Happies & Crappies 2/7

Happies

~It's Friday!  These work weeks seem so long lately that I'm extra glad it's Friday!
~January is OVER!!!  January always drags on and on and on.....I'm glad that it's February!
~On Sunday, I get to join the ladies in my family for a basket bingo at the local high school.  It's a great fundraiser that makes lots of money for our cheerleaders!  I love getting together with the girls in my family.

This is us two Christmases ago at our Ladies Christmas Tea :)

~We are taking the kids outside to play in the snow this afternoon as a reward for our quarterly behavior (TOP HAT- Top Habits and ATtitudes) and grades (Principal's Awards) programs!  It's cold, and I'm pretty much over snow, but the sun is out, and this girl needs some light and some crisp, fresh air!

~I am part of (or hosting) THREE giveaways right now!  Head over to The Young Retiree to enter the GALentine's Day giveaway.  (There's a little over 12 hours left!)  OR stop by and visit Susannah at Simple Moments Stick and celebrate her blog's 2nd birthday by entering to win $200 PayPal CASH!  And lastly, I am giving away a set of mini casserole dishes right here on Rebeckann's Random Thoughts!  You can also check out my buffalo chicken dip recipe!

Crappies
~It's cold, and there's probably more snow coming our way next week.  Is it spring yet??
~We don't really have a lot of food in our house right now.  We have random items, but nothing that really makes a meal.
~I've been very unhappy with food lately.  I can't seem to figure out what I really want.  When I do figure it out, it's usually something bad for me.  :-p

That's about all I have for today!  Guess it's good that the happies outweigh the crappies this week! 

What's happy (or crappy) for you this week??

Live & Learn Thursday: Buffalo Chicken Dip

I can't remember exactly when I discovered that I really like buffalo chicken dip.  I'm always happy when I attend parties or our pot luck lunches at school and someone has brought it.  On Sunday, I decided that I really wanted some.  Maybe it's because it was Super Bowl Sunday, but whatever the reason, I figured that I probably had what I needed on hand, and it couldn't be too difficult.

The good news is that it WAS really easy!

I turned to Google for some inspiration.

There were a few things that I was looking for:
1. I didn't want a crock pot recipe.  I only have a big crockpot, and Scott doesn't like buffalo chicken dip, so I didn't need to make a ton.
2. I needed a recipe with ingredients that I had here at the house because I was not leaving the comfort of my home to go to the store.
3. I also wanted something I could make quickly, easily, and that would fit in a dish I already had.

After consulting a few different recipes, here's how I made it!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. Ranch light dressing
• 1/2 c. hot sauce
• 1/2 c. Mexican blend cheese
• 13.5 oz can chunk chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the block of cream cheese in a bowl and use a spoon to break it up.

 

3. Stir in the Ranch dressing and hot sauce.

 

 

4. Then stir in the cheese and chicken.  (Break up the chicken pieces as much as possible.)

 

 

5. Separate the mixture in half and place into two mini casserole dishes.

 

Mini casseroles from Celebrating Home (My set, Simply Summer, is not currently available, but there are other patterns.)

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the mixture is heated through.

7. Serve with your choice of dippers!  I had mine with tortilla chips.  :)

 

Now for the really exciting part!  I've decided to give away a set of mini casseroles to one of my lucky readers!!  You will be able to choose the set that appeals to you!  Visit the link from the caption on my photo above, to see which ones you like best!  Then enter via Rafflecopter below! :)

 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, be sure to check out the other giveaways I'm participating in right now!  First of all, go visit Elizabeth, The Young Retiree to enter the GALentines Giveaway!  Then read all about the $200 PayPal CASH Giveaway that Susannah from Simple Moments Stick is hosting with a bunch of her readers (like me!) to celebrate her Blog's 2nd Birthday!

Creamy Potato Soup

Oh my goodness!  Seriously, I've been so excited to share this potato soup recipe with all of you.  It. Is. So. Good.  SOOOOO GOOD!  Scott and I both loved it.  It took a little bit of time with all of the chopping I needed to do, but it was WELL worth it!

The original recipe came from Pinterest (where else??) You can see the pin below.



Here's my take.  I only had to make a few adjustments, and I had most of these things on hand.

