Music Monday: Back-to-School Edition

This week, my blog is all about going back to school.  This is my last week of summer vacation, and I thought I'd get you all myself in the right frame of mind.

I promise you that I am not going to talk cheesy school songs like "The Wheels on the Bus" or anything.  Actually, I thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane to 1988.

I began my school career in the fall of 1988 when I started Kindergarten.  Since then, I have only had ONE year in which I did not have a "back-to-school season."  (That was in 2005.  It was my first year out of college, and I didn't have a teaching job yet.  I started subbing in October of the year.)

In the spirit of my 26th anniversary of starting school, I thought I'd share the Top 5 hits from the year I started Kindergarten.

#5 "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns 'N' Roses

#4 "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley

#3 "Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison

(And yes, that's former Beatle, George Harrison.)

#2 "Need You Tonight" by INXS


#1 "Faith" by George Michael

And yes, I know every last one of these songs.  
What year did you start school?  What's the #1 hit from that year??  Please share it with me in the comments! :)

Am I the Only One?

Am I the only one who...

....would rather sit at home and watch Gossip Girl TV and play on the iPad than go be around a bunch of people?

....needs to make their bed before they can get in to sleep at night?

....hates the tediousness of getting a shore, but still prefers to be clean and fresh (and generally acceptable to society)?

....stays up late even when she's tired for no good reason at all (see first question)?

....goes crazy when things are left around the house in places they don't belong, but utterly gives up on trying to keep it in order?

....thinks that she should train her cats to use the actual toilet so she can get rid of litter boxes forever?

....can be SO indecisive about stupid things like when to shower, what to wear, and how to arrange the day's schedule when there are many different things to do?

....gets so stressed out about the things above that nothing gets done?

I'm pretty sure I can't be.

Taco Braid

Have I ever mentioned how much I love delicious, easy recipes???

I do.

And this is one.

Taco Braid
Ingredients

• Lean ground beef (80/20)*
• 2 cans crescent rolls
• Mexican blend cheese
• taco seasoning

*You can use as little as 1 lb and probably as much as you want.  I used about 1.5 lbs.

1. Brown ground beef and drain.  Then add taco seasoning as you would when making tacos.

2.  While taco meat simmers, lay out your crescent rolls, (large ends are placed on the inside) and press together.

3. Fill in the center with the taco meat.

4. Sprinkle with the cheese.  (Another great thing about this recipe...how much you use is TOTALLY up to you.  The original recipe doesn't even put cheese on the inside.  I thought that was nonsense.)

5. Fold in the ends, and bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Then sprinkle more cheese on top, and bake until melted.

I think I was too excited about eating this to take a picture once it was baked and the cheese was melted.  Plus, someone was home from work and wanted to eat so....

I made a packet of the Knorr Spanish Rice sides with this, and it was great!  You can also serve with taco toppings: salsa, sour cream, taco sauce, lettuce, etc.  Scott put salsa, taco sauce, and the rice all on top of this, and he loved it!  I tried it as is, and I loved it that way, too!  Make it your own! :)  You can have it as an appetizer, a side, or a main dish.  It's great for pot lucks, too!  You could cut slices and then cut them in half by going straight down the middle!

I made this taco braid on the tray from my Celebrating Home hospitality set in the Simply Summer stoneware pattern.  This used to be a piece that only hostesses could get after two friends booked parties.  In our Fall/Winter 2014 catalog, we have them available in two stoneware patterns: Berry and Sonoma Villa.

3-Piece Berry Hospitality set (bowl, tray, stand)

3-Piece Sonoma Villa Hospitality Set (bowl, tray, stand)

Stuff & Things: Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts:

1.  Water is a catch 22.  I get that we're supposed to drink a lot of water each day, and I mean, A LOT.  It's good for you, but seriously, having to pee 100 times a day is REALLY annoying.  And, of course, we all know that waiting too long to go is not good for you either.

2. Ok, this one is also about water.  Scott and I bought the variety pack of Propel powder packets the other day.  Since I have been trying to drink water with my lunch AND dinner AND throughout the day, I've been getting pretty tired of the lack of flavor in my life.  I really do like these things, and it's a nice way to change up the whole water thing without adding calories to my day.  And at least, there's a variety of these to keep that from getting boring.

3. My first day back to school is August 25th.  The kids come on August 27th.  Next week, I will have a series of school-related posts.  (One of them will be my classroom set-up!)

4. Have you heard of/tried Vinted.com?  It's a pretty cool website where you can sell your clothes and accessories.  The prices are similar to yard sale prices (at least MINE are).  Buyers pay the shipping, so once you sell something, you ship it off.  Once they get their item(s), you get paid.  You can also buy items from others, or you can swap things!  I did manage to sell a Thirty-One purse, wallet, & key chain.  And I've had lots of people mark my items as favorites.  I haven't had a ton of luck, though.

5. My parents' and their neighbors are having a yard sale this weekend.  I've been trying to purge all sort of things around here: clothes I'm not wearing (because they don't fit or I don't like them any more), appliances, and other items we're not using.  I have stuff on eBay, Amazon, Vinted, and a bunch of local yard sale groups on Facebook.  I just hope I can get rid of a lot on Saturday!  I'm tired of our house being cluttered!  I'm even going to set up a table with my Celebrating Home stuff.  I have items that aren't in our current catalog and aren't ones I want to keep that I can sell on the spot, and I also plan to try to get some leads on parties and fundraisers.

