And the Doctor Said...

I went to see my foot guy for the last time today (unless I decide I can't deal with the pain). He said my sesamoid bone has healed, but that I have major arthritis in that joint...therefore I have pain. He suggested a steroid shot in the joint, which I told him it wasn't hurting THAT bad! The last, last resort would be surgery if the pain ever got unbearable...which it's not. I asked him about driving my car (a standard) and he said probably not for a long time. Pushing in the clutch is not an option when you have arthritis in that joint. I have to tell ya the Lord works in funny ways....I got my Ford Focus for my High School Graduation. Little Red (as I like to call her) is about 9 years old now with about 85,000 miles on her. She's in pretty good condition...and I used to make her go fast!!! I was very attached to her and really didn't like Luke driving MY car. That is until I broke my lovely sesamoid bone. I couldn't drive her for over 5 months and although I still love my little red car as much as the day I took her for the first drive, I'm not as attached to her. I've learned to accept that Luke is going to drive it for a while, and it's really okay if he gets crumbs in the seat or spills his orange juice in the cup holder. I'll never love Luke's car like I love mine, but I'm thankful that I can at least drive his for a while. Now I guess I have to come up with a name for his car....oh, and maybe get my scrapbook girl license plate cover moved over...Luke's been "Scrapbook Girl" for a long time!

Chicken Salsa Dip

Ok, Samme Wallace made this dip for Scrap Mania. I fell in love with it. It's SO easy and really versatile. You can serve it with chips as a dip or over rice for dinner. You could even eat it as Chicken Chili! Thanks Samme...it's great!!!

Samme's Chicken Salsa Dip:

1 Lg. Jar of Great Value Salsa with Corn and Black beans

1 sm. can of Green Giant Corn with Black Beans and Roasted Red Peppers

5-6 chicken tenders.

Add everything in a crockpot and cook on low all day. It's toooo good!

Birthday with Luke's Family

Me & Luke

Robin & Jeff

Alan & Brenda (somehow I missed Matt & Courtney!) Sorry Guys!

Luke's plate....he loves the tiny spicy chicken...too hot for me!

My favorite is their honey chicken....YUMMY!!!

Saturday night we went with Luke's parents and his Aunt Robin and Uncle Jeff to Buffet City here in Benton. Luke and I love this Chinese Buffet. It's so good. Their honey chicken is the best. We had a great time visiting with Robin, Jeff, Courtney, her boyfriend Matt, Matt (Luke's bro.), Alan, and Brenda. It was a great end to the birthday celebrations! If I look a little red in the pics it's because I had an allergic reaction to Floxin today. Thank God for Benadryl....now my doc has me on new antibiotics for my kidney infection!

Murry's with Mom and Dad

The play (yes I snuck in a picture!)

The set

Me, Luke, Mom, Dad

Rick, Margie, her Mom, and Nathan (not sure who the other dude is!)

Me & Luke

Mom & Dad

Murrys

Last night Mom and Dad surprised me with dinner at Murrys for my birthday. Luke and I had never been there before. The food was good and we LOVED the play. Harvey was the name of the play they performed last night. It was too good. Fran was even in it! She's the lady that helped us with the set of the Kingdom!

Mom said my clue to where we were going was "rabbit." Well I didn't get that at all, but I do now. Harvey was an invisible 6 1/2 foot long rabbit in the play. It was too cute. We ran into Rick and Margie (old time friends of ours) and their son and I share a birthday. It's hard to believe he's 16!! All I remember about Rick is how much he loves prune juice! It was a wonderful day. Thanks Mom and Dad

A Flowery Surprise!

Luke sent me flowers today. They are SOOO pretty and smell really good. I have had so many surprises today. Thank you Luke I love them and you too! You always make me feel so special!!!

My Birthday Basket

Look at all that chocolate goodness!

It's full!

Love it!!!!

Mom and Dad surprised me with a Birthday Basket delivery today. It is FULL of anything chocolate. In fact, I've already opened it up and eaten several things. Gotta pace myself for sure! Thanks Mom and Dad for a great surprise!

Birthday dinner with my man!

Do I look embarrassed??

Luke fillet and green beans

My Hawaiian Ribeye and Sweet Taters

Birthday Girl

My Man

Luke took me to Colton's last night for a wonderful birthday dinner. I had the Hawaiian Ribeye...which is too good. Luke got the fillet as usual. Somehow I ended up with 2 sweet taters on my plate so I shared them with Luke! They sang happy birthday to me (which embarrassed me) but I loved every minute of it. We then went to see Hotel for Dogs. Now those that know me well know that I don't usually do animal movies. In fact, the first time I ever spent the night with Christylee (back in 10th grade) we watched the movie Shiloh. She had to turn it off halfway through because I was crying so hard!

