Slow Cook Thursdays

Slow Cook Thursdays was an idea I had last March.  Our Thursdays are packed! We have music, orchestra and school work in between.  All that keeps me out of the house too long to really cook.  We grew tired of the quick runs through the drive through and late dinners. In comes my crock pot. Slow Cook Thursdays provided an excellent reason to use my crock pot.  Before I used it for our dinners, it was used to hold all my unused lids.  

I do have a love/hate relationship with crock pot recipes.  Some have been great and others were complete fails.  The family has gotten use to the trial and error recipes over the last few months.  At least they do not starve and nothing is ever that horrible.

Slow Good Korean Beef Soft Tacos

is one of the keepers. 

(recipe from Family Fun magazine)

Ingredients

I'm posting the original recipe; any adaptations will be in a blue font.

For the beef:

1 (3-pound) beef chuck roast, trimmed

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 low sodium soy sauce

10 whole cloves of garlic, peeled (a fun kid job)

1/2 onion, diced

1-inch section of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar (next time I may increase this a bit)

1 Tablespoon sesame oil (do not substitute, I did the first time and it changed the flavor)

1 Jalapeno, seeded and diced (we use 2 jalapenos, sometimes 3)

For the shredded cabbage slaw:

1-(16-ounce) bag shredded coleslaw

1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

a pinch of cayenne pepper or some other type of Chile to taste

corn tortillas

1. Place all the ingredients for the beef in the slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the meat is very tender.  I found that the meet was ready after 6 hrs.  Use forks to shred the beef, then stir the beef into the juices.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the slaw ingredients.  The longer this sits the lovelier the flavors.
4. To serve, warm up your tortillas and fill them with the meat.  Top with the slaw or any other toppings that you'd like (cilantro, extra diced jalapenos, or a bit of lime juice).

Enjoy!

Linking this up with Jen's 7 posts 7 days!

the BIG purse dump

It's Kendra's BIG PURSE DUMP. 

        

Between Kendra's Big Purse Dump

 and 

Jen's 7 post 7 days, 

this blog is getting a whole lotta love from me.  

Here is 'the purse'.

I had originally purchased this for one of my sisters.  It had a shabby chic look to it; very hip.  It was also dirt cheap!

Obviously, I ended up liking it too much since it never got to her.  Sorry, sister.

If ever there was a purse that can easily hold a mass of items, it's this one.  There are no dividers inside, no cute compartments for keys or phones.  It's just one big hole...

...with lots of rooms for stuff.

To be honest I had just cleaned out my purse.  Even so, I found that it doesn't take me long to fill it right back up.

The close up:

Wallet: Good to have, though it isn't packed with money.  Instead it's filled with receipts, coins, Annie's Pretzel cards, my driver's license, and teacher coupon cards.  I would seriously feel bad for anyone trying to mug me.  

My two year pocket calendar. I tend to lose my calendars and double book appointments because of it. So far so good, I haven't lost it yet.

A little hand sewn wallet: That holds all of our library cards.  I probably guard this little item more than my wallet.

A pen: To write down all those appointment dates.  This is a downgraded number from several I had this past Saturday.

My Daily Bread: This is my third Daily Bread book.  I've lost 2 now.  Both times I've thought that whom ever found my books must have needed them.  I sure hope so. 

The Rosary pocket: This was a gift from Lucy.  It carries anywhere from 3 to 5 rosaries at a time.  The number fluctuates; I don't know why. I always carry the red one (which was one of the firsts gifts my mother in law gave me) and the one Max made for me.

Glasses:  I have a love affair with sunglasses.  They must look good and be cheap.  I tend to lose, crack, or scratch these often.  I'm noticing a really bad pattern of lost items on this post (giggle).

Hand cream:  For my dry hands.

Make up bag: In here there is always blush, powder, lip gloss, and lip liner.  You never know when you have to spruce up your face.

Medical needs:  I began to use homeopathics with one of my kids. She had a few years of high sensitivity to anything that touched her skin.  It was eczema to an extreme! From homeopathics we've evolved to using Young Living essential oils.  I LOVE this stuff and carry some type of oil wherever I go.

Paper stuff: 

• JoAnn's coupons because you never know when you might be in JoAnn's.
• Recipes for that unexpected trip to the grocery store.
• Receipts from either store.
• A stack of paper napkins because someone is always in need of a napkin.
• An extra reading log from this year's Six Flags Succeed to Read program
• A single blush brush.  Don't ask me why?  

