Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, Robyn. For your viewing pleasure (including photos for added assistance and a bit o' fun):

Kristin's FABULOUSLY CHEESY Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lbs chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

Sliced mushrooms

8 soft tortilla shells

2 cans enchilada sauce

1 small can chopped mild green chilies

1 small can sliced olives

2 cups shredded cheese

1 additional cup shredded cheese

Sour cream

Directions:

Cook chicken and fry mushrooms

Then prepare to get your hands dirty (thanks to Kristin for being willing to get hers a little dirty for the camera :))!

Lay a tortilla shell on a clean surface. Pour some enchilada sauce on the shell.

Spread the sauce around. Turn the tortilla shell over and cover that side with sauce.

Place chicken in the center of the tortilla shell.

Add mushrooms and green chilies.

Place olives.

Add sour cream.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Fold the tortilla shell until it looks like...

This.

Place in baking dish. Repeat until all shells are filled with yummy goodness.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the finished enchiladas.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Add 1 cup of cheese to the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

That's it. Simple, fast, yummy. I apologize for the lack of photos of the finished product. By the time it was done I was starving and kind of forgot about taking a final photo of it :)

Happy Halloween!

This year was a pretty low-key Halloween for us. I went in to Kristin's classroom on Friday to help out with "pumpkin math" and brought the kids some cupcake treats...

Sunday we carved pumpkins which was a lot of fun. This was only my second year carving, so I stayed with a simple design. I used a stencil, but Kristin just dug in...

I thought the final products were awesome...

And of course we had to take the annual "Ellie with the pumpkins" photo (and yes, that is a rose still blooming on the rose bush!)...

Sunday night the doorbell started ringing around 5:30 and over the next 2 1/2 hours we got around 200 little ghouls and goblins. I love that this neighborhood has so many kids!

And now we head into November where we're sure to see our first snowfall and the fun of shoveling and bundling up begins!

Scotch Fur Fighter

Another product I love - Scotch Fur Fighter

I have tried half a dozen new fur removal products over the past few years on our couch. Some things worked better than others, but none have worked as well as this one! It was fast, easy, and left the couch looking like it had just been shampooed. And to top it off, it was fairly cheap ($5 bought the tool and several refill sheets). The sheet did fill up fairly quickly, but the cost of the refill sheets will be worth it to have hair-free couches in less than three minutes!

A Strange Shopping Trip

So today at the store the woman ahead of me in the checkout line (we’ll call her Jane) had a very full cart of items. Groceries, household items, office supplies, clothing, etc. As the cashier was finishing up with the person ahead of Jane, Jane began taking items out of her cart and holding them up one by one, inspecting them. Holding up a pair of jeans, shaking them out, turning them around, checking the size. Holding up a gallon of milk, looking at the expiration date, turning it around in her hands, shaking it a bit. Holding up a package of pens, reading the brand, straightening out the plastic, inspecting individual pens within the plastic. This went on and on. She was sorting the items into two piles. One she put on the conveyor belt, and the other she set aside. This was a long process, and both the cashier and I were just waiting. I could have gone to a different line, but to be honest, I was curious to see what Jane was doing.

After she had finally finished sorting everything, Jane put the “other” stuff back in her cart and pushed the cart up to the cashier. Jane told the cashier that she didn’t want the stuff in the cart. We aren’t talking about one or two or three items here. She had well over half a cart of stuff she didn’t want. Jane also told the cashier that she would need a second cart to take the things she did want out to her car, and could she (the cashier) please have someone bring her one?

I thought I was going fall over. It seemed so surreal. The cashier, however, didn’t seem fazed. Is this something that happens with any sort of regularity? Do people really do this all that often? And if they do, can’t they make these decisions before getting into the checkout line? Has anyone else ever seen something like this happen?

Visit from Mom and Dad Ricks!

This past weekend my parents came to visit from Utah. It was good to see them again! We spent Friday in Duluth where my dad measured up to the lighthouse,

Kristin pulled a Larry Craig in the bathroom (at least I think it was Kristin!),

and Dad and Kristin anxiously awaited the 3:15 boat.

Saturday we went to Minnehaha Falls among other Saint Paul sites and were able to have dinner with Kristin's sister and her family who were in town for a high school marching band competition. Sunday we headed to Silver Bison Ranch where we took in the views and bouth a little bison meat (yum!) before heading home.

After a little relaxation, we headed to dinner at Benihan's (Kristin's choice!), where despite the fact they didn't have any ketchup in the entire restaurant, and the Shirley Temples got more Shirley as the night went on, a good time was had by all.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but we were thrilled to see them again and enjoyed their company!

Beautiful Fall Weekend in South Dakota

Kristin and I headed to South Dakota this weekend to enjoy a little family time. We spent a lot of time outside on Saturday. I picked some apples (which Kristin's mom quickly turned into a yummy pie), Kristin mowed....

And Ellie hung out and took it all in...