Creamy Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 5 slices of bacon, chopped
• 2 small onions, diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled & diced
• 3 medium celery stalks
• 4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 4 medium red potatoes, diced
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 4 cups (1 quart) heavy whipping cream

1. Get a 6-8 quart pot. 

2. Start chopping.  I began with the bacon so I could get it cooking while I chopped the other veggies.

3. While the bacon is cooking, chop up the onions, carrots, and celery.

4. When bacon is crisp, removed to paper towels to drain.

Mmmm....bacon.....

5. Throw your chopped veggies right into the bacon fat, and cook until the onions are translucent. 

6. While the veggies are cooking, peel and dice the Russet potatoes, and dice the red potatoes.

7. When the vegetables have finished cooking, throw the potatoes in the pot and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Add the flour and stir constantly over low heat until the flour has cooked and the mixture has thickened slightly (about 5-7 minutes).

Adding the flour

After cooking

9. Add chicken stock and bacon, and season with salt and pepper.

10. Over medium-high heat bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. 

11. Add the whipping cream and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Seriously, I beg you all to try this soup.  If you like potato soup, and you are looking for a warm, comforting food on a cold day, THIS IS YOUR SOUP!! :)

Please let me know if you try it!  I'd love to know what you think!

Music Monday: The Grammys

So in case you didn't know, The Grammys aired on CBS last Sunday night.  I never stay up late to watch award shows.  I do DVR them.  This way, I can skip parts I don't like, and fast forward through commercials.

I was really disappointed with the Grammys this year.  There weren't very many performances that I enjoyed, and I wasn't all that thrilled with most of the winners.

I'll start with the things that I did actually like.

First of all, THIS HAPPENED!!!

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Yes, friends, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited on stage for a performance of Paul's new song "Queenie Eye."  Ringo was on the drums, of course.  The song was so-so, but I couldn't care less what he sang.  They were TOGETHER.

Ringo also had a performance of "Photograph" earlier in the show.

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P.S. CBS is airing a tribute to The Beatles on Sunday, February 9th.  Can we say, "OMG!!!???"

Anyway.

I also really liked Blake Shelton's performance with Willy Nelson, Kris Kristoferson, & Mearl Haggard.

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Robin Thicke performing with Chicago was also tops in my book!  (This is one that I could actually find a decent video for.)


So clearly, I like the mix of the old and the new.  

Other performances I liked were Katy Perry's performance of "Dark Horse" and Pink and Nate Ruess (from Fun) with "Just Give Me a Reason."

 

I pretty much hated or was indifferent to the rest of the performances.  But the ones I REALLY hated were Beyoncé and JZ "Drunken Love", Hunter Hayes, and Lorde "Royals".

 

Why didn't I like them?? Let me count the ways.....I typically don't dislike Beyoncé, though her music isn't my style.  But it was a bit over the top sexually.  I suppose I can be glad that she was at least performing it with her husband.  I'm not a fan of Hunter Hayes at all.  I don't think he's a good singer.  I never caught the name of the song he was performing, but when LL Cool J announced him, he told us to pay careful attention to the words.  Well, LL, I tried.  But I couldn't understand a single one.  I actually like the song "Royals", but I didn't like how Lorde performed it on the show.  Ever heard of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?"  Maybe she needs to.

 

So now, onto the winners I was happy with!

 

Best Rock Song

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"Cut Me Some Slack"- Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Krist Novoselic, & Pat Smear

 

Never heard the song.  I'm just biased because Sir Paul McCartney was involved.  :)

 

Best Pop Vocal Album

 

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Unorthodox Jukebox ~Bruno Mars

 

Ok, yeah, that was all.  I was ok with many of the other winners, but I thought there were songs, people. or albums nominated that should have won instead.

 

And I was really mad that Blake Shelton didn't win best country album. 

 

Oh well, at least Taylor Swift didn't win.

 

And no, Taylor, you didn't win album of the year either....

 

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In case you didn't see this....they start to announce "RRRAA" and they start reacting.  Well, it wasn't Red.  It was Random Access Memories

Disclaimer: I do not dislike Taylor Swift as a person.  I think she is a positive role model, and I do really like some of her songs.  I would just like to hear a happy one every now and then.  And I'm over the hoopla. 