I have to say Hotel for Dogs was AWESOME. I did cry of course, but nobody died or got hurt. I would highly recommend it for sure. Thanks Luke for a wonderful birthday dinner and movie! It was just what I wanted!

Birthday Lunch with Christylee

Our Food

Those HUGE Cheese sticks

Me (I got a haircut, now I don't know what to do with my bangs!!!)

Christylee

I made her this birthday card. Gotta love my cricut!

Yesterday Christylee and I went out to lunch to celebrate our birthdays. We decided to eat at Shorty Smalls. The cheese sticks we ordered were HUGE! I had the Turkey Club Croissant while she had a Pepper Jack Burger. After lunch we went to Babies R Us to look around. We found some cute things for Lily...and some things that just made us shake our heads. Happy Birthday Christylee (and yes I'm a day older than she is!!!)

Holiday Tortellini Soup

I made this for me and Luke on Monday night. It is really good and super easy. I served it with a loaf of french bread.

Holiday Tortellini Soup

2 T. olive oil (I didn't use this...no need if you use bacon!)

2 oz. pancetta or bacon finely diced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (49.5 oz) chicken broth (I used 4 regular cans of chicken broth)

2 t. Italian Seasoning

1 pkg (9oz) cheese tortellini (this is in the freezer section by the pizza)

1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes in puree

8 oz. fresh spinach rinsed, stemmed, chopped (next time I'll chop mine a little smaller!)

Salt and pepper to taste......It really doesn't need any salt!!!

1 c. freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (we just use the can stuff!)

Heat oil in dutch oven. Brown off bacon in oil. Add onion and cook til tender. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute more. Add broth and Italian seasoning and simmer about 5 minutes. In the meantime (in another pot) fix the tortellini according to the directions on the bag. Drain. Add cooked tortellini to the broth mixture. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer about 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook til just wilted. Season to taste. Top each bowl with Parmesan cheese.

Pork Chops with Amber Rice

I decided to make a new recipe tonight for dinner. I wanted to use what I had in the pantry. So I looked through my trusty old cookbooks and found this one! This picture was taken before it cooked, so I'm sure it will look a little better then. It sure sounds good!

Pork Chops with Amber Rice

6 or 8 Pork Chops (I used 4)

1 1/3 c. precooked rice (this means Minute Rice uncooked....at least I'm hoping LOL)

1 c. orange juice

1 can chicken with rice soup

Brown pork chops. Place 1 1/3 c. Minute Rice in oblong baking dish. Pour 1 c. orange juice over the top of the rice. Place in chops. Pour chicken with rice soup over chops. Brown in oven at 350 degrees. The recipe didn't say how long....I'm thinking 30 minutes or so. We'll see!

Men....you gotta love 'em!

So Luke and I were discussing my foot yet again for like the 100000th time tonight. I told him that I was a little discouraged at not being able to drive my own stinkin' car. I then mentioned to my lovely husband...that since he had been driving my car lately (5 months now) that the spring in the drivers seat had gotten worse. It has made a small hole over time in my seat...but usually I never notice it...that is until today. Talk about a pain in your behind!!! My lovely, supportive, wonderful husband then told me....and I quote, "Well, maybe your cheeks have just gotten bigger." So that ended our family dinner for tonight. I got up and started doing this dishes....then turned to Luke and said, "Well, if your cheeks weren't so big to begin with my spring wouldn't have had a problem!" We both ended up laughing over our words!

Big Hopes & High Dreams

Last night I was so excited to be able to drive MY car to scrapbooking. You may not have realized, but I haven't been able to drive my car in 6 months!!! Being a standard, it was impossible to bend your sesamoid bone to push the clutch in. Last night I really wanted to give it a try. I was able to do it! So, this morning Luke got all his stuff switched over to his car. I went to Bible Study and decided to hit Walmart on the way home. Driving through traffic on military....my foot begin to hurt pushing the clutch in. When I got to Walmart, it hurt to walk around. So, I got my car all cleaned up for nothing (I ran it through the car wash today and cleaned the insides too!!!). Oh well. Looks like I'm back in the Honda until I can push the clutch in pain free.

