New Love Without Boundaries Video

I love this new video from Love Without Boundaries. As the Christmas season is fast approaching, I would like to suggest a perfect gift for all those people in your life who have everything. How about a gift of a full tummy for a baby in China. Emma was sponsored in Foster Care and Kindergarten through LWB - after reading through her paperwork, we can see that this program made a world of difference to her. Without LWB Emma probably wouldn't have been deemed adoptable. Here's a link to the holiday card that will be sent for a donation. LWB
If you would like to see some wonderful pictures and read some inspiring posts - here is a link to the LWB blog. The LWB team visited many of the foster programs and they are preparing for cleft surgeries. The post from Oct 29 is hilarious - in fact it reminds me of my friend Stacy. She told a great story about how her second husband gave her an ultimatum over their dog. It was either the dog or him. She looked him in the eye and said "You know, I always really liked that dog!" Guess we could file that away in the top ten ways to know your marriage is over.

New Book

I found the coolest new book today. It is called Skipper's Revenge. It is funny and cute. It really hit home for me because I never owned a Barbie doll either. I had two Skipper dolls and they were definitely wallflowers!!LOL!! Anyway - take a look at the first chapter - its free and the whole Skipper's raft thing is way worth it!

Tuesday Musings

Tonight I got a rotisserie chicken from Jim's for dinner. Foolishly I thought I would be able to use the leftovers to make soup. The kids were still asking for more chicky bone and all that was left was a bare carcass. Guess its time to start getting two chickens for dinner!
After dinner, the culinary crew took over to make some pumpkin pies. They worked very hard and the pies are now baking in the oven.


Here is a recipe that I am looking forward to trying. I found it on one of the yahoo groups that I belong to.

Slow-Cooked Chicken & Dumplings

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 11 hr min
Makes: 6 servings, about 1-3/4 cups each

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
2-1/2 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 cups each chopped onions, celery and carrots
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
3/4 cup hot water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
COMBINE chicken, broth, onions, celery and carrots in slow cooker; cover
with lid.
COOK on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (or on HIGH for 3-1/2 hours).
ADD peas and cream cheese spread; stir until well blended. Mix stuffing mix,
water and eggs until well blended. Drop stuffing mixture, 2 heaping
tablespoonfuls
at a time, onto chicken mixture in slow cooker. Cook, covered, on HIGH 30
min. Gently turn over dumplings. Cook, covered, an additional 15 min.

Retakes

I had Ethan and Emma do retakes for their school pictures. I went to school with them and made like a monkey to get them to smile. I am pleased with the results - these two photos look more like my young'uns!

How Many of Me?

This is something kind of interesting that a friend of mine sent me the other day. I have a much more popular married name than single name. I think there were only 8 Janice Herold's listed! There is only one Bailey Dennis listed! How cool is that!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 134 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Happy Peak of The Week!

Tonight I made the most sinful, decadent cinnamon rolls. I used the recipe from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. I think I used up 3 boxes of butter. I am going to be really evil and send a couple in with Rod for Heather & Darla. I think they would count as 2000 points apiece on Weight Watchers!!! I made them to send with Rod to Deer Camp. The recipe made 4 cake pans full - I wonder if there will be anything left after the kids hit them for breakfast in the morning. I should probably send in cards to their teachers apologizing for all the sugar in the morning. Either that or I will give them some Diet Pepsi to go with the cinnamon rolls and send them off with an evil laugh.
My niece Jenni is having surgery tomorrow. We are thinking about you sister!!! We love you - the kids made you a get well card and I have a little pillow you can use as you heal up! Let me know if you want cinnamon rolls! We can whip up another batch just for you.

My Apologies

Ok, its been almost a month since my last post. Trying to come up with a reason for not posting - so take your pick from the following: 1) I turned 43 and suffered a massive breakdown because now I am officially old; 2) Our family has gone through a torrent of disease - coughs, colds, runny nose, vomiting, upset stomach, diarrhea; 3) I dropped my laptop, broke it and have been in mourning; 4) I've fallen under a moutain of laundry and I can't get up! If you picked any of the above, you are a winner!!!! Actually my age really doesn't bother me - unless I look in a mirror, try to get up too fast or stay up too late. One good thing about the whole laptop thing is that I took out laptop insurance for a year because I was afraid that something would happen to it on our trip to China - after all I dropped my camera on our 2nd day in China during our first trip - right there on the Great Wall!!!
Since my last post, Ben turned 6. He had a great birthday. We had a little swim party for him with some of his little friends. He is getting so tall and grown up.
I also wanted to say Happy Birthday to my friend Judi. Her birthday was September 15. I am terrible with cards but I do think of you every year when the 15th roles around and I remember the "traveling birthday party." We went to school with a class of 9 kids. Three of us had birthdays close together and we would have sleepover parties first at my house, then at Judi's and finally at Lyndee's house. We were quite the little cliche! So Happy Belated Birthday Judi!!
Tonight we went to Open House at the Elementary School. The kids were so excited to show us their rooms and where they sit! They are all having a good time at school. Here are their school pictures. I am going to get retakes of Ethan and Emma - I think I will go to school with them and see if I can get them to smile!!!
Our newest obsession is with our bread machine! The kids are eating up the loaves of bread as fast as I can churn them out. Here is a recipe for a whole wheat loaf that I made yesterday. It lasted through breakfast this morning. Very dense and moist. So here is my penance for nonblogging. This recipe if from the Hillbilly Housewife website.

Honey Wheat Bread
2 lb loaf

1-1/2 cups warm tap water
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Measure the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed. Make a well in the flour and sprinkle the yeast into it. Set the machine to it's Whole Wheat Cycle. On my machine this lasts for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Press Start, and let the machine work it's magic. Remove the cooked bread from the pan after baking and allow it to cool before slicing. Makes a 2 lb loaf.

This is my kids favorite whole wheat bread. The honey makes it very sweet, and soft. This bread lasts longer than some machine made breads before going stale. The honey acts as a natural preservative.