Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

The recipe I'm sharing with you today is one I got from a friend I worked with.  She took it to work, and after that one time, every time we had a potluck, she was asked to bring this.
It's a dip that's filled with good things like cream cheese, bacon, ranch seasoning...  How could you go wrong?

Million Dollar Crack Dip

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 ounce package ranch seasoning
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions, diced
1/8th teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 cup bacon bits

Cream together and chill.  Serve with crackers.

Wordless Wednesday

 A hydrangea left from the summer, covered in some winter attire.

Cassie and Connor come over

Friday was Heather and Andrew's 10th anniversary! We watched the kids while they went out for supper.

Connor has been scared lately, even of us, but he started out ok.

We had pizza for supper which made Cassie happy.

She was also excited about playing with the Lego's

But Connor decided he wasn't too happy with us.  Poor little guy!
And worse than that - Andew wasn't feeling the best so they weren't gone long.
Hopefully the next time they come over, everyone feels better!

Retirement Dinner

You probably remember I retired in November.  The kids wanted to do something like a dinner but we decided to wait until after the holidays because it's just so busy for everyone. We had a date set in January but then one of those winter storms hit and everything was closed, so it was postponed.
We had it this week and had such a nice time!

Our girls and their families were there and so were my sisters, their husbands and my brother.  We missed Andy and Nikki but it would be a long drive from KY!  We had our own room at the restaurant which was very nice.

There was a nice assortment of food, pizza, bread sticks, chicken, veggies...

Our granddaughters were all enjoying the food.

Cassie is always happy to see her cousins

Connor wasn't too sure about all the people as he's at that age where he's scared of people,  but he was happy with his Dad.

Laura and Aaron, Alaina and Ruby on the left, Heather and Andrew, Cassie and Connor on the right.
It may have taken a while to do this but we sure enjoyed it!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Here's a new recipe I tried recently.  We often have a light supper on Sunday night; buns or sandwiches.  This was an easy one to put together and was tasty!

Turkey Bacon Ranch Sliders

1 package potato rolls (12-16)
1/2 pound thinly sliced turkey
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
12 slices colby jack cheese
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon dried garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice open the rolls.  Place the bottoms in a 9x13 pan, set tops aside.
Melt butter and stir in the garlic and onion powder. Brush the bottoms of the rolls with about 1/3 of the butter mixture.
Lay 6 slices of cheese over the rolls in pan, then arrange turkey and the bacon pieces over top.
Drizzle with ranch dressing, then place remaining cheese over top.
Brush another 1/3 of butter mix over the cheese.
Place tops of rolls over top and then cut through turkey and cheese to separate rolls.
Brush remaining butter mix over tops, then sprinkle parmesan cheese over all.
Cover loosely with foil, place in oven for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake another 10 minutes until golden.

Wordless Wednesday

 I am ready for Spring!

Winter, snowmen, fun times!

It's been a long winter for us, seems like a week doesn't go by that we don't have winter storm warnings.  Some are blown out of proportion, but then sometimes they turn out worse than expected.
Here's a cute meme I've been seeing from friends.

There are things to enjoy about winter though.  It can be so beautiful!  And then there are fun things like sledding and snowmen.
When we dropped the girls off on Saturday, they wanted us to see their snowmen.

It's hard to really see them, because they were snowed on so their features aren't very visible.  However, they said this is Mr and Mrs Snowman, and Mrs Snowman is pregnant.  You can see she has a larger stomach!  They said they next time they make snowmen, or snow people, there will be a baby snowperson out there too.  :)

Near their house is this house which builds a huge snowman every winter. The sign next to him says "Receive Jesus and have eternal life".

Those things make me smile in the middle of winter!

On another note, I'll be missing from your blogs today, as I have to have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy Tuesday morning.  Nothing serious, just a check but it will probably have me away from my computer for most of the day.

Valentines Day and the weekend

I hope you all had a nice Valentines Day and a good weekend.
Since we were having Alaina and Ruby overnight on Friday, we went out for a Valentines Breakfast which was a nice treat.

Bob brought me these beautiful roses.

We picked Alaina and Ruby up after school and then went out for supper.  We went to Culvers - their favorite place!

When we got home, they said they had a Valentine present for us. They made these tiny envelopes, and each one has a message in it.

We can open one every morning for a while.  Here's our first message.  We'll so enjoy this!

We decided to make a valentines treat, so we made Hershey Kiss cookies, rolled in red sugar.  Here's my helpers opening the kisses, and maybe eating a few!

Don't they look festive?

