed the floor. Did laundry and put away dishes.



While unpacking, I found my beads! I made this necklace after the dishes were done and put away.

Saturday

All day I worked on homemade Tamales and Tamale Sauce! It was a long hard road (NO WONDER PEOPLE USUAL MAKE IT A BIG FAMILY PRODUCTION!) but it was totally worth it! I made red chile sauce from dried chile pods Friday night. Into the crock pot with pork roast and beef roast. I also soaked pinto beans overnight. I let the meat stew for several more hours more on Saturday (16 hours cook time total. Sooooo very tender and juicy!)while getting the masa and corn husks ready…. Fast forward after six hours of rolling tamales by myself… Carl came home and helped with the last 7-8. (We made about 40-50.) Here is Carl rolling tamales. (I forgot to take pictures of myself…a first! LOL.)

Here are a batch cooking. I was steaming Tamales until 11:45 P.M.!



Here is a complete plate with frijoles and arroz!

I got the signed seal of approval from Edgar and Leo (Carl’s friends that are from Mexico!) today when Carl took them to work. *Update: Carl just told me that them tamales have been requested for sale by Ramsey and Raul, a dozen for $10.00.... I gotta think about this one.

Daddy and Bubsy after a long hard day of tamale making:

The jewelry bug bit me, so I made these necklaces within the course of the day too.

Found this in the camera and it was entirely too cute to leave in my hard drive:

Sunday

Got up early, put Tex-Mex-Chili ingredients into a pot, went to church, met a lot of really great people, came home, ate tamales for lunch, swept and vacuumed, put away dishes, re-loaded dish washer, played with some beads, couldn’t get my jewelry mojo on, put away dishes, researched tortilla recipes, went back to church to meet with Bishop for Tithing Settlement meeting, came home, made homemade tortillas, ate chili, did dishes, watched Desperate Housewives, went to bed.

I wanted to blog about so much this weekend but I a tee-widdle-bit pre-occupied! Hope you guys are having a perfect day! See ya tomorrow.

Love,

Me

A day later but not a dollar short!

I guess I have to start off by explaining….

I am a total busy body and am usually doing 10 things at once for 12-14 hour stints. Since I haven’t been working (as in employed by a company outside of my home) I would get up at whatever time Carl gives me morning kisses (5:00-5:30ish) and roll back over and snuggle with Boscoe Bear until 8:00-8:30ish, give or take an hour. Then I would unpack, plan dinner, yadda-yadda, etcetera....

