Give it a Try!

You guys have motivated me to Post a recipe. This is one of my favorite Fall/Winter soups. It serves a lot so it's great for company.

Ravioli Stew
1# Italian Sausage or ground Beef(it's what's for dinner in my house!)
1 chopped onion
1 jar Ragu Chunky Garden Style(any flavor of your choosing)pasta sauce
1 8oz pkg sliced fresh mushrooms, and 1 large can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes w/Italian seasonings
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can black olives, sliced
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1 sm. pkg pepperoni slices
1 25 oz. bag frozen cheese ravioli
Mozzerella cheese(shredded)

Brown your meat and chopped onions in your favorite large soup pot. Drain thoroughly. Mix the rest of the ingredients in, except ravioli and cheese. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add raviolis. Simmer for 15 mins uncovered or until desired tenderness in raviolis. Serve with shredded mozzerella on top and Enjoy!

I always make a loaf of homemade garlic bread to serve with this. It is great! I hope you guys all enjoy this as much as I have! Also, I use 2# of meat. My beef is in 2# pkgs and my guys like lots of meat!

Rain, Rain Go Away

We are really getting a lot of rain. That peaceful sound tapping on my roof is wonderful. It also makes me want to be at home, baking, taking a nap, reading and doing domestic things! What is it about rain and/or snow that makes a person want to cook something wonderful? Does anyone else have this problem? I'm curious to see what everyone else loves to cook, I'm asking that anyone that reads this to please list 1-2 things that you love to cook. Be prepared...you may be asked to share the recipe! I'm in somewhat of a cooking "rut" so I'm open to new recipes. I made something new last night that JB and I really liked...my boys thought it was awful. Whatever. I'll share it later. Gotta run now. Can't wait to see what everyone else loves to cook!!!

More Pictures

More of the pumpkin patch.














Remember CB's pumpkin creation? It made a perfect Halloween Kitty!




Miss Pearl, the baby Shih-tzu!





















My front porch.























My homemade noodles....drying.

Another Sunday

Miss Piper and her new puppy...Pearl

Piper's Pumpkin was definitely the most trendy!

Mom and her boys...or at least part of one!

CB's creation. I wasn't sure what we would do with it...

Where does a full week go to? That should be the title of my blog since I seem to ask that question about every other post!

Well, here in the Sunflower state the last week flew by...literally, it's been HOT and WINDY here. ICK. Hello...it's October 12th not June 12th. Not often do you go to the Pumpkin Patch in shorts and a tank top and flip flops and still feel Warm. Anyway. We went yesterday. It was sort of a fast trip as we had somewhere to be so we sort of grabbed our punkins, took some pics and vamoosed! I'm sorry to say that the trip to the pumpkin patch was not what I wanted it to be. My boys wanted pumpkins, but they were NOT into taking any pics(another repeat) or just having fun there....you know, taking pics and stuff.(smile) Anyway, I sat down and had one boy on each side and tried...repeat, tried to take a pic of the 3 of us...didn't happen, well not very well anyway. I look so ridiculous...never mind the fact is blowing my wig all over the place and ZB proceeds to be too cool for school.......anyway. I cherish the memories I have taking my boys to the pumpkin patch and them having so much fun and getting the best pics. When we did arrive to our destination....aka my cousin's house we had a ball, her daughter is turning 9 the end of this month and she rec'd an early bday present....baby Shih-tzu....she is an absolute ANIMAL LOVER! So we all got together to surprise her with the dog and....paint some pumpkins! Oh what fun we had. It was good. Lots of pics to share. Great weekend just went to fast as usual!

ZB's creation...pretty cute huh?

Dad and the boys...making a decision or wondering why I have to take pics of Everything!

Sunday

11:30 pm Saturday--Hit the Hay--very late for me
7:00 am Sunday--get rolling-also late for me-have coffee and just get re-grouped for the day
7:30 am Hit the shower
8:10 am Head out for church
12:00pm Sunday dinner at Pizza Hut
12:30pm Finally home, change clothes and think about a nice little nap while watching the Chiefs get throttled.
12:45 pm Head upstairs to watch the game and try to nap...DH and oldest DS are too loud for me.
1:15 pm DH cell phone starts ringing and it's of course UPstairs in our room, I let it ring....
1:25pm DH cell phone starts ringing again and I answer it...someone about cattle
1:30 pm It's IMPOSSIBLE to get a nap
1:35pm Head to the laundry room and start a nice big load.
1:40 pm Getting some iced tea, thinking about how I really wanted to nap for just a little while.
1:50 pm My poor football team is pathetic
2:00 pm Decide I can't watch the Chiefs...too sickening.
2:15 pm Head out to start mowing the yard
3:00 pm Finish mowing, need a big drink of iced tea
3:10 pm Fire up the weed eater and get moving
3:30 pm Finish weedeating--now I'm officially filthy and itchy
3:40 pm Another iced tea break(darn pizza makes me thirsty) I can hardly lift my right arm, it's got a case of the shakes from holding that darn weedeater!
3:50pm Decide to start pulling flowers, trimming the dead ones, watering, etc and as I go into the garage I decide it needs to be cleaned out.
4:00pm Garage can wait a bit...I've got apples all over the ground and a few left on the tree...
4:20 pm 2 1/2 five gallon buckets of apples sitting on the patio--I proceed to take some to my neighbor.
4:30 pm Head back to the garage project...ever since we sold our boat, I've had this "PILE" of stuff in the garage and you can hardly walk thru there. So I got some trash bags and started bagging up stuff, life jackets, etc to move out to the shed. Skis, knee boards, wake boards, bouys, etc etc...
5:00pm Well, now I can see the garage floor, it must be swept! Stuff thrown away, oh I feel better about all that!
5:30 pm Head to the kitchen to begin supper....whip up some corn bread, start warming left over potato soup and I have about 30# of green tomatoes in my kitchen that a friend gave me and I have not yet had time to grind them up for chow-chow. So I decide I'll fry a few with supper.
6:30 pm Supper is over, everyone needs haircuts in our house...DH heads back to the garage to set up for that. I put MY dishes in the dishwasher and head down. 1,2,3 haircuts out of the way.
7:00 pm Sweep my garage AGAIN! Oh yea, that load of laundry I started...just now getting into the dryer.
7:30 pm Supper mess is finally cleaned up...and......I start peeling apples for apple butter. Thank goodness for the Pampered Chef, Apple Peeler, Corer, slicer....wow!
8:30 pm Apples in crock pots, mess cleaned up, boys showered, headed to bed....they were tired and crabby.
8:45 pm I got into the shower...it was so nice!
9:00 pm I sat down and worked on a scarf I'm crocheting.
9:30 pm I decided I wanted to read, headed to bed....aaahhhh to lay down!
10 pm I crashed!

