Strange Things Revealed

Thanks to all of you faithful readers for making the contest so much fun. Hubby and I has a great time coming up with clues and images. And...as most of you have figured out at this point

We are having a baby!

Congratulations to our friend, Anthony, who made that guess just hours after Clue #1 was posted and officially wins bragging rights for being a blog contest "ninja". A more detailed post about the pregnancy news will follow tomorrow, but for today I wanted to explain each clue and how it pertains to our news.

Clue #1 Recap:
A cartoon picture of an alien (a mighty cute one).

Clue # 1 Revealed:
My husband thinks that all babies look like aliens & he's pretty vocal about it. I on the other hand think all babies are mighty cute.

Clue #2 Recap:
A photo of a sea monkey (or what you actually receive in the mail when you order sea monkey...I think it's some sort of shrimp).

Clue #2 Revealed:
Right now the baby still looks a bit like a sea monkey...

Clue # 3 Recap:
An Eggo waffle.

Clue #3 Revealed:
Juno quote Your eggo is preggo.

Clue #4 Recap:
A picture of an etcha-sketch and a magna-doodle.

Clue #4 Revealed:
Juno quote That ain't no etcha-sketch, sweetheart, this is one doodle that can't be undid.

Sorry, to all the folks who thought the sex of the baby was being revealed or that we were hinting at twins. I am (a) not that clever and it's (B) a wee bit early for that.

Clue #5 Recap:
An oven with a bun in it.

Clue #5 Revealed:
Well, it's a bun in the oven and I have a "bun" in my "oven."

Thanks for playing and for sharing in our excitement.

Strange Things Contest: Day 5/5

We've decided that since it is Sunday, we are going to give you guys a "two-fer." That's a "two for one deal" in "us" speak. So, You will find both the clues for days 4 and 5 below. Enjoy.

Clue #5

Strange Things Contest: Day 4/5

Clue #4

Strange Things Contest: Day 3/5

Clue #3

Strange Things Contest: Day 2/5

Clue #2

Strange Things Contest: Day 1/5

Some strange things are going on in our casa as of late (that's "house" for all you Anglos). Instead of freaking out about these new on-goings, we thought we would make a contest out of it.

The contest will be held over a period of 5 days. Each day, a new clue will be posted in the form of a picture. Using the clues (all 5 are relevant), you must post your conjectures in the comments section. You can guess as many times as you would like and don't be afraid to guess the most outlandish things you can think of.

Keep in mind as you play - we're not a business nor a corporation, so you basically win bragging rights...no moolah. Happy gaming.

Clue #1

"Hot Lips Chicken" Recipe - by popular demand

Here is the "Hot Lips Chicken" recipe mentioned in the previous post. We loved it. I can't take credit for it, as we found it on AllRecipes.com (one of our fav recipe sites). So, thanks to Patty who posted it there. Changes we made in the recipe are in dark blue. 

Ingredients: 

1 (13.5 oz.) package nacho-flavor tortilla chips, crushed. We used plain corn tortilla chips.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped  

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 orange bell pepper, chopped 

1 onion, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped. Used 2 tomatoes (but 3 would be so very tasty) 

1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken soup 

1 (10 oz.) can hot enchilada sauce. Used mild b/c hot could not be found. It's good with mild, but hot if you like the spice.

3/4 cup water 

2 cups shredded Mexican-style cheese 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

Spread crushed chips in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish to form crust. Layer shredded chicken on top. In a small bowl mix together the yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, onion and tomatoes and spread the mixture on top of the chicken. We sauteed the onions and peppers before layering on the chicken. Most reviews said that 2 minutes of baking still left the veggies a bit crunchy. In a separate bowl mix together the cram of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, enchilada sauce, and water. Pour this mixture over all and top with cheese. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until cheese is brown and bubbly. 

Enjoy!

The adventures of a Happy Homemaker...who happens to work outside the home

Yesterday was a "Faculty Development Day." In the past, these days were referred to as "Teacher Work Days," but this title has become misleading as for the most of the day (minus an hour for lunch) was spent sitting in meetings that were generally redundant and useless.

I left early yesterday to bring the car home to hubby. I then decided to make him some cookies (his favorite dessert). I took a chance on a recipe being an egg yolk short - it was a wrong move. I made about 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies that ended up tasting like tiny charred bricks. This is by far the worst mishap in my kitchen...EVER. My hubby will definitely get another batch of cookies (non-charred, non-bricks) soon.

