Chihuaha Escape

Check out this funny video of an escape attempt by a Chihuahua.  I guarantee it'll make you laugh!

Cooking Thursday

Do you like meatball subs?  We do too, so I was intrigued when I saw a recipe that claimed to have meatball sun flavor in a casserole form.  Heather and I really liked it, Bob said it was ok but felt the bread was a little soggy.  I think the bun of a meatball sub is a little soggy too and it goes with the territory.

Anyway- here's a unique casserole dish!

For more recipes, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

Meatball Sub Casserole

1 loaf Italian bread, cut into 1" slices

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1-lb. pkg. frozen meatballs, thawed
28-oz. jar pasta sauce
1 c. water

 Arrange bread slices in a single layer in an ungreased 13"x9" baking pan; set aside. In a bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise and seasonings; spread over bread slices. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese; set aside. Gently mix together meatballs, spaghetti sauce and water; spoon over cheese. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Cute idea

Did you ever hear the quote "Grandchildren are flowers in the garden of life"?  The son-in-law of one of our residents put that quote into action and made a grandchildren flower pot to hang outside her window.

He cut each of these flowers out of metal, attached them to a thin rod and added leaves.  He has one flower for each child, grandchild and even a few great-grandchildren.  Then each of them decorated their flower.  The paint is baked on so it's safe to be out in the weather.
 

Here's a close up of some of the flowers.
What a wonderful thing for her to see hanging outside her window!

Getting Bigger!

Our Alaina is no longer looking like a baby, but a toddler. She's 16 months old and just keeps growing. She was with us again on Friday night and Saturday - something we all look forward to.

Grandpa loves to play with her!

 

 Isn't she getting big?

 Her hair is growing too - there's just enough for some little pigtails.
She was having fun crawling under the piano bench.

I found this cute little rocking chair in an antique store last week.  Bob did some work on it to make it sturdy and now she has her own chair to sit in when she comes over. 

*sorry if this is showing up numerous times in your Google Reader - I'm having trouble with the pictures showing up!

The advantages of group travel

A friend sent me an e-mail with these cute Belgian ads, touting the benefits of group travel.

Here's a short clip to make you smile!

Cooking Thursday

At our house we have some routines when it comes to meals.  On Saturday night, we usually have pizza of some sort, and on Sunday night we have some type of a hot sandwich - BBQ, pulled pork, paninis...
So, I always enjoy finding a new recipe for a sandwich, and this is one we tried out last week and enjoyed!
For more recipes, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

Crock Pot Grinders

1 round loaf Artisan Italian bread
provolone cheese
sliced turkey
sliced ham
sliced beef
thinly sliced onions and peppers - optional
olive oil
oregano and basil

Slice bread, leaving 1 inch unsliced at bottom.  Layer cheese, top with meat and veggies and sprinkle with seasonings.  Fold each cheese and meat packet in half and tuck into every other slice of bread.
Wrap tightly with aluminum foil, and then wrap again.
Place a small aluminum pie plate in crock pot, or make several balls of foil and place on bottom of crock pot.
Pour about 1/2 cup water into crock pot and place wrapped sandwich on top of pie plate or foil balls.
Bake on low for about 2 hours.
When ready to serve, cut each sandwich apart and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Message board mirror

Can you see the writing on this mirror?

 I thought I would share a little thing we do at our house.  Maybe you do something similar...

I read once that you could use dry erase markers on your mirrors, so I bought a pack of 4 colors.

When it's someones birthday, a happy birthday message is written on one of the bathroom mirrors.  Depending on whose birthday it is, I add other fun things likes hearts and flowers with some of the other colors.  It's fun to get up on your birthday and find a message when you start to get ready.

The next day, the message can be wiped off with a paper towel!

Oh Valentine tree?

How do you like this tree?

It's in the room of one of our residents, where it's been for over a year.

Her son put it up last Christmas, had it decorated very nicely and she loved it.  She didn't want it taken down after Christmas so he strung a heart garland and called it a valentine tree.  It had a few themes through the year, and has now gone full circle, once again celebrating Christmas and now Valentines day.  She's in a private room so there's room for the tree and she enjoys it, so that's all that matters.

