houston, we have a problem

my first major discovery of the year

one i'd rather not have made

luckily they're in sean's bathroom

and he hasn't been here

so armed with poison and a vacuum

i'm trying to get rid of them

but those suckers have grippers on their feet like nothing i've seen before

i'll give 'em 'til monday and then i'm calling in the big guns

do you have any fail safe ways to get rid of these tiny terrors?

quinoa love

Everywhere I turn people are talking about quinoa.  I had no idea what it was, let alone how to pronounce it.  So, always up for a challenge, I bought a bag and have been on a quest for ways to use it.  I decided to try it for breakfast.  So here's what I did.

Start off by cooking the quinoa according to the package.  Tip: Make extra and just put it in the fridge to add to your soup at lunch.

Next, chop up some onion, green pepper, garlic and canadian bacon.  Tip: Chop up a weeks worth and keep in the fridge so you can cut down how long it takes to make in the morning.

Then cook the chopped up goodness in a little olive oil.  Be sure to keep the veggies a little crunchy.  Add some of the quinoa in the skillet a minute before the veggies are done.  Be sure to salt and pepper to your taste.

If you don't have one of these mix-n-scrapers from Pampered Chef, you must get one!  They ROCK!  You can seriously just leave them laying in the skillet while you're cooking.  Whip up 2 eggs with a little milk, salt and pepper.  Add it to the skillet and cook like scrambled eggs.  Serve piping hot with a little salsa and ENJOY!

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What are you doing with quinoa?

my garden

I don't remember if I blogged about this but we added a raised veggie garden in the Spring in Texas.  My friends planted some stuff in it for the Summer and took care of it while we were in Maine.  When we got back in the Fall we had to clean it out from the cantaloup that took over - but we never planted a cantaloup!  It was a left over seed that didn't quite compost completely I think.

After we got it all cleaned out and picked the last of the cabbage, green peppers, purple peppers and basil (which I froze for the most part) we planted a few things to try to grow during the Fall/Winter.  Mostly greens - different types of lettuces, broccoli, brussels sprouts, purple cabbage, chives and swiss chard.  So far it's mostly been a bust - one little broccoli and a few lettuce leaves.  I'm holding out hope that it will blossom in the Spring.  I'll have to keep at it and figure out how to grow a garden when you only have 6 months a year to do it.

So it looks so empty because I just planted one of each to see what was going to work.  I'm also seeing that for Winter, when the sun is lower on the horizon, half my garden doesn't get much sun.  :(  Maybe I just need a second one?!?!  :)

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On a similar note, I tried brussels sprouts for the first time tonight - store bought, not my home grown ones.  They're actually not too bad - and are probably even better when they're not burnt.  I used this recipe (link to recipe) but only made enough for one person.

my word, my focus

I've never been a fan of resolutions; I typically go the goals route instead.  This year I decided to pick a single word to focus on instead.  I knew immediately what word I would choose.  2011 wasn't the greatest year for me, by far but I've finally gotten to a place where I'm ready for 2012 to be!  That's why I've selected:

Discover

verb: become aware of (a fact or situation)

discover what makes me happy

discover how to remain an individual while married

discover my fears and conquer them

discover a way to lose weight that lasts

discover new talents

discover how to let people in

discover what I want to do with my life

discover new foods

discover new friends

discover new hobbies

rediscover my faith

I have so much to discover it may take me a decade instead of a year but I'm willing and I'm ready.  Now, where to start.....

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What word would you choose to focus on in 2012?

final stop: san antonio

our non-stop-holiday-travel-a-thon took us somewhere known for this...

what happens when you try to get a group photo

and this...

and this...

if you guessed san antonio you should totally go on millionaire!
and what new years would be complete without sparkly lights...

an mj sighting...

beautiful weather...

this looks like a college brochure to me for some reason

flaming desserts...

bananas foster - YUM!!!

fun with friends...

hooooonnnnnkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!

and fireworks...

3....2....1....

click the pic so you can see it bigger and see the cool 2012 on the building

all with tons of other people...

and this little cutie

in case you're wondering where duke was...
he stayed home
he was too tired from all the other adventures

and so was i by the time i got back
so glad i haven't had a work trip yet this year
it's been nice to be home!

second stop: newton, ks

the next stop on our holiday-nonstop-travel-a-thon was to see my family
and all these special peeps

all the nieces and nephews, which is about to grow by 1  :)

there was some opening of presents...

don't you just love kids expressions???

some relaxing...

some just being happy to see family we don't get to see near enough...

some game playing...

some enjoying of our gifts...

zoey enjoying her new blankie

and my favorite, wii dancing!

check out her moves...she must take after her aunt tonya!

miss maddy has this way of getting everyone to participate
even sean
who may or may not have threatened me
if i was to take a picture
and post it on the blog
my brother, on the other hand, did not

go on, brush your shoulder off...

some day sean WILL learn to like wii dancing - i just know it!!!
i added it to his list of new year's resolutions

but he is starting to get used to all the "family time" when we're with my family
even if we did open presents for hours...

first stop: raleigh

i've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus
enjoying the holidays
with lots of friends
with lots of family
and lots of traveling

duke sporting his new digs

i have lots to catch you guys up on
so let me get started

the first destination of our non-stop-holiday-travel-a-thon was to see sean's brother's family
i mean seriously, how could you not want to hang with this cutie?!?!

and with moves like these

and he even has some mad decorating skillz

don't you just love the tiny, little hands??

complete with a force field around the snowball pile and all
can we say star wars junkie?!?!

duke learned how to open his own presents this year
never touched any other presents
just his
for some reason he knew which ones were his

hmmmm....

we also learned that duke does not care too much for the train at atl
"daddy, can we get off this thing yet???"

stay tuned to see where else our holiday-travel-a-thon took us...