(For example: Strip the bed of linens, start the washer, fold the clothes in the dryer. Haul some boxes from the garage. Go back to garage and grab the step-stool. Go to kitchen and take out spices, teas, baking goods from cabinet. Measure, cut and line cabinet. Re-organize shelves. Take picture. Go to garage and grab Pfaltzgraff plates. Unpack the plates. Remove all boxes from closet under-he-staircase closet. Take all empty boxes upstairs. (I have a strange infatuation with keeping original boxes for crock pots, fondue sets, etc….) Put boxes away in attic. Take a folded down moving box out of the attic. Run downstairs, get packing tape, re-fold and re-tape moving box. Pack Alex’s clothes that he left in the guestroom closet in the box. Tape it up and put it in the storage. Run back downstairs, grab the duster. Dust the closet. Run back downstairs, grab the vacuum (that I just put in the newly cleaned out under-the-staircase closet) and vacuum the spare bedroom. Go back to the kitchen. Move all the white dishes from the left side of dishes cabinet and stack them in symmetrical order. Move Seychelles Green Sea dishes to empty side of dishes cabinet. Take a picture. Get bag of foliage in Disney bag out of pantry. Move step ladder to other side of kitchen. Move decorative plates above cabinets. Cabinet ledge too deep. Climb down off countertops. Go back to garage. Get some empty boxes. Get back up on countertops. Put down cardboard. Display items. Crawl back down and take picture. Take foliage out of bag. (Remember, symmetry is my Freddie Krueger.) Drag stepladder across kitchen tile. Climb back up on opposite countertops. Grab display items. Crawl back down, go back to garage and get more cardboard boxes. Re-line cabinets tops with boxes and display items. Get back down. Separate foliage into even piles. Go back up. Add green. Come back down. Drag ladder, climb up add green. Down. Up. Add flowers. Drag ladder. Up. Flowers. Down. Picture…Send photo-mail to email while heading to laundry room to move linens to dryer. Start washing machine with detergent. Leave phone on dryer, go to master bedroom closet. Sort all of (He likes to leave these on the floor NEXT to the hamper, anybody else married to one of these? LOL.) Carl’s dirty electrician’s clothes. Pull all the crap out of his pockets and add it to the “Carl’s pocket crap pile” on the bathroom sink counter. Take laundry basket to laundry room and dump into washer. Grab cell phone. Say a prayer that I’m not washing clothes by hand. (Still haunting me.) Go to garage. Grab box labeled “winter coats and other random crap from living room closet”. Carl obviously packed this box. Start hanging coats in living room closet. Cut taped flaps on box. Fold up and put by staircase to take back upstairs to attic. Go to garage. Grab a box of stuff. Ooooooh. Dehydrator! Punch bowls. Serving dishes. These aren’t for everyday use so I stick these in the back corner of the under-the-staircase- closet. Oooooh. This reminds me that I want to put our suitcases in here, so I return to the bedroom. Grab my 3 piece luggage set. Stuff Carry-on bag in little carry-on suitcase and that suitcase into the big luggage bag. Like nestle boxes! I contemplate taking a picture of this, decide against it. Grab Carl’s suitcase and drag both pieces to the closet and stow away. Remember that the vacuum needs to reside here as well. Sprint back up the stairs; go into the “Alex” guestroom. Wind up cord. Carry vacuum downstairs. I then realize I need to vacuum after moving all the dirty dusty boxes in from the garage. Grab broom from garage. Sweep kitchen. Stop. Grab duster (which is inconveniently UPSTAIRS!) dust off counters from my sandals on the kitchen counters and then get wet rag and wash countertops now that they're dut free. Resume sweeping onto formal dining room carpets. Sweep foyer into the living room and kitchen nook into other side of living room. Uncoil cord and vacuum the entire downstairs. Empty vacuum cylinder into trash. Return to kitchen to get broom. Put it away in garage. Get a soda. Text Lisa. Retrieve linens from dryer. Put back on bed. Make bed. Go back to laundry room. Put clothes in dryer. Start washer. Go back to bedroom. Grab whites. Load washing machine, which reminds me that I need to start the dishwasher after I eat something. Crap! I forgot to eat something. Get a soda. Chug some of it. Grab a plate. Put it back. Better use a white plate since there are 15 up there, and there should really be 14 instead of 15 on one side of the cabinet and 7 Sea Green ones on the other, leave 8 up there, yes. Decide on white plate. Make Salami and Brie on Wheat crackers while adding Beans to large pot to boil and soak. Finish eating. Load dishwasher, add soap and start her up!....OK, so I write the way I get caught up in doing stuff. At this time, it’s like 11:00 a.m. on his example day. Are you SERIOUS? I’ve only been up for like 2 hours by the time I’ve done all this crap….so back to my initial blog of today.)

I continuously go about the day re-doing every room in my house. Carl comes home, we have dinner. Talk about our day, eat dessert. He generally will take Boscoe for a walk and then relax on the couch and watch TV.

I am not a big TV watcher. I was when I was younger but now I just crave life and rarely watch anything. Grey’s is something I try to tune in to and an occasional episode of Desperate Housewives but I’m still not a religious watcher of any TV show……

Well, I am usually busy rinsing dishes. Unloading the dishwasher, neurotically balancing my cabinets with the clean stuff, re-loading, packing lunches or freezing leftover food. Wiping down the table and maybe sweeping the floor. My poor hubby is so tired he’s usually asleep by the time I’m done! So he told me the other day that he felt neglected. It was so cute! So I have vowed to get up in the mornings with him and use the extra hours in the morning for emails, blogging and additional freakishly OCD behavior. LOL.

Boscoe is not happy about 5:30 AM blogging….It’s just too early for him!



So the real reason for this blog.

Dinner last night. We had the ever tasty Corned Beef and Cabbage. Now, I wouldn’t blog about this since I have already explained our weird rituals in the Brauning Household in Texas, but I found a GREAT recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage “Gravy” if you will. You thicken up the sauce with rue and add a few TBSPs of mustard to taste. No salt needed of course because the Beef Stock from the cured Beef is enough to dehydrate ANYONE… So if you do Corned Beef and Cabbage at your house for St. Patrick’s Day, keep some stock.







Chop some cabbage and set aside for your “gravy”. Transfer your Cabbage, Potatoes, Onion and Beef into a serving plate. Add chopped cabbage to your stock and boil the reserved raw cabbage until tender. Whisk some mustard and flour (Or Wondra…ahhhhh. How we love Wondra!) in water until mixed thoroughly. Add to stock until thickened. I put a few scoops of ground Cayenne into it because well, I put ground Cayenne in everything and we like spicy! And it was delicious! There is a lot left over so I’m thinking of a Cabbage Soup? I’ll let you know how it turns out. OH.