   

Misc: A few lollipops from St. Valentine's Day and a sock!  We went bowling, I was wearing flats and needed socks.

(giggle giggle)

•   It's my favorite thing in here:  My lavender oil.  This stuff smells oh so good.  
• Wow, I really have a lot of these:  I'd have to go with receipts. There really is a lot of receipts in the wallet and purse.  Wish I could have said money. That would have been nice.
• I've been looking for those:  Since I just cleared out the purse on Saturday I didn't find something I've missed.
• Huh. THAT shouldn't be in there:  Really.  Why haven't I taken those socks out?

Cecilia Says

Since I am late to Jen's
7 posts, 7 days linky
I thought it only fair to add a second post today.

So, I went into the 'closet' and to my surprise I found 66 drafts! What?
Yup! 66!  I have been holding on to old, forgotten, and uncompleted thoughts, lots of them.  That's crazy and I totally need an intervention.  (the crown of shame is currently on my head)

Here then is 1 of the 66.
A look at the past.  Mostly made up of Cecilia's remarks and her quirkiness.

Cecilia's says:

"We hit the check pot!"

"Egg Man Adventure" instead of Egmont Overture

Rose: "I don't know what to do. I want to be a mom, but I also want to be a nun."

Cecilia: "Don't worry.  You can get married, have babies, and when your husband dies you can be a nun."

Once when we left home Cecilia was sitting in the back of our van. As we drove off I hear the following from Cecilia, "Momma! Wait for me!"  Everyone in the van turned to her and asked what she was talking about, but she kept on yelling. "Momma, you left me.  Come back! Come back!"

I was confused.  The child was safe and in the van.  But, she kept at it; yelling "Momma come back, come back."  It was down right disturbing.  Then it was hilarious.  As she yelled out "come back, come back" her voice trailed off.  It went from COME BACK to come back.  The kid had me in tears.  

The rest of the drive was uneventful and she herself didn't think anything about little imaginative scenario.  

Disclaimer:  I have NEVER left any of my children behind.  At least not yet ;-)

16! Driving! And Working!

In an attempt to inspire my blogging freeze I'm going to link up with Jen's 7 posts, 7 days linky!

But, of course I'm late to the party.

Oop's.

This post is dedicated to Lucy.

Our eldest, sweet Lucy pictured here at age 2

is a licensed driver now. 

16, driving, and working! 

Today she drove herself to work; all by herself.

When she got home she had a fun smile on her face 

Me, I have a different kind of look going on.

 

My baby is growing up.

Next up, 

 "College Planning"

St. Valentine Cards:: 2014

As far as our St. Valentine exchange goes; I went to a trusty source

Shower of Roses!

This year Jessica shared what I thought was the prettiest cards ever!  That's a big claim I know, but it was so lovely!  I made them for the moms in our group and also gave one to my mother-in-law.  The added Miraculous Medal was a personal touch that made the gift perfect.  Jessica has the how-to over on her site (here).

Rose looked at some of the Valentine craft cards on the web.  But, when she saw the little bibles on Jessica's site-that was it for her.  It's a really cute idea!

(Click here for the how-to)

 Lucy, opted to bake chocolate cookies cut into heart shapes.  She used this recipes from Pioneer Woman.

(Can I just add how much I love this woman!  When, and if, I ever meet her I'd like to give hand her a beer and a tub of butter)

 She then made her own cards using scripture from Luke 10:27

If your interested you can download her page here on Scribd.  There are 8 cards to a page and you can print and paste them onto pretty background paper.  Lucy kept hers simple.

 I think she was just too tired to make it any prettier.  It was a pretty late night for her.

This little card is from a friend's sweet daughter.  She makes the loveliest cards, so I just had to share.  These were made for the moms; she made one for each of us.

The other two kids made their own cards too.  I just didn't get a chance to take a picture of them; so sad.  

Ah well.

They were super cute!  

You'll just have to take my word for it.

Happy Saturday ya'll, 

It's now late into the day and now I must get to the "To-Do" list.

God bless!

For St. Valentine

We celebrated the feast of St. Valentine with a family breakfast and an afternoon of games, gift exchanges, and fun with the home schoolers.

Wired hearts wrapped with red yard cover our windows

and the hanging hearts waited for the kids that morning in the dining room.

It's pretty sweet to hear their constant surprised voices.  Even if the surprise is small, it's received with oohs and aaahs.  Making the baking and crafting totally worth my time; even if my mood isn't in it.  But, to fill a little spot of excitement into my 7 year old... reminds me to take a moment.  Just a moment to bake some cookies or lay out sheets of colored paper and cut them into hearts. The results are always the same; good!

