is a lot actually! ;o)
Let's start with what Darly got for me...
I asked my friend Marsi if she wouldn't mind taking Darly shopping because when DH takes her, he waits until the week before Christmas and only takes her to one store (luckily it isn't a convenience store!) for her to get me something. Marsi was happy to do it, so we planned which stores Darly wanted to shop at and I got her gift cards for those stores. I thought the cards would be easier than money to deal with. Darly was a very good shopper and got me some wonderful gifts!
She got me some nice fleece pajama pants, fuzzy purple squishy slippers, a pair of fuzzy slipper socks with rabbits on them (each sock has a plush rabbit at the top that you slip your foot through...so it is kinda like wearing rabbit slippers!), purple fuzzy slipper socks and a nice pair of ear rings.
Dh wasn't too bad in the shopping department either this year. Mind you, I did give him a list...but it on had two items on it and he got me some extra.
He got me a pack of Hanes comfort t-shirts (because I always borrow his!), a Blue Collar Comedy Tour DVD (no idea what he was thinking there!), a US Flag that was flown over the headquarters in Iraq in honor of US Veterans, a pair of Isotoner gloves (item from my list) and a anniversary ring (also on my list!)
I've been bugging DH for an anniversary ring for years and he's always said that I could have one for the traditional diamond anniversary year... that's 60 if you're keeping track of things! However, I explained to him that this ring was necessary because here in Colorado my fingers shrink up, (are smaller at the base than at my knuckles) which causes my engagement ring to spin around on my finger and the stones to poke me rather painfully. So I don't wear my engagement ring all that often...unless we go out of state. They fit fine just about everywhere else. I think it's a water retention thing or something. I also figured I deserved one after the last 7 months.
I guess that DH must have figured I deserved it too as the house is still standing, and when I showed him the ring I was interested in it wasn't a fortune. So under the tree this year was my nice new ring.
Right now my ring is at the jeweler's getting resized as they don't really make rings small enough for my tiny fingers. I can only buy rings for my pointer fingers that are "off the shelf" or a size 6. Everything else has to be sized down for me. What I don't like is that we get charged for this...they get to keep the extra gold. oh well... I'll be calling today to see if it is ready, it was supposed to be done by yesterday.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Rosarita Salsa Blog Tour
The story of a dinner that didn’t end up on Failblog! ;o)
As many of you know, I suffer the indignity of living with two very picky eaters. The stuff these two won’t eat is just surprising. So perhaps you can imagine my distress when I was asked to try out the new line of Rosarita Salsa… in a recipe! Normally around there the most we do with our salsa is to put it on top of rice with some cheese (dipping tortillia chips into is a normal thing though.)
Luckily the good folks at Rosarita were nice enough to send me a few recipes that I could try the salsa with…and they looked like they might be something I could get my picky eaters to try.
Enchiladas Verdes – Green enchiladas
Spicy Chicken Tostadas
Well the verdict was… it’s YUMMY! They both loved it and so did I. They of course didn’t eat extra salsa on the chicken, but they did put the salsa on the rice. I had a bag of tortilla chips out too for them to dip into the salsa. Now I need to try the Salsa Verde! :D
Here’s what the folks at Rosarita would like you to know…
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
As many of you know, I suffer the indignity of living with two very picky eaters. The stuff these two won’t eat is just surprising. So perhaps you can imagine my distress when I was asked to try out the new line of Rosarita Salsa… in a recipe! Normally around there the most we do with our salsa is to put it on top of rice with some cheese (dipping tortillia chips into is a normal thing though.)
Luckily the good folks at Rosarita were nice enough to send me a few recipes that I could try the salsa with…and they looked like they might be something I could get my picky eaters to try.
Enchiladas Verdes – Green enchiladas
Ingredients
• PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 jar (16.8 oz each) Rosarita® Medium Salsa Verde, divided
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
• 12 corn tortillas (6 inch)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/4 cup of the salsa over bottom of dish; set aside.
2. Combine chicken, 1/2 cup of the salsa and 1/2 cup of the cheese in medium bowl; mix well. Set aside.
3. Spray both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray. Heat one at a time in skillet over medium-high heat on both sides until slightly puffy and softened.
4. Top each tortilla evenly with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture; roll up. Place seam-side down in prepared baking dish. Cover with the remaining salsa; sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.
5. Bake 30 minutes or until cheese melts and sauce is bubbly.
Cook's TipsOr I could try
1. For delicious Enchiladas Suizas, drizzle with Mexican cream. As an alternative, serve with sour cream.
Spicy Chicken Tostadas
IngredientsHowever, when it came down to cooking time, I ended up doing a variation on a Salsa Chicken recipe that I found online. See I had a raw chicken in the frig that I needed to use up with no time to cook and shred it…so instead I put my cut up chicken in a baking dish, covered it with salsa and baked it at 425 for 40 min (turning it over at 20 min). I cooked up a pot of rice to serve with it (adding 1 tbsp of beef bouillon per cup of water, onion and butter). I figured that worst case my picky folks could eat the rice.
