Just another day at Gilburtshire

I said in my last post that I was making some new Pinterest recipes. This first one was for a meatball appetizer. It was frozen meatballs, grape jelly, and chili sauce all mixed up and put on low for 4 hours.

I know others have told me that they have used this recipe since their mom taught them, but I never knew about it. They were delicious and a big hit at the Halloween party we went to.

I also made Spice Cake whoopie pies. This was my first attempt with Spice Cake and I have to say that these are probably some of the best whoopie pies that I have made. The spice cake mixed with the cream cheese filling went so well together and tasted somewhat like a pumpkin roll. I had many compliments on these and will remember to make them more often during this fall and Christmas season.

 I also dyed the frosting orange for Halloween flare.

I made this Pinterest recipe last night.

 It didn't have a name, but it was delicious and ridiculously easy. I used chicken breasts, halved new potatoes, and frozen broccoli. I then poured some olive oil over it and sprinkled Italian dressing seasoning on it. It went in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. 

 The dinner before putting it in the oven

 

And after it was cooked

 

This meal was so delicious that there we NO leftovers. Chris and I devoured this meal. The chicken was very juicy and the seasoning on the broccoli made it melt in your mouth. I would make this any night of the week.

Remember on my last post when I said that we got a new mattress? Well, I think our doggies love it as much as we do. On Sunday, I wanted to wash the sheets with the rest of my laundry, but getting these two out of bed was like an act of Congress.

This is after I told Doris she needed to get up. Can you see that she listened to me?

 I said the same to Mr. Bates and he at least lifted his head.

 But, then he went back to this

He still wouldn't move even with the sheets being pulled up

I finally drug the sheets from under him and he got off them. We have some very sleepy and lazy doggies at our house.
In my next post, I will show you what the doggies are going to be wearing for Halloween.

I said, Hey what's going on??

Gilburtshire has been busy lately. October has been a busy month and it's taken me awhile to sit down and get it all out.

1) We are in the process of refinancing our home. When we bought it, almost 2 years ago, we owner-financed it for 2 years. I was trying to get this done in the summer time when I could commit more time to this lengthy and tiresome process, but things never work out that way, do they?? We're almost done with it except for getting contact information for Chris' last job, which was the Royal Air Force. He hasn't been working there for over 2 years and his base has been nonexistent about a year ago. Trying to find someone who would know my husband and his credentials is becoming a big pain. I have a feeling that this is one of the last things that they are waiting on for us. Hopefully we will get some emails back soon and get this over with.
2) With the refinancing, we are taking out a bit more to do home improvements. Our house was built in the early 70s and it hasn't had a lot of major work on it. We are wanting to put in new windows, as the ones we have are paper thin and several have bb holes in them. We also want 2 new air conditioning units. Ours are off a few degrees and are on their way out. Insulation would also be nice as we can feel air through the outlets.
3) I love my job, but I hate leaving my doggies in the morning. They get up with me, I feed them, and they send me off. This is the saddest face in the world to me. I see this almost every morning after I close the back door and head off to work.

4) Chris and I went to the Texas State Fair with a few friends a week ago. While we were there we ate a Fletcher's Corn Dog, pizza, and Texas-brewed Tea. When I went with my family a few weeks ago, I had a deep fried red velvet cupcake. I would eat that any day of the week.

 

While we were there, we purchased a new mattress. It's similar to a Tempurpedic mattress. We got it delivered the next day and fell in love with our bed. This thing is so comfortable. When you lie on the bed you feel your body sink into it. We have had amazing sleep on this mattress and the dogs love it too. It's hard enough getting them out of the bed already.
5) I tried Taco Pasta Bake from Pinterest last night

I would say it's very similar to a Hamburger Helper recipe, but calls for a bit more cheese. I would cut out some of the cheese for next time. Overall, my husband ate it and we'll make it again for a weeknight dinner. Hamburger Helper would have been a bit easier to make.

