Still Alive

Hola, hola!  Yes, once again I have been MIA from my lil 'ol blog but I had no choice.  I think I have mentioned before that our home computer is a little on the old and slow side.  Then upgrades or whatever happened on Google's end did not allow me to edit my photos in Picnik via Picasa because again my computer was not able to hang.  Long story and a very frustrating one but I'm back and I can't wait to share with you all what I did over the Christmas break.  I helped my grandmother, aka Güela, make tamales.  Yes, one of the many beautiful Mexican traditions especially at Christmas.  Here is a sneak peek of our work.

Oh and why am I back now you ask?  Okay, maybe you didn't but my oh-so-handsome and wonderful-out-of-this-world hubby bought me a MacBook for Christmas!  He totally had me fooled.  Oh how I love him so.  Mama is happy and even happier to blog from my own bed if I please.  Oh happy day.  :)

Texas Proud {Dallas Cowboys Stadium}

Good day, fabulous people.  Today I am going to kick off my new little series I like to call Texas Proud.  I am a native Texan loud and proud.  I say y'all instead of you all and most times my multi-word sentences sound like one word.  Jueat?  = Did you eat?  Yacomin? = Are y'all coming?  I never knew "we" spoke that way until it was jokingly pointed to me one day.  Heehee.

So today I am going to brag about the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  Ah, yes that was one tough loss this past weekend but we still root for them.  :)

Oh this place that good 'ol Jerry built is grand and to sum up my reaction when we first walked in - WOW.  First, let me begin by saying that the mister, kids and I visited Cowboys Stadium for the very first time on November 4-5, 2011 for a Scout Sleepover and Rally Day.  Personally, I have never been to a Dallas Cowboys football game.  I have whined plenty about never going to one but I have yet to attend an actual game.  Still waiting to go to a game.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  Until then, I continue to watch them from my 'ol tube.  Okay, enough about moi on to the real stuff.  My son is a Cub Scout and Cowboys Stadium was having their second annual Scout Sleepover.  Sleepover as in all Scouts and their guests got to sleep on the field.  My boy and the mister were over the moon excited! Here is all that they go to do on Friday night.

• Guided Tour of Cowboys Stadium
• Movie (Despicable Me) on the HD Video Board & popcorn
• Football drills on the field
• Fitness activities lead by NIKE Fit Club
• Dinner and a light breakfast
• Commemorative photo
• Scout patch for the brag vest

Here is the Friday night action:

Amanda Guerra with DFW's NBC5 was there to do a live report during the 10 p.m. broadcast.  My boy was able to squeeze in for a little bit of camera time. 

While the mister and our boy were having their fun filled evening inside Jerry's place, my girl had quite the meltdown because she wanted to join in on the fun.  I had already made previous plans to stay with my cousin until we joined them the following morning.  So what did I do to cheer her up?  I took her over to the pro shop after saying our goodbyes in hopes of finding something pink in the kids section.  Well duh how could I forget about a cheerleader unfiorm?  I found a supa dupa cute DCC uniform with pom poms and she was once again a happy little princess.  I too was giddy and could not wait to put it on her the next morning.

I suited her up and she was too adorbs.  See for ya self. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were very, very nice and professional.  One of the reasons they are the best!  :)

A good day was had by all at Cowboys Stadium.  We had fun playing and running around the field.  I can actually say that I got to play catch with my boy on the same field Tony Romo throws touchdown passes. I think that is what my husband enjoyed the most- playing football with our son in Cowboys Stadium.  Too cool.  I was impressed with that big-o facility and the entire staff was Texas friendly and very professional.  We were asked a few times if we were having a good time by different staff members.  Oh yes, we will be back next year.  Maybe my girl and I will camp out with the boys... um not!  I heard it was a little chilly in there. 

I love this last picture.  The football player in front (my boy), followed by his number one fan and cheerleader (my girl) with the head coach (my hubby) behind them.  Love!  :)

Tortellini Soup {Recipe}

It is that time of year to start kicking it up a notch in the kitchen.  Here in Texas we are just starting to get some cool weather and then other days it's in the 80's.  Yeah, we like it like that.  :)

So I started looking through my recipes and came across one I discovered last year and it instantly became one of my favorites: Tortellini Soup. 

I found the original recipe at Allrecipes but I have tweaked it a bit and sometimes I choose to add Italian sausage to the soup.  I absolutely fell in love with this soup and it tickles me pink that my kids eat it up and I don't get any complaints from them.  Although sometimes the hubby will grunt when I choose to omit the Italian sausage.  I tell ya, that man has to have meat in every meal. 

So here goes the recipe!
Ingredients: (or as Teresa from RHONJ says, ingredienteses)

• 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped in quarters
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic,minced
• ½ tsp dried basil
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 5 cups beef stock or broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 8 oz cheese tortellini
• Parmesan cheese shavings

Directions:
-In a large stock pot, saute the onions in the olive oil for about 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute or two.

