Food for Traveling

We made a super fast trip out of town yesterday. 

I knew it was coming but wasn’t sure we were going to be able to go or where we were going to stay.  Steve had a class to go to so I was on my own when we arrived around 6:30 p.m.

What I didn’t want was 4 starving kids & me having to find food that was close to the hotel and inexpensive.

Instead I cooked our dinner at home. 

Weird you say? 

You thought I was leaving town? 

I did and I brought my favorite appliance with me to the hotel.

Before I went to town for a few groceries & the girls Bible study I put my plan in to action.

• Step 1--I grabbed a package of BBQ Chicken out of the freezer.  I defrosted it in the sink in cool water enough that I could break them apart.
• Step 2—Next, I dumped the chicken in the crock pot & turned it on High.  Normally I do this on low all day but I was short on time.
• Step 3--Elizabeth grabbed 6 potatoes, washed & wrapped them in foil, and stuck them in the oven on 300 degrees.
• We were gone for about 3 hours and when we returned home the chicken & potatoes were done.
• Step 4—I dumped the “juice” from the chicken, put the potatoes in the crockpot & replaced the lid.(I didn’t want sauce to spill in the suburban)  We packed up the suburban with our clothes, games & the food.
• Step 5--2 hours later at the hotel I shredded the chicken with a fork & we had BBQ chicken sandwiches with a baked potatoes.(It was still very warm!)

The perfect end to a busy day. 

I love using my slow cooker and freezer to make life just a little bit easier!

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Zig Zag Quilt

Spring cleaning continues!  In going through boxes & drawers in an effort to consolidate & purge I found this quilt that I had started a while back.

I love the blue colors and the way it went together!

I know that you can imagine how sad I was when I got it all laid out only to realize that I was one block short!!!

I seriously started this a couple of years ago so finding all the fabric again at the store was NOT going to happen.

Have I mentioned I am a pack rat when it comes to fabric?  I have a hard time getting rid of fabric or books.  Those are my weaknesses!

So I dug through my scraps and was thrilled that I had all the fabric I needed except for the basic blue that goes in the center of each block.  ARG!

After a trip to the local Jo Ann’s Fabric Store I found a solid blue that is so close that no one will ever know.

Now I just need a few hours to put that final block together.  Okay who am I kidding?  Maybe a few minutes of time here and there will make it happen over the next few weeks! 

Storms, Books & Plants

Wow life has been CRAZY around here!  Storms, graduations, moving the oldest son home and just the regular craziness!

(Sunshine at our house with storm clouds east of us)

We’ve been going through boxes and cleaning out the storage room.  I don’t keep everything from my children’s growing years but I will admit to being a bit of a packrat when it comes to books. 

I have kept my favorites, their favorites and any books that were given to them.  Memories are precious, however, I am making myself go through their boxes & pare it down.  It is hard but there is only so much room available.

School is almost finished up for the year.  So this a good time to do some spring cleaning!  Spring has been so unpredictable here.  One day is warm the next we are worry about frost—in MAY!  Last week we got our plants in the garden.  Each of the kids planted a few plants & helped me dig holes & set up our trellis.

We increased our number of plants again this year.  33 tomatoes & 8 peppers!!!  I don’t have a single round tomato cage this year.  I am going to tie the plants up on trellises  or the fence.  Much more efficient use of space.  I also love being able to walk between the plants with a bit more room.  It will make weeding easier to keep up with.

However I don’t have a picture because it promptly rained for 4 days straight after we planted!  So my flowers(that were bought at the same as the vegies) are still waiting to get in the ground!

I love summer.  It seems we are home more.  Work outside together as a family more.  We often choose to do a project on Steve’s weekends off and that while exhausting is a great way to  build memories and knit our family closer together.

This weekend coming up we have several possible projects to work on.  Building fence, finishing woodwork in the bathroom, building a loft bed, sanding drywall?  It would be awesome to get one or two of these done so when our week long vacation comes then we won’t feel like we NEED to stay home and work.  I am looking forward to getting away for a few days to enjoy some camping, fishing, or sitting in lawn chair watching the sun go down!

I am not sure what we will choose to accomplish this weekend(depends on the weather). Whatever happens being together as a family is a wonderful thing & I am SO thankful when Steve gets a weekend off to be at home.