6) We're going to a Halloween party this weekend and I'm going to try a new Pinterest appetizer recipe and Spice Cake Whoopie Pies. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

2nd Civil Anniversary

Two years ago, on a warm September Thursday in San Antonio, I skipped class and married my sweetheart. With a gathering of about 15 people, we said traditional vows and kept it low-key. I bought a dress for $99 and Chris bought a white shirt from The Gap. This wedding was much different than the one we had 9 months ago.

It was a beautiful day and we just kicked back. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and one of my college friends bought us a wedding cake.

My mom bought us some flowers and my other college friend bought my veil. My closest friends and family came down to San Antonio to celebrate with us. It was so nice to see them all there supporting us in this new adventure.

People have always asked us if we will celebrate both anniversaries, the civil and church one. We really didn't think too much about it, but as the civil one got closer we realized that we wanted to recognize it and celebrate that special day.

This year, that day fell on a Sunday and Chris happened to be off that day too. We made a day of going out and enjoying the nice weather.

We started our day with a big lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill. We got a gift card from our wedding in December and finally found good use for it. Chris had never been there before, but he loved it and we will be going back. Even though it tries to push itself as a swanky restaurant, they put paper on the tables and give you crayons to color with. Chris couldn't help himself.

 And this is my terrible drawing. I really hope our kids do not inherit my lack of artistic ability.

 We had Macaroni and cheese bites and something else with bacon on it for an appetizer. I had chicken and mushroom canelloni and Chris had a delicious pasta dish that I cannot remember the name of.

We headed to Old Navy where I got skinny jeans and red jeans for $19 a piece. Chris found a hoodie and swim shorts on clearance. I just assumed that there would be an Academy in Cedar Hill and there wasn't. Chris was a bit peeved at me for not finding out exactly before we left the house, but I made up for it. We went to Dick's Sporting Store and he found some new trainers.

We ended our day at the movies. We went to go see Looper with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was a total guy movie; lots of f-bombs and blowing people up. It wasn't my kind of movie, but it did have a good plot and acting.

Next time I get to pick the movie

We had a fantastic day and look forward to many more years together!

West Fest 2012

I have been attending West Fest in West, Texas as long as I can remember. It's every Labor Day weekend on rodeo grounds. For the entire weekend there is nothing but Polka music, food, and pivo (beer). My dad's band, Jodie Mikula Orchestra, has been playing at the festival for years. We used to go for the day that my dad played and then go home. In the past few years, a group of us have started to stay the entire weekend either at a hotel or the KOA campgrounds. We always wanted to stay on the West Fest campgrounds, but never put our names on the list and always heard that it was hard to get a spot because most people never stop going. I put my name on the list last year thinking that it would be a few years before we got a spot. I got a call in July saying that there was an opening and we took it. We rented a camper and 7 of us loaded up for the big weekend. This was our spot for the weekend just before the camper arrived.

Our humble abode

It was a bit tighter quarters than in a hotel room, but it was nice to be on the grounds and have somewhere to relax throughout the steaming hot days. Me and Lauren enjoying our campsite.

 On Saturday morning of the festival, after the parade, we go to a local bar to kickoff the weekend. The group at Mynar's bar

 Jodie Mikula Orchestra played Saturday and my grandma came to listen. I'm so glad she came and we got to see her enjoy another West Fest. My brother, myself, Grandma, and sister at West Fest 2012

We also went to Mass on the campgrounds. It was bit different than a typical Mass, but we praised God and thanked him for West Fest.

 Saturday night Brave Combo took the stage and brought in this huge crowd.

 Grilling our klobase for breakfast Sunday morning

Our collection of West Fest mugs

 Enjoying a lazy Sunday morning

 Chris and I bought West Fest tshirts. Mine says "Pivo Polka People" and Chris' looks like a German outfit with suspenders. (He tucked in his shirt to give it a bigger effect)

Chris and Randy got the same shirts

 You can't see us too well but we took a group pic in front of the West Fest sign

I tried a fried cherry cream cheese kolache and it was delicious. I'm pretty sure I gained 5 pounds by just looking at it, but it was worth it. I hope they have these again next year.