• 1 can (16 oz each) Rosarita® Traditional Refried Beans
• 12 tostada shells, heated according to package directions
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 4 cups thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup Rosarita® Hot Salsa Taquera or Rosarita® Mild Salsa Mexicana
• 1 cup crumbled queso fresco cheese
• Fresh avocado, peeled and sliced, optional
Directions
1. Place beans in medium microwave-safe bowl. Cover; microwave on HIGH 3 minutes or until hot.
2. Spread each tostada shell evenly with beans. Top each with chicken, lettuce, salsa and cheese.
3. Serve with avocado slices, if desired.
Well the verdict was… it’s YUMMY! They both loved it and so did I. They of course didn’t eat extra salsa on the chicken, but they did put the salsa on the rice. I had a bag of tortilla chips out too for them to dip into the salsa. Now I need to try the Salsa Verde! :D
Here’s what the folks at Rosarita would like you to know…
Rosarita, maker of the #1 selling refried beans in the United States, is excited to introduce our new authentic Mexican salsas! Available in three distinct and flavorful varieties, Rosarita Salsa is more than a dip – it’s an ideal topper and ingredient for creating any authentic Mexican dish.
Rosarita Salsa comes in three authentic flavors
Mild Salsa Mexicana – a mild Mexican salsaMake sure you go check out www.Rosarita.com for more yummy recipes! They have a very nice recipe search there!
Medium Salsa Verde – a zesty, green salsa
Hot Salsa Taquera – a hot, spicy Mexican taco salsa
Rosarita Salsa is made in Mexico using only the best ingredients, giving it the authentic flavor, spice and heat of a homemade salsa.
Rosarita Salsa is now available in the Hispanic foods aisle in four cities — LA, Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver at Walmart locations and select grocery stores for the suggested retail price of $2.99 - $3.29 for a 16.75 oz jar.
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Homecomming!
YES! DH is home now (well not RIGHT NOW!) but home from over there!
DH had asked someone from his office to send me his return flight info and she did...but that was it. LOL! DH told me that I should be able to find them at the airport so we could all be together to greet them... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
After DH had passed his job on to the new guy he had quite a bit of free time and was emailing and instant messenger-ing me a lot. It was quite funny as his night was my morning...so he would always sign off "good night! sleep well." and I would of course say "good morning" but he was "talking" to me during his evening before he went to bed.
When it was getting pretty close to time for him to leave I asked if we would be IMing the next day and he ignored the question. So I knew he was leaving the next day. His return trip took a few days, but we knew when he would be home.
So Wednesday (9th) Darly & I headed to the airport. When we got there we learned that the parking area that I was intending to park in was full and we had to park way out in the boonies. The temp was below zero and by the time I got our car parked and locked up we had missed the shuttle to the airport. So we walked. As we approached the next shuttle stop we had also just missed that shuttle...ugh! Well we walked quickly!
When we got inside the terminal we went to the Airlines ticketing to get a pass to go out to the gate. but of course that info isn't posted on a sign anywhere...and I didn't find a "Customer Service" counter anywhere. I had walked past all the lines trying to find a Airlines employee to ask where we were to go and as I headed back I finally saw a gal trying to make sure that folks were in the correct line. I hollered at her from over 3 lines of folks if I could ask her a question. She says I can and as I make my way to her another gal cuts in front of me to ask something. *eyeroll!*
So I finally get to ask this employee ... "My husband is returning from Iraq today. I was told I could get a pass to go meet him at the gate. Can you tell me where I need to go to get that?" As I finish saying that another family meeting their service member had showed up too. This employee says she can help us and directs us to an empty computer to print out our passes. It turned out that the other family's service member was DH's boss.
So next we get to wait to go through security and then take the train to the concourse. When we get to the gate of course there is no arrival info because normally you can't meet folks at the gate. It doesn't even tell you at the gate that the plane is coming from Xcity. So I asked the gate agent while flashing my pass.
We don't notice anyone else at the gate to meet our guys...hummm
The plane finally arrives and starts unloading. DH's boss' family has a "flat daddy" (they took a picture of their service member in uniform and blew it up to life size and mounted it on cardboard...they had been taking it with them all over and taking pictures of them doing stuff with the "flat daddy" in the shots) One of the other passengers notices the "flat daddy" and tells us that our guys are all waiting at the end of the gangway to come out together.
Finally our guys come out of the gangway...and it seems that no one else has noticed (meaning the folks waiting for to board for the next flight) so I started clapping for our guys. You could tell when folks realized what was going on and started joining in. Many folks walked up and thanked our guys and wished them a Merry Christmas.