I was looking for a nice bread to compliment our meal. I don’t have any yeast on hand so I googled yeast free bread. I made Rotti. It could have been the recipe I found but it was SO BAD, it makes me cringe at the thought of trying any other Rotti recipe. Urgggggle. I only share it so that if you come acrossed it in your recipe research, you back away slowly!

Rotti:
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp Vegetable Flour
Salt to taste
Warm water until dough is thick

PLEASE I BEG OF YOU; DON’T GO THERE!

Well, Now that I’ve found a new yeast-less bread recipe to try, went through all my emails, paid bills, balanced my check book. Talked to Carl and Lisa on the phone, and am ready to publish my post I will see ya all tomorrow. Write devilishly good things on your blogs! I’ll be waiting to see them! Ciao Bella!

A lot of my favorite things….

I am about to blog about things from weather to tasty inspired desserts! YAY! I hope you’re having as good of a day as I am.

Mood: Severely Thankful


Monday, November 10, 2008


Today it was....

I was so happy because it was the coolest day I have experienced since being in Texas! It was a steady 66 degrees, drizzly and foggy. I LOVE this weather. A lot of people prefer flip-flops and sunny days; I’m all for sunny days but my motto is. “You can always put more clothes on but you can only take so much off before you get arrested.” I’ve enjoyed my flip flop weather but I was going to be mighty sad if I couldn’t wear this great jacket I found at Target last year for $7.00!


(Ya just gotta love Target!)

I do love my flip-flops but I gladly cloaked my feet in my *gasp* Mary Jane flats. (*Usually, I would run a marathon in stiletto sandals if someone would let me.) Why I wore the flats, I couldn’t even explain it, however, I felt like it, so I did. Take a walk in my shoes as I tour you on my Monday….




(P.s. being this short should be a sin.
Look at how much jean leg is pooled around my midget legs!)

As I excitedly snapped a few photos of my jacket, Boscoe looked on. I think he tries to ignore me when I take pictures of myself because he gets this confused look when my cell phone makes the snappy sound…. He strains his neck to the right and then the left.




After the fake photo shoot, I was off to Wal-Mart to buy the cow some dog food. (I’m not sure if the pricing is the same where you’re at, but I saved a dollar on Boscoe’s Beneful Original 40-pound bag by going to Wal-Mart versus Super Target. I’m a die-hard Super Target fan, otherwise.)

As I perused the super store, I came across something that will change my dessert life for the rest of my BEING!

For Carl, Laura and all you other Pumpkin fans……



Can you read that?! It’s a Jell-O Limited Edition Flavored pudding….. PUMPKIN SPICE!

I pondered as I wondered….How delicious would look in a Brandy Glass? How tasty with a dollop of cool whip? Sheesh! It hit me like an epiphany! (Definition: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience....I didn't know what it meant until I looked it up a month ago...) But it only got better when I got home and started mixing the Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding with 2% milk…Thus, the Rosie Posie Cheatin’ Puddin’ Pie was born!





OH YES! I did it. I so went there. And if you’re wondering…YES! IT IS GOOD. As I envisioned dousing the pudding with whipped cream, I took it a step further. I know what you’re thinking. She DIDN’T….LOL. I looked for some graham cracker crumbs to sprinkle as a “fake crust” but I was all out. I thought I’d just call Carl and tell him to pick up some Honey Graham but then…it caught my eye! Carl’s cereal!


WOW! If you can find Post Trail Mix Crunch, I highly recommend it for your “fake mini pies”. It’s got toasted almonds, granola and crunchy goodness that compliments the smooth, creamy, pudding goodness! (Let me know if you use anything else, please.)

For Lisa, Toni and all the rest of us Chocolate fans…..





Rosie Posie Cheatin’ Puddin’ Pie


Ingredients:
1 package (Your choice flavored) Pudding
Crunchy topping
Whipped Cream
Fun glasses

Directions:
Make pudding as directed and pour to set in brandy, martini, etc. glasses. Right before serving, sprinkle some crunchy goodness and add dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

This seriously took 4 minutes prep time tops. 30 seconds to measure milk. 2 minutes to whisk instant pudding. (Minus 5 minutes to set pudding.) 30 seconds to sprinkle cereal and 1 minute to dollop whipped cream. I say 1 minute because I wanted to make sure it was pretty!

Soooooo yummy!