 These guys all decided to buy custom-made cowboy hats Sunday night.

 Chris' first cowboy hat

 We look rough, but I wanted a picture with my cowboy

 He got so much into the cowboy mode that he learned to two step with a friend of ours

We had a great and memorable West Fest 2012. I'm calling the campgrounds this week to reserve our site for 2013 for another good time.

Classroom Ideas

Since I knew what I was going to be teaching, more than 3 days after school started (that's what happened last year), I decided to get craftier and use my knowledge of Pinterest to help me organize my classroom.

Last year, I bought these really cute hall passes from Canton and spent more money than I should have. It was about halfway through the year that I realized that they were not working out. 1) The kids constantly knocked them off the wall 2) Half the time they would leave them in the restroom (ICK!!) 3) I had no idea what the passes were touching in the bathroom (MORE ICK!!) While I was debating on asking maintenance to put in some new nails in the wall for my passes, I thought that although these passes were pretty, they weren't very functional or hygienic.

I looked on Pinterest and found this:

Source: 4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

This person used inexpensive clothespins to clip on the student's clothing when they leave the classroom so they aren't germy or lost! This will solve my problem of hall passes!! Mine aren't that cute yet, as I only wrote my last name and the type of pass with a sharpie marker, but I will work on that later.(Note: While typing this I decided to spray paint the clothespins so they would have some color to them...I couldn't help myself )

Also last year, I kept all of my students' names in a tiny box that was split down the middle with construction paper to distinguish classes for picking names. I didn't really like it and it won't work for my 5 different classes this year so, I had an idea. Luckily, my husband is Bohemian and keeps everything that normal people would dispose of, i.e., spaghetti jars, aluminum foil, medicine bottles, etc. I went looking through the cabinets and found several Planters nut cans.

I had some chalkboard paint in the garage and painted five of them. I used the chalkboard paint so I could change the class names for years later.
Here they are

I put all of my students' names in the cans and displayed them in my classroom today. Now I know which class is which and can change out the cans for something else down the road. Honestly, I did this in 30 minutes between getting home from in-service and going out to dinner.
You can see on the left side that I took one of those spaghetti jars and put hard candy in it for my students.
There are still a few more things I would like to implement this year, but sensing that this is going to be a busy and stressful year, it might have to wait for next year.

Remembering Meme

My Meme, my mother's mother, died in 2007 and left a legacy of recipes that will never taste the same. About a year ago, my Grandad decided to go through the kitchen items and give away some things that he doesn't use anymore. In the piles of kitchen utensils and gadgets I found two handwritten recipes and a typed recipe from Meme. I kept them and just assumed that I would stuff them in one of my cookbooks. But after looking at them, I really wanted them to be seen and become a part of my kitchen.

As a summer project, I decided that I would frame them and put them up on one of the kitchen walls. I spray painted some frames red and put the recipes in them with brown construction paper behind them. It wasn't until after spray painting the frames that I realized that there were no hooks on the back to hang them! (I should have looked before, but like always I was impatient and just wanted to paint them.) Chris thought about putting them on a shelf instead. He grabbed some old wood out of the garage and started to put it together. (He is definitely the creative half.) To give it a more "beat up" look, he scorched the sides with a torch. I remembered that not only did I get Meme's recipes, but also her old cheese grater. I had also gone to a garage sale the day before and bought an old nut grinder for $1. I added them to the shelf and voila!

Here are the pics honoring Meme in the kitchen

  I love that there are grease stains and mark outs of ingredients that didn't work

 Meme's cheese grater with her recipes for Peach Cobbler and her famous I-45 cookies/bars

The nut grinder with her Peach Cobbler and Lemon Meringue Pie recipes

Such a great addition to our kitchen. Now all we need is that farmhouse table....Chris is in the process of making one, but that will be a whole other post.