-Next add the beef stock/broth, water, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, carrots, basil and oregano.  Bring to a boil,  reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

-After 30 minutes add the zucchini, tortellini, green bell pepper and parsley.  Add salt and pepper to you liking. I add about three pinches of kosher salt and a pinch of pepper.

-Simmer for another 10 minutes or so and then your soup is done.

-I like to use my potato peeler to shave some Parmesan cheese once I serve each individual bowl. Serve with some delish garlic bread and you've got yourself one comfy hearty meal.

Oh believe me it is delish!  And I know you noticed my fancy smanchy garlic bread.  You see, by the time I was ready to sit down and have my bowl of soup; I discovered that all of the garlic bread had been eaten.  So Mom (that be me) had to toast a slice of bread, spread some butter and season it. Such is life.  :)

A Special 'Handmade' Thanksgiving Wreath

Hello, hello.  It has been a while and I'm sawy.  I have been super busy lately and lots of holiday stuff is sneaking up on moi.  As I said before, everyday I'm shuffa-ling!

Okay, so Thanksgiving is a little over a week away and I finally finally made a very simple wreath for my door.  I wanted a wreath using the hand traced cut outs of my kids' hands.  After some world wide web searching for ideas I decided to use my kids hands as the feathers of a turkey.  So this is what I created:

As you can imagine, it was very simple to do except it took a little bit of time making the turkeys.  Other than that it was easy to put together.

I made the turkeys using:

• soft foam sheets: red, orange, brown, beige
• yellow, white and black card stock
• adhesive pop-ups
• glue and hot glue gun

Step 1:
I traced the hands of my boy and girl on each sheet.

Oh yes that is a Dallas Cowboys pencil I am using.  Loyal fan for-eva!

Step 2:
After tracing their hands, I cut them each out and used one set for each turkey (a totoal of four hands for each turkey). 

Step 3:
I placed each hand cut out on top of one another until it formed the feather formation I liked.  I glued each one together with my hot glue gun.  For the bodies of the turkeys, I used a small bowl and a cup to trace and cut out from the brown foam sheet. Again, I glued the bodies to the feathers with my hot glue gun.

Step 4:
I made the eyes the same way I did my halloween treat bags.  I used the the white card stock and black pop-ups on the bigger turkey; and the black card stock and white pop-ups on the smaller one.
As for the nose, I just snipped a corner off of some yellow card stock and voila I had me some noses.

Step 5:
After my turkey assembly, I grabbed my wreath and glued on some dried natural grass to create a nest.  Glued my birds on top of that and then decorated it with fall floral picks.  I added some ribbon to hang it up and I was done.  Although I need to learn how to properly make a bow. No, I don't know how to make one.  Gasp!

My first Thanksgiving wreath and it has a special 'hand' made touch.  I love it.  Next year I'll add a couple of improvements but for now I am content and so happy that I was able to incorporate my babies hands.  Happy Mama.  :)

I'm linking up with these fab bloggers:

A Verry Merry Vintage Style * Sugar Bee Crafts * A Diamond in the Stuff

Night Owl Crafting * Ginger Snap Crafts * Organize and Decorate Everything

Creations by Kara * A Place Called Home * The DIY Showoff

Tatertots & Jello * Craft-o-Maniac * One Artsy Mama * Sew Woodsy

Save Thanksgiving!



source

Yes, let us save Thanksgiving.  After all, it is the holiday where we stop and says thanks for the blessings in our lives.  I am with Nordstrom, take it one holiday at a time.  Why the rush for Christmas already?  Actually that is a question that I asked back in August when I first saw the Christmas decorations on store shelves.  Really?

It irks me that Thanksgiving is pretty much skipped over and that most, if not all, autumn and Thanksgiving merchandise is already on clearance.  The only good thing about that is that you can get your turkey and fall leaf decor at a great price.  I mean, again, Thanksgiving is about being thankful for many reasons and retailers are telling us to ignore it and concentrate on Santa.  Oh that's another pet peeve of mine.  Retailers shove Christmas down your throat starting in late summer yet quickly shut'er down come December 26.  Wrong.  Christmas is not over until January 6th.  That is when I stop celebrating and then take my tree down on January 7th.

I know I am not the only that is irked and bother by this.  RespecttheBird on Twitter even started the appropriate hashtag #savethanksgiving.  The radio station 105.1 Jack FM out of Kansas has also started their own coalition.  Good for them! Really, I can't be the only one that feels this way.  Yes, I have started my Christmas shopping but not the decorating.  It is not time.  I am still enjoying my pumpkins, fall leaves and all things turkey decor and food.  I am saving Thanksgiving.  Who's with me?  :)