As we made our way up to baggage claim some of the guys disappeared, so we waited for them all to get back together. Turns out that one of the kids had left his backpack and they had to go back to get it (I was wondering why all those kids had backpacks when they weren't going anywhere??? I never did find out why) So we all rode the train back to the terminal together and everyone else from the office, boy scouts and some veterans were there with flags and welcome home banners!
it was a very respectable welcome home for the guys!
We then had to make our way to the base for DH to fill out all his paperwork. That took a long time because everyone kept coming in to talk to the guys...especially DH because of his position. DH was actually getting a bit annoyed with them.
We finally made it home and let Lilly out into the garage to greet DH. At first she was scared (I think the balloon that DH was holding might have been part of it) but as soon as DH said "Hello Lilly" she knew who this guy was and gave him a proper hello!
DH won't have to go back to work for real until mid Jan. So I should come up with something for us to do or we're going to go nuts!
I've been working on our Christmas cards and we still need to get our family picture taken so I can get the cards printed. I'm hoping to get that all done today. Wish me luck!
DH had asked someone from his office to send me his return flight info and she did...but that was it. LOL! DH told me that I should be able to find them at the airport so we could all be together to greet them... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
After DH had passed his job on to the new guy he had quite a bit of free time and was emailing and instant messenger-ing me a lot. It was quite funny as his night was my morning...so he would always sign off "good night! sleep well." and I would of course say "good morning" but he was "talking" to me during his evening before he went to bed.
When it was getting pretty close to time for him to leave I asked if we would be IMing the next day and he ignored the question. So I knew he was leaving the next day. His return trip took a few days, but we knew when he would be home.
So Wednesday (9th) Darly & I headed to the airport. When we got there we learned that the parking area that I was intending to park in was full and we had to park way out in the boonies. The temp was below zero and by the time I got our car parked and locked up we had missed the shuttle to the airport. So we walked. As we approached the next shuttle stop we had also just missed that shuttle...ugh! Well we walked quickly!
When we got inside the terminal we went to the Airlines ticketing to get a pass to go out to the gate. but of course that info isn't posted on a sign anywhere...and I didn't find a "Customer Service" counter anywhere. I had walked past all the lines trying to find a Airlines employee to ask where we were to go and as I headed back I finally saw a gal trying to make sure that folks were in the correct line. I hollered at her from over 3 lines of folks if I could ask her a question. She says I can and as I make my way to her another gal cuts in front of me to ask something. *eyeroll!*
So I finally get to ask this employee ... "My husband is returning from Iraq today. I was told I could get a pass to go meet him at the gate. Can you tell me where I need to go to get that?" As I finish saying that another family meeting their service member had showed up too. This employee says she can help us and directs us to an empty computer to print out our passes. It turned out that the other family's service member was DH's boss.
So next we get to wait to go through security and then take the train to the concourse. When we get to the gate of course there is no arrival info because normally you can't meet folks at the gate. It doesn't even tell you at the gate that the plane is coming from Xcity. So I asked the gate agent while flashing my pass.
We don't notice anyone else at the gate to meet our guys...hummm
The plane finally arrives and starts unloading. DH's boss' family has a "flat daddy" (they took a picture of their service member in uniform and blew it up to life size and mounted it on cardboard...they had been taking it with them all over and taking pictures of them doing stuff with the "flat daddy" in the shots) One of the other passengers notices the "flat daddy" and tells us that our guys are all waiting at the end of the gangway to come out together.
Finally our guys come out of the gangway...and it seems that no one else has noticed (meaning the folks waiting for to board for the next flight) so I started clapping for our guys. You could tell when folks realized what was going on and started joining in. Many folks walked up and thanked our guys and wished them a Merry Christmas.
As we made our way up to baggage claim some of the guys disappeared, so we waited for them all to get back together. Turns out that one of the kids had left his backpack and they had to go back to get it (I was wondering why all those kids had backpacks when they weren't going anywhere??? I never did find out why) So we all rode the train back to the terminal together and everyone else from the office, boy scouts and some veterans were there with flags and welcome home banners!
it was a very respectable welcome home for the guys!
We then had to make our way to the base for DH to fill out all his paperwork. That took a long time because everyone kept coming in to talk to the guys...especially DH because of his position. DH was actually getting a bit annoyed with them.
We finally made it home and let Lilly out into the garage to greet DH. At first she was scared (I think the balloon that DH was holding might have been part of it) but as soon as DH said "Hello Lilly" she knew who this guy was and gave him a proper hello!
DH won't have to go back to work for real until mid Jan. So I should come up with something for us to do or we're going to go nuts!
I've been working on our Christmas cards and we still need to get our family picture taken so I can get the cards printed. I'm hoping to get that all done today. Wish me luck!
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