After cookie making we watched a movie.  We watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - a classic by CS Lewis.  We all loved it but in the middle of watching we had to stop for a few minutes for this:

Ruby had a tooth that was loose and she was totally focused on it. Grandma gave a tiny tug and it was out!  Then we went back to the movie.

After breakfast on Saturday, they got out Mario Kart Wii which is always a favorite.

Then they went downstairs and helped Bob a little bit with this hard puzzle.  It's all black, white and gray.  When finished it's showing the golden spike - finishing the intercontinental railway. Bob said he was telling them how hard this puzzle was, and they started picking up pieces and putting them in without much difficulty...  Oh well!  My friend Karen, from Life is Good is always working on puzzles, so seeing them do this, made me think of her.

I had been making soup, and when I came down, they were playing in the playhouse Bob made for our kids when they were young.  Alaina and Ruby don't play in it much anymore, but Cassie loves it!

Then it was time for our craft.  We made macrame bracelets.

Here's Ruby helping Alaina.

and Bob helping Ruby.

Some finished bracelets!  They did really good once they figured out the macrame knots.

They were happy with their projects!

We had lunch and then played Wahoo which they love.  Last time I posted a picture of this, lots of people asked about it.  I think it's an old fashioned version of Aggravation.  Bob's family used this board when he was young.

Then it was time to go home.  They took home the tooth that came out, cookies and bracelets! It was another fun sleepover!

Friday Funny

Happy Valentines Day!

 

Cooking Thursday

Bob is a big fan of Italian sausage and peppers so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.  It's a simple recipe that can be used several ways, and is filled with browned sausages, onions, peppers and a yummy sauce that cooks in the crockpot.  Yum!

Italian Sausage and Peppers

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian Sausage, cut in half or into slices per your preference
1 onion, halved and slice
2 green peppers, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
15 ounces crushed tomatoes
15 ounces tomato sauce
Drizzle a small amount oil in frying pan and heat, add sausages and brown, turning to brown all side.  Sausage does not have to be cooked all the way through, just browned for flavor.
Place browned sausage into crock pot.
Add onions to pan and saute for 3-4 minutes.  Add to crock pot.
Add peppers to pan, may add a little more oil if needed. Saute for 4 minutes, then add garlic and saute for another minute.  Place peppers and garlic into crock pot.
Add red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce to crock pot. Stir and cook on low for about 6 hours until sausage are very tender.
Serve plain with a side dish of vegetables, or on a bun with provolone cheese, or over pasta.
Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

 

I'm Feeling Old!

My body keeps reminding me that I'm getting older.  I have crazy aches and pains and certainly don't have the ambition I used to have.  Then I see things like this on the internet that really shock me!
I think that if I'm feeling old, I should share with you so you can feel it with me!

• Snoopy is 75 this year.
• Bonanza premiered 65 years ago.
• The Beatles split 55 years ago.
• Laugh-In premiered 56 years ago.
• The Wizard of Oz is 85 years old.
• Elvis died 47 years ago and would be 89 today.
• The Thriller video is 41 years old.
• John Lennon has been dead for 44 years.
• Mickey Mantle retired 56 years ago.
• Back to the Future is 40 years old.
• Saturday Night Fever is 47 years old.
• The Ed Sullivan Show ended 52 years ago.
• The Brady Bunch premiered 55 years ago.
• The Triplets on My Three Sons are 55 years old.
• Tabitha from Bewitched is 60 years old.
• The Corvette turned 71 this year.
• The Mustang is 60.

Can you believe this?  And now, do you feel old too?   

Weekend report

I hope you all had a nice weekend!  We had a full weekend and I thought I'd share some of it with you.

On Friday night, we had a women's event at our church.  Our Pastor retired recently and we have a new Pastor.  He and his wife, Hannah have a lovely young family.  A few of us set up a ladies night so Hannah could get to know some of the women.

We had coffee and dessert and played some get to know you games.

I made a bunch of these little arrangements for the tables. 

Here's Hannah at the entry table.  We had a really nice evening.

On Saturday, we went to see our grandkids and bring them little Valentine goody bags.

Here's Cassie showing me one of the things in her bag.

And here's Connor checking out a little book that was in his bag.

Next stop was to see Alaina and Ruby.

There's a large Assisted Living Facility near Alaina and Ruby's house and we stopped to see this ice "sculpture".  They set up a mister which is constantly going and creates this as it freezes.  As you can see by the two story building behind it, it has gotten quite large in the cold weather!

On Sunday we went to friends after church and had a yummy meal and a fun time together!

Now it's Sunday night and I know the Superbowl is going on, but we aren't football people, so we've been watching British tv, one of our favorites!
What a nice weekend!

Friday Funny