Most of what I put out this year came from my box of past crafts.  Cecilia didn't notice, nor did the older kids.  For them it was a fun surprise.  That's all that mattered.  

 

The Lineman came home with pretty flowers

 

A gift that was meant to be given on the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord was instead received as a St. Valentine gift.  New scapulars handmade by Barbara; her Etsy shop (Mary Devotions) is filled with handmade treasures.  I've wanted to purchase many of her works before, but for one reason or another it hadn't happened.  Until now and these scapulars are BEAUTIFUL!! 

The girls and I made some goodies to share with friends and family.  We had a good amount to do, making me wonder if our next dentist appointment is going to be a surprise for The Lineman and I.  

There was a lot of taste tasting going on. 

May God have blessed you all with a lovely day!

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."
--Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

A Little Bit of Music

This neglected space desires some beauty.

There is in souls a sympathy with sounds:

And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleased

With melting airs, or marital, brisk or grave;

Some chord in unison with what we hear

Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies.

~William Cowper

{PHFR}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ 

Every Thursday, over at Like Mother, Like Daughter! {click HERE for more} {Pretty}

These are the main women of my family.  Many, MANY cousins, a niece, and close Tias are missing (Hey, shout out to my Tia Alde!!!), but my sisters, sister-in-law, mom are here.  Pretty ladies getting together for a very special day.  My sister's little boy isn't so little anymore.  At a whopping 6'2",  he is now 18.  We celebrated his big day with an all American Bar-b-Que, close family, and a cake that was perhaps his favorite thing of the whole afternoon... ...a coke on his chocolate lover's cake!

{Happy}

It was a date! And any date with my honey makes me HAPPPPPYYYY :+) {Funny}

It doesn't matter how old we get; there is something special about visiting a pumpkin patch.  When The Lineman took the photo from above we totally laughed at the way Lucy looks. It looks like we pasted her onto this shot.  She totally dominates the tractor and the other kids, oh man so fun!  My MIL and I shared in the photo opportunities, but I don't think we were as funny as the kids.  

{Real}

This past week our parish held their 4th Annual Dream Cuisine fundraiser.  Victor and I bought tickets and we had ourselves a date.  Yep! A Date! It was a Polynesian themed night of delicious gourmet food, drinks, wine from the local vineyards, scrumptious desserts, great entertainment; best of all it was all for a great cause!  The Wounded Warrior Project.  The folks at Wounded Warrior Project have been providing services for veteran soldiers injured while out projecting our liberties.  Starting back in 2002, they are there from the start of an injury and never leave.  WWP is a support system that stays with the solider.  From what we heard that night the men and women behind WWP are some of the coolest, thoughtful, and dedicated people; just the kind of folks our soldiers need.
This year St. Rose honored Norberto Lara, SFC , U.S. Army (ret).  You can see this hero's story here.  Our pastor proudly presented a nice check to this solider and we were all quite moved by his story and being a part of this evening.

{PHFR} A Mix Bag of Moments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ 

Every Thursday, over at Like Mother, Like Daughter! {click HERE for more}

{Pretty}

 

Pretty Momma at a quick visit to San Francisco 

Pretty background with...

 

Prettier daughters enjoying this treat around the bay on the ship boat.   

  

Funny thing happens when you spend the afternoon calling the vessel you are on a 'ship'; then have the young fold correct you each and EVERY time.  As I remember the comments were, "No Tia-Momma, it's a boat!" 

{Happy}

Max turned 12 last week.  

12!

He's almost a teenager; that'll make 2 teenagers under our roof. 

 Goodness me.

Birthdays are celebrated with the usual cake and family dinner, but the celebrant is also gifted with a day free of ALL CHORES.

Max was stoked when he was met outside and told to take the day off.

His sisters were not as happy.

They picked up the slack LOL

{Funny}

My goofy Rose was in classic form during our boat trip.  I was lucky to get the few good shots of her without some kind face or gesture.  Something about the sea air really got to her, she zoomed from one side of the boat to another.  Zip-zap! She would be next to me one second then off to the other side the next.  It was about chasing birds, not missing the scenery, and keeping her balance on the rocking water.

My sister had a bit more trouble keeping her feet from sliding around while chasing our nephew around.

{Real}

A 'real' Hobbiton style birthday party for my sweet boy.

More on his party here

... and a couple of REALly nice shots for us too 

Capture your moments

they go so fast...