While dessert turned out badly, our dinner of "Hot Lips Chicken" was fabulous. It was so easy and tasty and fresh - it will certainly enter the regular dinner rotation at our house.

Brennan Girl 

? - February 13, 2009

Good Night, Sweet Girl.

Prayer

Father,

You are a good God. You are a Holy and Righteous God. You are the only God. You are the God who moves armies; The Holy one of Israel. You know us before we are born. You knit us together in the womb, you know our thoughts and our motives. Thank you.

Be with my husband today. Protect him as he travels, guard his mind and his thoughts, lead him to truth and speak to him mightily. May you be upon him. May he find favor with those he is meeting with - may he feel your move - not for his sake, Lord, but for your glory. As a testimony to your grace, provision, and love.

Lord, we know you have plans for us. Father, show us the way. May your word continually be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. May this door be surely opened or closed. Give us comfort and peace in decisions made and in the circumstances we find ourselves. Let your praises forever be on our lips and banish all doubt from our minds that.

Move mightily. We love you.

Amen.

Oatmeal

So, our pantry is bare at the moment. No, it's not because we are broke and cannot buy groceries (Mom, please don't send money). We have unfortunately found ourselves too busy to go to the grocer's. A bare pantry and a hungry tummy leads to one of two scenarios. The first of which is eating "out." Which as a child I found to be the most wonderful of "treats," but in my adulthood has become a sort of punishment and sign of failure which I would rather avoid altogether. The second option is what I will term having a "pioneer state-o-mind." One becomes inventive, using everything in their cupboard and fridge to make concoctions that are slightly more palatable than cardboard. I was a pioneer this morning.

I love oatmeal. I used to eat it every morning for breakfast. However, over the past few months (since school started) I have become accustomed to waking up later than usual. This later than usual ascent from my warm and cozy bed has led to breakfasts of granola bars, cheese sticks, a cup of coffee, the occasional doughnut - needless to say, not so great ways of starting the day. Well, this morning, I decided to pull out the oatmeal and the raisins and to make myself a nice, warm breakfast.

I've been trying to get more calcium in my diet as of late. So, as I was reading the box, I noticed that I could indeed use milk instead of water....hmmm. Curious. I was raised making oatmeal with water - certainly milk was some unnatural variation. I tried it as to not be judgmental of others' oatmeal practices. It was so stinkin' good. Creamy and warm and wonderful, it melted into my mouth like a sinful, decadent type of oatmeal that had always been scorned for it's seductive nature. Okay, that might be going a bit far. It was good and I think I might resume my daily oatmeal breakfast again.

(Okay, so maybe I wasn't such a pioneer - I didn't put the can of beans that we've had since '06 into my oatmeal concoction....but, I did make due with what we had)

Exhausted...but happy

Before the Cleaning...

Hubster's and my families came up for the weekend to help us prepare for putting our house up on the market. We have no idea where we will be this time next year and want to make sure that we don't have a house tying us down. Let me just say that Hubs and I are uber blessed. My parents came up Friday night and got a feel of what needed to be done: clean out the garage, pack up "excess" belongings, make runs to recycling centers and city dump, get yard in order, and PRAY.

We started early the next morning. Mom and I ran to Sam's Club to pick up some boxes. We were gone for an hour...and by the time we returned Dad and Matt had completely cleaned out the garage. It looked like a new house. Mom and I had to run out again for supplies and this time, by the time we got back my Pops had completely changed the shape of my yard and Hubster had cleaned our closet of shame, installed new toilet lids, and cleaned out the gutters. I'm a pretty lucky little girl.

Hubster's parents arrived and brought lunch and cookies and sweet tea. Momma J helped planted some pansies and helped me buy some much needed foilage and outdoor decor. Mr. L rake the ENTIRE yard. If you knew how much pine straw we have, you would be impressed. We had some much leaf and limb and pin straw stacked up in our yard that our elderly neighbor was a little miffed that we were waiting the 2 week period for the city to pick it up (for free).

we ended the day of extremely hard work with an early dinner. It was really lovely to have both sets of parents with us as encouragment and support. As I said, we are VERY blessed.