One more thing that bothers me.  I know that they don't have time to show EVERY SINGLE winner, but I think we should at least see the winners in each genre for best album or something.  I found myself disappointed that they didn't acknowledge any Christian artists.  They're there.  They win Grammys, too.  You just didn't know about it.

Did you watch the Grammys??  What were your favorites/least favorites?
 

January Review

Can you believe it's the last day of January??  2014 is already flying by!  I thought I would start a monthly post with my blog details for the month.

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Chivalry is Not Dead

It's Thursday again, which means it's time to link up with Jamie, Lindsey, Jenni, & Sarah for "Live and Learn Thursday"! 

This week has been super crazy in terms of winter weather here in Pennsylvania.  On Monday, we had a sudden snow squall long after the time when school could be delayed or cancelled.  I walked out to start my car, and was surprised by how much snow there was.  I headed off to work, already dreading my drive up the mountain because the roads aren't usually good on a mildly snowy day. 

I started losing traction right here in my hometown part of the trip, and I probably should've just turned around, went home, and used an emergency day.  BUT I had things to do at school and classes that I didn't want to miss because I was supposed to be out on Tuesday for a conference.  So I pressed on.

I typically am a slow driver in the snow, but I was actually doing pretty well.  I was going between 35-45 on the mountain (which has a speed limit of 55 mph).  Soon, I started to catch up to an SUV in front of me, so I needed to slow down.  Unfortunately, as the mountain became steeper, and because I started slowing down, I began to lose traction and was having difficulty climbing upward in my Prius.  My speed ended up being around 20 mph, and I was FINALLY able to get to the top.  I was so frustrated and a bit scared by this point, so I pulled off the road at a pull off spot and grabbed my phone to call off of work.

I saw a truck pull off in front of me, but I didn't think anything of it.  Just as my school's phone started ringing, I looked up and saw Tony, the security guard at my school.  It turns out that he had been traveling a few cars behind me that day.  He asked if I was ok, and if I wanted to ride in with him.  At first, I hesitated because I can be an even more paranoid passenger than a driver, but really, what else was I going to do?  I maneuvered my car (with a lot of difficulty) to the best place I could to leave it, grabbed my things, and climbed into his truck. 

His truck handled the crazy roads much better than my car, and even though we were late, we weren't the only ones!  It turns out that a few hours earlier, when the decision needed to be made for a delay or cancellation, things were fine.  The roads were mostly clear, and there wasn't any precipitation.  It just hit all at once.

I am truly grateful that Tony was traveling to work at the same time I was that day.  He didn't have to stop.  He could've kept going.  Honestly, if he hadn't, I probably would've been stuck waiting for AAA to come pull me out of the area I pulled off of the road.  I wouldn't have been able to get out.  (Luckily, when we returned that afternoon, I was able to pull back onto the road without any trouble.)

So, it is true.  Chivalry is not dead.

What did you learn this week??

Book Review: Gregor the Overlander

Something great is going on in the world of Young Adult Fiction.  Seriously, I like these books just as much as "adult" books.  It's also convenient as a 6th Grade teacher.  I'm reading things that my students are reading.

Did you know that Suzanne Collins has not only written The Hunger Games Trilogy??  (Which, you totally should read if you haven't already...)  I was perusing one of my Scholastic Book Orders a few months ago, and I saw a set of books by Suzanne Collins called The Underland Chronicles.  I quickly decided to use my bonus points to get it.  I finished reading the first book in the series a couple of days ago.

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The books in the series:
1. Gregor the Overlander
2. Gregor and the Prophesy of Bane
3. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
4. Gregor and the Marks of Secret
5. Gregor and the Code of Claw

Here are the details from Goodreads.com.

This irresistible first novel tells the story of a quiet boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny -- and find his father -- in a strange world beneath New York City.

When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first, I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book. It's kind of strange, and a little out of my element. The more I read, the more I enjoyed the interesting but dark and exciting world that Suzanne Collins was creating. I found myself drawn into the story with a need to find out what happens. I sympathized with Gregor and his determination to find his father, keep his sister safe, and to return home. 

This book is a great first start to the series, and I'm looking forward to reading the other four books!

View all my reviews

If you're looking for a new series or enjoyed Suzanne Collins' writing in The Hunger Games, I would recommend this book!