This lady has been through quite a bit in her life, not the least of which was being in a concentration camp in WWII.  She is originally from Austria and was in the camp as a very young girl.

You may notice the flag on the picture next to the tree.  Her son says she always had a flag in her room, so when she woke up in the morning, she was immediately reminded that she was in the United States.

When she was younger, she went to schools and talked about her experiences.  She has dementia now and although she still remembers things, her memory is dimmer and she doesn't talk about it anymore.

It really is amazing to hear some of the stories of our residents.

Testing Pinterest

Here's an idea I saw on Pinterest.   Put a few strips of wood on the inside of a cabinet door, then screw in some eye hooks.  You can then hang measuring cups and spoons from them.  This space is usually not used and it makes these items easily accessible.

Bob did this for me a few months ago and the only downside I've found is the noise it makes if I open the door too quickly.  Other than that, it's cleared a little spot in the cabinet and made these items easy to grab.

Happy Birthday to Heather!

Heather with 2 of her favorite things - Alaina and our cat Oliver.

 Heather is our Valentine baby - we say she's the best valentine we ever got! We always tease her that she was stubborn and made my labor long, just so she could be born on Valentines day.  She was born at 12:08 in the morning.
Heather - you are a joy to us.  Wishing you a wonderful birthday and a blessed year!
 

Wordless Wednesday

 Every year this family builds a giant snowman.  This year they added something - I think it's a deer.  I'm wondering how long it took to build both?

Enough, already!

I've told you about the crazy winter we've been having.  Last week we had a few days of relief from the snow before it hit hard on Thursday.  Here's a before and after shot from our yard.

We have this glass globe hanging near our front walk and driveway.  I took this picture on Wednesday because I liked the way the snow looked piled up on the globe.

And here's the same spot on Friday:

We got about 9 inches of snow from Thursday to Friday morning.  The globe is now covered and only the top of the post is showing.  The snow is a little deeper here because of extra from the driveway, but there's still a lot of snow out there!  I'm ready for Spring.  :)

Random post...

I missed you all last week.  My computer is back and working well! After dealing with crazy pop ups and it running very slowly, it's a relief to have it back to normal.

In other news from last week, my sister and I had to bring my Dad back to the ER again.  He was feeling crummy, short of breath and his heartbeat was irregular.  They tried several medications, but ended up having to shock his heart back into the correct rhythm.  It's amazing to see how quickly he feels better once that is corrected.  They let him go back home that night and he had several tests done this week.  We're hoping that when he goes back to the specialist next week, they'll have a plan to help.  Having this happen monthly doesn't seem like a good thing.

Alaina spent the night here Friday.  Our cat Oliver is already tormented when she comes over because she chases him every time he gets near her.  This time she threw his toys off his bed and decided to sit on it.  Good thing he really isn't too fond of it anyway.

 

I saw this cool rainbow spot in the sky on Saturday.  I've heard them called sundogs and they happen when the sun shines on ice crystals in a cloud.  They're not quite like seeing a rainbow, but are still pretty fun!

And the snow continued last week....   I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.

A week of crazy Michigan weather

We've had such crazy weather in Michigan this winter. We usually have a lot of snow by January, but this year we had only a dusting until last week when I shared these pictures with you.  That was on Monday.  On Tuesday the temperatures went up, the snow melted and we got fog, lots of fog!  These pictures were taken at about 1pm, and it continued to get foggier until late in the night when it started to rain.  It was crazy having thunderstorms in January!

My neighbors farm

I thought this drive looked a little creepy with the hand lettered keep out and the fog.

You can hardly see the road!

Down my road, the fog hangs over a field.

So, this was Tuesday.  On Wednesday the temperatures dropped again and it started snowing.  By Thursday it was pretty nasty out and Friday all the schools around were cancelled.  

This picture was taken of a picnic table at work on Friday.  All this snow fell since Wednesday and it's been falling since then.
I think I've seen enough for this year!

On another note - my computer is acting up and I think it's time to take it in for a check up.  I won't be around till it comes back unless I borrow Bob's or Heathers.
See you when I return!

Sad Anniversary

Last month we marked another year of legalized abortion.  The number of babies that have been aborted since Roe vs. Wade is astounding and hard to comprehend.  I recently saw this clip that puts those numbers into perspective in a powerful way and had to share it.