Now I listed all of this...not to sound like "I'm so busy" I was busy but it was a very productive day in our household. The guys all did stuff too....I love those kind of days when you get a lot done and....there's a little something to show for it! My goal is for this week to be as productive as my Sunday was!

I don't think I've ever shared my LOVE for Pampered Chef. I have a lot of things that I've acquired over the last 12 yrs or so and I LOVE THEM ALL! I refuse to bake anything unless it's in my stoneware. It is the Best! If you have never tried it...I recommend their stuff. Now some of it, I would NEVER use...but the day to day stuff that I have purchased...I would replace if something happened to it! There's your tidbit for the day!
Have a good one!

Not too much is new!

Well, I'm posting out of obligation! Paula sent me a little note saying"I hope your updating your blog!" So, here I am. I do have a few pics to share. Above is a nice Big Apple off my tree...don't ask why I took that picture...I just did, no explanation at all! Then we have the nice apple pie I took to our church dinner on Sunday. I must say, it turned out quite nicely! I don't have beautiful edges on my pies...I'm more about the taste. I LOVE TO EAT PIE CRUST! Especially when it's got cinnamon/sugar and Butter on it. Good Lord, that should be outlawed.

Tonite, after supper, I took my boys north of town to a sunflower field. I've been wanting to get their picture there for several weeks and had not made it. I about waited too long, they were not nearly as pretty as they were a few weeks ago. But we got a few pics. Not because they wanted to....but simply out of..."I'm your mom and I said so" obligation. AAAhhhhh...my boys do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT like having their picture taken any more. They think I'm obsessed with taking photos...what? Maybe so, but I can if I want to!!! They were being so silly it was very hard to get a picture and on top of that, we had mosquitos as big as a.....well BIG---chewing on us fast and furious. After about 20 mins we left...oh well, I got a few decent shots, none I want to jump up and down over, certainly nothing like I planned in my little brain! But...despite all the hassle, I'm thankful for the few I did get. Some of those sunflowers were SOOOOOO Big. Wow. I didn't have my camera a few weeks ago when they were in all their Glory. What a beautiful sight it was. Sorry I won't be sharing that with you guys.

Ok, Now I'm frustrated...the picture of the boys walking will NOT turn the right way after I've put it into the blog. Go figure. I neglected to do it before I downloaded it. I'm sure there is a way, but I'm not up for messing with it tonite. Have a great week. Keep smiling!

GO CHIEFS!!!!! Our team was back yesterday! YEA!

BlueGrass '08...an Interesting One

Well, it's official, Bluegrass is over and we actually Camped at our family business...kind of weird, but it was actually pretty darn fun. The flooded fairgrounds made for a quick evacuation of the camping and dispersal throughout our county and the one west of us. It all worked out ok. It certainly wasn't the same but everyone made it work...and it's definitely one for the books! My boys ended up with tshirts that stated this: Flood, Mud and Pickin, 2008. Pretty cute and oh so true. We had some pretty good music camped out at the barn, some from Kansas City, Topeka and some from Texas. I had a lot of fun singing with them. Of course we camped with our usual crew and cooked good food, drank hot coffee and had campfire at night! I took some pics, none of which I'm very impressed with but I do have proof we were there.

I'm very saddened this evening as my neighbor across the street has passed away. She was not very old(50's), had cancer and had gotten the flu over the weekend and was put into the hospital. It just doesn't seem fair, although I didn't think it was fair to see her suffering like she was either. I had gone over a couple of weeks ago and taken her an apple cobbler and we had a really nice visit. I'm so glad. I need about 10 sympathy cards...I love to get mine from the Dollar Store, in pkgs of 8 and low and behold they have been out. I must go tonite and see if they have any yet. Need to think of something to do for my neighbor's husband...they have 4 daughters...youngest is in college. I can't imagine losing my mom right now, at 36, but I sure couldn't imagine it at 20....God be with them.

I'm on a mission for a new Bible. I have an NIV that I've had for several years and I do like it alot...but I recently read upon something that I was NOT happy with how it was worded. Bummer. I do know what I want...I want the Amplified Version...Joyce Meyer. Also...one of my dear friends has read the book, The Shack....she HIGHLY recommends it and I'm going to be purchasing it as well as both of these things can be found at our local Wally World...not that I want to purchase it there, but....my options are limited and it would be more cost effective than ordering it. Ooooohh I can't wait to get going on a new read! I've got so many irons in my fire right now...Oh well, makes life interesting! Need to help out my neighbor with some pics...Have a blessed week!

Also, thanks to all of you who took my "washing machine" poll. Your comments were all helpful as well. I do think I'm going to purchase a front loader...but the great thing is...I'm not in desperation for it now and I've got time to shop and compare!