I finally can take a shower

I can finally take a hot shower in my own house.  Yesterday was a wonderful day I finally got the gas turned on and can take a hot shower.  I had to find a plumber to come out and change the copper lines going in to the house to the hot water heater.  Because the first time the gas company came out they would not turn the gas on because of copper pipes coming out of the floor.  Here is my pretty new yellow pipe.

 

finally back

Stephanie here
I am finally back. A lot has happened the last few months.  As I posted earlier I lost the most wonderful man in the whole world to a car wreck. 
Since then I have purchased a home in Paducah KY to be closer to Scott's parents and my parents.  It is an older home with a really big front porch and nice big rooms.  A little smaller than our home was but still nice size.  Some of the carpet is pretty ugly and the room I have chosen for my own is really in need of some cosmetic repair real soon.  Ugly blue walls and carpet but first we need to get everything unpacked.  1 of my very best friends is moving in with me so I will not be here alone.   I just moved in on Tuesday of last week and just got the Internet up today.  So here are some pictures of the house I wanted to share with everyone. I will be posting lots of stuff about home repair and decorating on a budget the next few months as that will be my only job for a little while.  The only room I  did not take a picture of is my room mates room. 

kitchen



kitchen

 


back of house



back of house  

mud room

mud room

living room

my room

living room

living room

dinning room

my room

my room

 

dinning room

 

Whatever Wednesday ( Slow Cooker Chicken Goulash)

I have been on the hunt for recipes that use diced tomatoes. I still have a freezer full of homemade diced tomatoes that I made last summer that I am trying to use up. I looked on pinterest and came across this recipe. It is called slow cooker chicken goulash and it turned out to be really yummy!
Here is the recipe for you!

Slow Cooker Chicken Goulash

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced

1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped finely

3 large cloves of garlic

1 Tablespoon of paprika

(1) 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes (diced or stewed would work too)

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon of brown sugar (light or dark should be fine, whatever you have on hand)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ground black pepper

 

 In a medium sized skillet heat the olive over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent and tender.

 

Add to crock pot. Now add the bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and garlic cloves to the pan. Cook until soft and tender. Add to crock pot.

Add the remaining ingredients to the crock pot and stir to slightly incorporate.

 

Cook on low for 5 - 6 hours or on high for 2.5 - 3 hours. Once the chicken breasts are cooked thoroughly remove them from the crock pot and shred them using two forks.

 

Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot and stir to mix  it in with the other ingredients. If you find that this is too runny for your liking, mix in a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken it up.

 

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Tasty Tuesday ( Pizza Pasta Salad)

It is starting to get warm here in Indiana. For my family that means we grill out a lot and eat more salads . This morning I made up a pizza pasta salad that I think you will enjoy. It is simple to make but has a great flavor to it. The best part is that you will have these ingredients already on hand.

Pizza Pasta Salad

1 box pasta ( you can use any shape you want, I used bow tie pasta)
1 bottle zesty Italian dressing ( I used Kraft)
2 large tomatoes or container of cherry tomatoes -cut
2 pkgs of pepperoni- cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp of garlic salt
1/2 tsp of parsley flakes
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese ( use as much as you like)

Cook and drain pasta. Add remaining ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Optional- add green onions, olives, salami, etc.

Whatever Wednesday( More teacher appreciaiton ideas)

Last week I posted the gifts I made from the PTO to the teachers at my oldest daughters school ( my youngest is in preschool ) but I didn't have a chance to post what Emily was taking into her teacher this week.
On Monday we sent in

 On Tuesday we sent in

Today we sent in


It had BBQ dish towels and pot holders along with grill wipes, steak sauce and BBQ sauce




I will post the remaining 2 items tomorrow and Friday!

 

 

 

 

 

Tasty Tuesday ( Cheesy & Beefy Tomato Corkscrew Pasta Bake)

I found this recipe on Kraft website. I changed it a little bit to fit what we like and that is what I am sharing here. Everyone in my family loved it, even my 8 year who refuses to eat just about anything that has hamburger in it. I hope you enjoy it to!

Cheesy & Beefy Tomato Corkscrew Pasta Bake

1 pkg, pasta ( you can use any shape that you want)
1 pd hamburger
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes ( I used homeade diced tomatoes that I had frozen form last summer)
1 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 pd velveeta, cubed

Cook pasta as directed on package and drain. Meanwhile brown hamburger with garlic and Italian seasoning. Drain. Add diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, dash of Parmesan cheese. Simmer for 8-10 minutes and then add drained pasta to hamburger mix. Spoon half of mixture in bottom of casserole dish. Top with velveeta. Add remaining pasta mixture and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Uncover, bake an additional 10 minutes

Rock Star Themed Mother/Daughter Event

Last weekend a friend and I put on a Rock Star themed Mother/Daughter Event for Girl Scouts. It was open to all ages and we told them that we would provide a snack, craft, game and photo shoot. We ended up having around 130 people show up and I think we had a great time! We charged $7 per couple to help cover the costs of the building and all the supplies and food we needed.
We started by putting the flyer out and having all the RSVP's due to us 2 weeks before the event.
This would give us enough time to go buy the food that we needed.
On the day of the big event we had lots of work to do! After all this was a rock star party and we felt that everyone should be treated like one! To start off we put a red carpet down so they could walk it as they went into the banquet hall

The girls loved this ( and so did the moms!) We set 2 tables up at the beginning of the red carpet where they would check in at and pick up their programs and VIP passes. You can't have  a rock star party without VIP passes!

They had to show their VIP passes to the security man at the door to get into the building

When you got inside we had it all decorated with a pink and black theme ( because that is what my 8 year old wanted lol)

Each table had a centerpiece that was a old wine bottle. It has been painted and had guitars that were printed out on the computer mod-podged on them. We had some fillers in it along with the table number ( each mom/daughter had an assigned table)

At the girl's seats we had record's made out of cd's. They were painted black and again had the letters mod podged on them.

At the moms seat was a piece of paper that thanked them for coming

Before everyone arrived we had to make ourselves get in the mood to party. For my 8 and 5 year old this meant having their hair sprayed pink

My 5 year old only wanted the back of hers done. I said what the heck and had mine done to!

Now everyone was in the mood!

Because Jane and I have a girl scout troop we wanted to have some fun with it. We have 2 bears in our troop that go home with the girls. At our last meeting we only had one girl who hadn't had it before so I brought the other one home with me. It wanted to party to!

When everyone arrived we had them go inside to take pictures and eat.

We didn't actually charge them for the food but you can't have a concession stand menu with out prices!
After they had ate we moved onto a craft. We made rock star bags. They were a big hit!

We played rock star bingo and gave out a ton of door prizes. I made up the bingo on the computer. Instead of using numbers we used words that went with the rock star theme.
From our feedback forms it seemed that everyone had a great time....now to start planning the theme for next year!!!!