And then the camera died. :) We were able to spend time with Kristin's sister and her family on Saturday and Sunday. We celebrated her nephew Jacob's 13th birthday on Sunday as well!

It was a fun time and we were sad to leave, but look forward to seeing them in the Cities this coming weekend for a high school marching band competition (Go Lincoln!)!

I Believe...

by Unknown

I believe-
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.

I believe-
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every
once in a while and you must forgive
them for that.

I believe-
that true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I believe-
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.

I believe-
that it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.

I believe-
that you should always leave loved ones
with loving words. It may be the last
time you see them.

I believe-
that you can keep going
long after you can't.

I believe-
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.

I believe-
that either you control your attitude
or it controls you.

I believe-
that regardless of how hot and
steamy a relationship is at first,
the passion fades and there had
better be something else to take
its place.

I believe-
that heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.

I believe-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe-
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.

I believe-
that sometimes the people you expect
to kick you when you're down,
will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe-
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.

I believe-
that just because someone doesn't love
you the way you want them to doesn't
mean they don't love you with all they have.

I believe-
that maturity has more to do with
what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them
and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe-
that it isn't always enough to be
forgiven by others. Sometimes you
have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken
the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe-
that our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe-
that just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.

I believe-
that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a
secret. It could change your life forever.

I believe-
that two people can look at the exact
same thing and see something totally.
different.

I believe-
that your life can be changed in a matter of
hours by people who don't even know you.

I believe-
that even when you think you have no more
to give, when a friend cries out to you
you will find the strength to help.

I believe-
that credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.

I believe-
that the people you care about most in life
are taken from you too soon.

Boiling Hamburger...Who Knew?

So as I previously mentioned, Ellie has been sick the last several days. She is now on a "bland" diet consisting of hamburger and rice. The vet told us to "boil" the hamburger. I had never heard of such a thing, so I looked it up online.

I thought it would be complicated, but no. Boil water, dump the hamburger in, come back in two minutes. Yes, I said two minutes.

So this morning I get a pot out, get the water boiling, and start to crumble the hamburger into it. The little pieces immediately rose to the top already done. I threw the package away, washed my hands, returned to the pot, and wah la! A half-pound of hamburger browned to perfection. I drained it, rinsed it, and mixed it with the rice. Ellie loved it.

The article I read online said that it's a fast way to cook hamburger, but because you're taking all of the fat out of it, there isn't much taste left (which was true, I tasted it)...but for recipes calling for hamburger that will also have other spices or flavoring in it (tacos, for example), this works great! Also, if you have some frozen hamburger you can just dump the whole frozen piece of hamburger into the water. After a couple of minutes break it apart with a utensil and leave it to cook for a few more minutes. Soooo much faster than thawing it on the counter, in the fridge, or in the microwave and then frying it up.

Obviously boiling hamburger wouldn't work for every recipe, but I'm excited to "discover" this trick that I can use for some recipes or when I'm in a pinch for time!

Craigslist Addicts

We just went and picked up a reel mower that Kristin found on Craigslist. I love my self-propelled mower, but it is tearing the steep hills in our yard apart, so I wanted to get a lighter mower to do those with.

After we picked it up I realized we have A LOT of stuff in our house from Craigslist. We have probably saved thousands of dollars over the past few years by purchasing so many things second hand.

Here is a quick list of some things we have purchased that we are still using (I'm sure there are more, but this is what I could come up with in a few minutes):

Entertainment Center

Bookshelves

Couch

Kitchen Table and Chairs

Cat Perch

DVD/CD Storage Unit

Wardrobe

Day/Trundle Bed

Dishwasher

Reel Lawn Mower

Deck furniture

Bathroom Storage Unit

Plastic Wardrobe Units

Dog Bed (converted camping mattress)

Butcher Block

Hmm...I'm sure there's more...but that's a lot of stuff...all of which we got for very cheap or free (the couch was a little spendy but much less than we would have paid had we gone to a store to buy it!).

Thanks to Kristin for finding all the deals...I'm not big on perusing Craigslist, but am always happy with what she finds :)

Welcome, Mollie!

On Tuesday we adopted a new puppy, Mollie! Her paperwork says she is any mix of the following: German Shepherd, Bernese Mountain Dog, Rottweiler, and Australian Shepherd. I tend to lean towards the Rottweiler and Bernese Mountain Dog...but who knows. She's pretty cute, very lovey, a complete wiggle worm, and extra soft.

While she seems to have some things to learn (like potty training - she doesn't give much of a signal when she needs to go out), she seems pretty smart and her over-the-top sweetness makes it hard to get mad at her when she does have an accident.

She is only 8 months old, so she is still in high puppy mode, but I think she's going to be a great addition to our family!

Ellie hasn't shown much interest in her as of yet, but she has been really sick with some stomach thing (we think she swallowed something she shouldn't have), so I'm hoping once she is feeling better she will love Mollie just as much as we do.