6. Finally, the above just reminded me.....Celebrating Home offers AMAZING fundraisers.  We have two that yield up to 50% profit for your organization!  You don't have to live near me for me to help you or your organization with a fundraiser.  I would simply have forms shipped to you.  There's also an online component, and once I receive all of your orders, everything will be shipped to the location you specify sorted for each seller.  It's SO easy!  If you need to raise money for ANYTHING: personal, trips, schools, sports, dance, gymnastics, day care, medical bills, charity....ETC (the possibilities are endless!), contact me, and I can share more information with you!

So what Stuff & Things are on your mind today?
 

Fiesta Soup

Recently, I shared a recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars.  While I was searching for recipes, I came across this soup recipe that sounded absolutely amazing.  I was able to give it a try, and it definitely lived up to my expectations!

Best of all, it's super easy!

It's not the prettiest picture, but I promise, the soup is fabulous!

Fiesta Soup
Ingredients

• 1/2 c. diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can of black beans (15 oz) drained and rinsed
• 1 can of kidney beans (15 oz) drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced green chili peppers (4.5 oz)*
• 1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)*
• 2 1/2 c. low sodium, fat free chicken broth
• 1 c. frozen corn
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 T. chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• sea salt (to taste)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 in. cubes

*Do not drain

Take all of that stuff up there, chop it, open it, drain it, rinse it, measure it, and throw it all in your slow cooker.

Cook on low 6-8 hours.  (I ended up cooking mine for 7.)

1 cup serving: 91 calories, 7.5 g protein
2 cup serving: 181 calories, 15 g protein

The end.

What I like about this recipe:

There are a lot of ingredients, but that doesn't bother me at all since it all gets tossed in the slow cooker, and I don't have to worry about it until it's time to eat.  I will note that I did go out to stir it occasionally, but that was only because I was home, and I felt like it.

It's a slow cooker recipe.  Duh.

The flavor is amazing.  It's kind of similar to chili.

I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK THE CHICKEN!!  I've mentioned recently that I just seem to have trouble with chicken recipes.  The pieces of chicken are small, and are being cooked for at least 6 hours, so they are cooked in all of that chicken broth and yummy goodness.  The chicken pieces were moist and flavorful, and I didn't feel compelled to pick them out and eat them first to get it out of the way!

What I don't like about this recipe:

The original recipe calls for cilantro.  While I know how much my friend, Kristin, loves cilantro, I'm not a fan.  So I just didn't use it.   

You can find the original recipe here.

Music Monday: Altoona's Got Talent

Last week, I had the opportunity to compete in a local talent competition.  In July, I auditioned for the opportunity to perform in the main show, and judging from my first sentence, I was lucky enough to make it!

As you probably realize, the name of the talent show is the local version of "America's Got Talent" (which I've never seen, and don't plan to).  There were three categories: dance, Vocal- 18 & under, Vocal- adult.  Out of 82 people, they chose a total of 19 finalists to compete for prizes in each category: 5 dancers, 7 singers under 18, and 7 singers over 18.  First place winners received $200, second place $100, and third place $50.

The show was on Thursday, August 7th (our wedding anniversary), and if you follow me on Instagram, I posted a few shots of me getting ready through out the day.

I woke up insanely early at 8:30 that day, so I had plenty of time to do my nails for the show.

I also had time to toss my dress in the dryer to dry clean it. Did you know they have kits for you to dry clean at home? I had bought a starter kit a while ago. It's just a bag that you toss up to 4 garments in with a dry cleaning sheet (a wet sheet) and run for 30 minutes. I actually wore this dress in my friend Rebecca's wedding (4 years ago on Thursday!!). It was PERFECT for the event and the song I was singing. 

Then I went to the Clinique counter at Macy's to get my make-up done, and did my hair at home. 

Then it was just about show time!

I sang "At Last" by Etta James.  Unfortunately, I didn't place in the competition, but it was so much fun!  I LOVED being on a big stage for an audience of around 400 people!  And everyone was so incredible.  I even made the news!!  (The link will take you to the short segment that aired on our local news.  I'm the first performer they show, and even though you only hear 2 words from the beginning of my song, I'm the only one you get to hear.  :)

Here's the full version of the original song:

Each finalist will be getting a DVD of the performance, and if I can figure out how, I'll try to post my version in an upcoming Music Monday!  

Potter Fix Friday

I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I was when I read on Ashley's blog that she had teamed up with another blogger to bring back a Harry Potter link-up!!  

The link up will be on the second Friday of each month, and they'll have a new topic for us to write about.  This month's topic is Harry Potter tattoos.

I don't have ANY tattoos because I'm a chicken, but I do want one.  Coincidentally, the tattoo I want happens to be a quote from Harry Potter.  I came across it on Pinterest one day (of course).

via

I'd like to have that with a heart running through the center and my stepdaughter's initials on the heart.

While I was looking for this pin, I found a few more pictures of Harry Potter tattoos that I like:

via

via

This one is awesome because I also like elephants. :)

Do you have any Harry Potter tattoos??  Which one(s) would you like to get?  Link up with Paige & Ashley to share!