Ok. Now that I got that dessert adventure out of the way. (Freakish, I know but I was SO excited to write about this dessert!)

Carl came home from work early! Every year we get into what I like to call the Grinch War. I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. It groups up all the things I love. Family, Jesus, Friends, gift giving, twinkling lights, Christmas Trees, baked goods, Turkey, all things good and great! Any who, I decorate before Thanksgiving usually because I like the house to have the warm feeling when we have Thanksgiving dinner. Carl (as everyone else I know) tells me it’s too soon. However, this year I had a good argument. We saw Christmas ads on television. I told Carl that since stores can advertise for Christmas, I can advertise for Christmas! He whole heartedly complied and even strung the lights while Boscoe watched.



Tuesday, November 11, 2008




Today is Veteran's Day!
I have a lot of loved ones that has, is or going into the service for us, as Americans.

Service [sur-vis]: an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service.

Thank you so very much! I know that my life would not be the same without the love and dedication our soldiers have to our nation and to our people. May you feel all the blessings the Lord has in store for you and your family.

It's also mildly drizzly and foggy outside so I get to wear my Lakeside, Ohio sweater. Pretty, pretty, pink, fuzzy sweater!



Well, this must have been the longest post in blog history. Again, I hope you try the dessert. Thanks for reading! Love, me.

P.S. Make sure to say a little prayer and thank Heavenly Father. Life is good and He allows it! Godspeed to you and your family to have a blessed day!

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!

Adventures of Boscoe the dog Episode: 1

Once upon time there was a beautiful APBT named Boscoe. He was a very good boy that left a foster home of 5 dogs. Though he loves his mommy and daddy very much, he often sits by the door, window, or on the balcony looking for a friendly canine face.


On October 19, 2008, Boscoe's daddy came home early from work around 2:00 p.m. Before saying hi to mommy or Boscoe, he went to the back door and went out to the balcony. He said, "Boscoe, come here and look at the other baby bull outside."

That's when Boscoe saw the pit bull that would soon become his sidekick, Rocco. (Pronounced Rock-Oh.)


Boscoe and Rocco went for a walk later that evening with both their dads, marking their territories and running around Heritage Loop.

Tune in next time to see more Adventures of Boscoe the dog and his sidekick Rocco.

(P.s. Rocco looks pretty tough, but he's just a muscular dog. Some APBT are just built that way without any training or fighting in their lifetime.)

Daddy, Mommy, Cow and baby

We went to go get the truck wen Carl got off work last night and I almost fell out of the passeger seat of my car when I saw THIS!



All things wonderful...it's the least I've see it since 2007! Is yours even lower where you're at?!

When we got home, we started off the evening with yummy corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner (We weren't together for St. Patrick's Day and well, corned beef and cabbage is always really appetizing to both Carl and myself, so we feasted on Irish tradition. We have this condition that we call I-can't-wait-itis where we eat traditional meals at awkward times. What can I say? Carl married a Christmas in June kinda gal...



Then daddy wrestled with Boscoe and the baby....HIS baby...we bought Boscoe a backpack so that he could burn off some extra energy. APBT's have a lot of energy and we usually take him on a mile walk when Carl gets home. HOWEVER, he still runs around the house like a banshee when we get home, so we bought a sport pack and were going to put my little 5 lb weights to it...HE WAS NOT HAING ANY OF THAT!

I chased him a round th house for half an hour and I was getting really frustrated because he wasn't listening to me. Turns out he just REALLY hates it. He sits, rolls over, crawls and always DOWN when he's told so I was getting hurt that he wouldn't sit still for he backpack. I assume it might be because his previous owners (Before he was taken in by his awesome foster parets through HPPL) maybe tried to train or fight him (He's scared bout random thigs.)

I just wanted to share the awesome pictures of Boscoe, his baby and daddy! He was plum tuckered out after the aformentioned hot pursuit!

My Bark-day

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to me!!!

Introducing the newest memeber of our family!!!

Boscoe Brauning

Radio

I heard on the Radio the Top 10 most agressive dog breeds list of 2008.

10.) German Shepards
9.) Border Collie
8.) English Cocker Spaniel
7.) Beagle
6.) Pit Bull
5.) Australian Cattle Dog
4.) Akita
3.) Chihuahua
2.) Jack Russell Terriers
1.) Doxen (Weiner Dog)

I personally really like Pit Bulls, but they are on #6 on the list. Rotweilers are not. Interesting huh? I had a friend growing up with Weiner Dogs. I don't remember them being that bad, Chihuahuas are on the upper of my most annoying list.

The End.