I'm not really complaining I guess.... I mean I'm in tennis shoes after 6 months of a boot. I can walk Tyndall Park (even if it is 1 lap), I can do my 1 mile walking video at home, and I can go to Walmart by myself....what more could a girl want! Well, all except to be able to drive a stylish little red, Ford Focus.

Scrap Mania Weekend

Sherry & Ali

Carrie

Amy

Regina

Michelle, Arlyn, Terri

Wendy & Myra

The Friday gang...I think we had about 26 there on Friday and 10 on Saturday!

My Cake I loved it!!! My birthday is actually this Friday (23rd!)

This weekend we had our Scrap Mania weekend. It was SO much fun. We scrapped to our hearts content. On Friday it went until midnight. Mom surprised me with an early birthday cake that was REALLY good. Mom was not at all happy with what it looked like, but the cake was super moist. We left the church at midnight. I, of course, couldn't sleep Friday night at all! I think I only got 2 hours! Then Mom and I headed back up to the church on Saturday. We all brought something to share for lunch and we scrapped until 3. What a day! I am still trying to rest up....scrapbooking is hard work! I took pics Friday night, but was too busy to do so on Saturday! Enjoy!

A Spinach, Artichoke, & Roasted Red Pepper Dip

I made this dip for a party with my Scrapbook Ladies. It was really good....I'm kinda surprised because I'm not a big fan at all of artichokes. If you want to see the pic of it look at Paula Deen's current issue on page 41. I took a pic, but it made the dip look nasty...and well hers is prettier!

Here's the recipe:
1 T. butter
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 (6 oz.) jar artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 c. roasted red peppers (it's in a jar near the pickles at wally world!)
1 (5oz) bag baby spinach
1/4 c. half and half (I just used milk)
1 (3oz. pkg) cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheeses (I used the pizza blend)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
Toasted baguette chips ( I used tortilla chips instead)

Preheat oven to 425. Spray a 2 c. baking dish. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender. About 10 minutes. Add artichoke hearts (which I chopped finely along with the roasted red peppers), red peppers to the onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add spinach in 2 additions letting it wilt. Cook about 6 minutes until everything is wilted. Pour mixture into a colander and let drain. In same pan, melt cream cheese, milk, and sour cream until all is melted together. Add your spinach mixture to this. Add 1/4 cup cheese to the mixture. Pour into baking dish. Top with cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until bubbly. Serve hot.

** It says you can make this 1 day in advance and put in the fridge. Let come to room temperature before you bake it. What a deal!

Sassy Scraps Crop

Me

My table

Ann

Selena...she kept saying she had to get an X machine....looked in her bag and she already bought one! LOL!

This past Saturday I was able to attend an all day crop here in Benton. My friends Selena and Ann went with me too. It was a GREAT crop. The food was good, snacks hit the spot, and it was so quiet! We got a table all to ourselves. I was able to complete 15 double page layouts!

Football Game Night

Sweet little Kate....she was too much fun!

Some of the great food

Amber, Me, Kasie

Luke, Chris, Kevin, Mark

Last night Luke and I went to Mark and Ambers for some football on TV. We had some great food! I made Cake Truffles....a recipe Alicen gave me. Let's just say hers were WAY cuter but mine tasted pretty good too! I even made a Harry & David Cheese ball and some tortilla roll-ups. Kasie made a veggie pizza & Bean Dip. Amber made Little Smokies and cheese dip. We had SO much food, but it was really good. The football game, well I couldn't tell you who played or who won. I was there to visit! We had a great time! Thanks ya'll for a great evening!

I'll leave ya with the Cake Ball Recipe:

1 box cake mix-your flavor cooked according to the box

1 tub frosting-any flavor

1 pkg. Chocolate Almond Bark

1 pkg. White Almond Bark

Bake cake according to the directions. After the cake has cooled, pulse it to pieces in the food processor. (feels kinda wrong doing this). Add 1 can of frosting to the cake pieces and make into balls. Dip in the chocolate. Drizzle the other chocolate on top. Chill in the fridge. They are pretty good!!!

*I did yellow cake mix and white frosting. I think a Strawberry Cake mix, Strawberry frosting and dip those babies in some chocolate....YUMMY!!!!

Ice, Ice, Everywhere!

I put the dogs up early today because it is SO cold outside. I looked to the left of the patio and noticed our Crepe Myrtle covered in ice. I had to take a picture, it was too pretty to miss!