Recipe and Hunting Pictures

We had our first MOPS meeting this morning, and I said I would bring an egg dish. You may or may not know this about me, but I'm not really an egg dish kind of person. I always skip the quiches and frittatas on the buffet table. But, I found a recipe on AllRecipes that I thought was pretty good. I actually went back for two more pieces after I finished my first one. And that's sayin' somethin'. So, here it is:

SPICY SAUSAGE QUICHE

1 lb bulk pork sausage

1 C shredded Cheddar cheese

1 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 C chopped onion

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 T minced jalapeno pepper

10 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain and crumble. Spread into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, onion, chile peppers, and jalapeno pepper. In a medium bowl, mix eggs with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over contents of baking dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares.

Now, I know this isn't really a quiche. A quiche has a crust. So, feel free to change the name to whatever you want. Spicy Sausage and Egg Casserole or something. Just try it.

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Jason wanted me to share some of the pictures he took while he was up hunting. So here they are.

This is Paynes Lake, the area where the guys were hunting.

Mount Shasta with a full moon behind it. Jay just informed me that this picture is from last year.Phillip, a friend of ours and Jason's hunting buddyJasonSee that black blob on the horizon? That is smoke from a fire that was about 5 miles from where the guys were hunting.
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Well, that's it for tonight. I planned to post about some stuff I've been thinking on lately, but I will work on that tomorrow. I'm making a serious attempt to get to bed at or before 10 o'clock every night, so if I want to take a bath before then, I better get going. I will try to get on tomorrow, after I cross off a couple things from my To-Do list.

Chalkboard Fridge

Okay, so as my sister mentioned on her blog, I painted my fridge with chalkboard paint so that I could write my To Do list in a very visible place. So, I'm here posting pictures of the process, writing about how I did it, my afterthoughts on the whole thing, and how it's been working for me. Hmm...maybe I should save this post for "Works For Me Wednesday." Nah...here I go.

I got to thinking one night that I wanted to paint a big chalkboard somewhere, so I could make my To Do list big and visible. That way I would always have a constant reminder of what needed to happen next. I thought about several places (the front of a cabinet door, the side of the pantry, a section of wall in the dining room). I finally settled on the fridge. We have a friend whose old fridge was a chalkboard, and I always thought I might like that. It had a big enough space for lots of items, it was highly visible, and it also had enough room for the kids to be able to use it too.

I Googled around the internet, trying to find specific instructions for chalkboard painting a refrigerator. 'Cause I'm ALL ABOUT specific instructions. But I couldn't find any. So I took my best guess on how to proceed.

I bought a can of chalkboard paint at WalMart. It cost around $10, I think. If you can't find it at your WalMart, try looking by the spray paints. That's where I finally found mine.

I debated on how to apply the paint. I figured a brush would leave stroke marks, and a roller might splatter. I finally settled on a 4-inch sponge brush. The guys at my local hardware store said it should work, since the fridge was smooth and wouldn't tear up the brush.

I tried to decide whether to apply an appliance primer first. Somewhere I had read that someone "just slapped on two coats of chalkboard paint and they were good to go." So, I didn't prime first. Hindsight being 20/20, this is the only thing I would change about this project. Even though Jason sanded the fridge surface first, it was still really slick. Some of the paint will scratch off if you scrape your nail or a piece of chalk wrong.

I removed the handles from both doors. I washed down the front of the fridge to get off all the gunk. After Jason sanded it, I washed it down again, just to get any dust off.To protect the floor from paint splatter, I taped down a strip of paper from our big roll. You could just lay down newspaper. The first night I applied a coat of the paint. There were some spots where you could still see some white, but I knew I was doing another coat the next night, so I wasn't concerned. Watch for sections where you get the paint on thick. It will run and leave drip spots as it dries. The second night I did another coat. *I was doing everything at night after the kids went to bed. You actually only need to wait for six hours between coats.* I decided to do a third coat, hoping it would help the slick issue. So the third night I did one more coat. You have to wait a full 24 hours after you apply the last coat before you can use your new chalkboard. So the next night I was ready to break it in. You do that by rubbing the side of a piece of "school grade" chalk across the entire surface and then wiping it off with a felt eraser. You can see in the picture below the difference in the two doors.
And here is my finished door, with my To Do list ready to go. Jason likes to stand in front of the door and ask me if I've done things on my list, just so he can cross them off. Of course, I tell him to get lost. Only I get to cross things off my list!

I am really enjoying my new chalkboard. I love having my list so handy. And it's great to have my hubby see all the things I have crossed off at the end of the day. And the kids like their chalkboard too. Sierra drew a city map all over the bottom door, complete with roads and buildings. And Tyner made his magnetic dinosaurs loom over the buildings, as if ready to stomp them to bits.

Well, I hope this answers any questions you might have on chalkboarding a fridge. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Zeke's First Haircut

This is why the boy needed a haircut. He's got bangs like his sister. They grow right down into his eyes.Grandma did the cutting, I did the picture taking. I have my priorities in line, folks. Not cutting my baby is my first priority. Watching someone else cut my baby is my second.
Can you tell he likes it?
Help me!
Keeping Zeke occupied wasn't easy. Until we gave him his brothers McDonald's toy. I knew that place was good for something.
Uh, I'm pretty sure she cut off more hair than this....
All done! Isn't he handsome?

"Leaving a trail of destruction that's second to none..."

Zeke likes to wander aimlessly around the house, making messes as he goes. He will go from one spot to another, pulling things out of drawers and off shelves, spreading them out as he crawls away. Here are a few of his favorite dumpsites.

Okay, this isn't really a mess, but it's pretty funny. He likes to try to crawl under the dining room chairs, but he high centers himself on the bar. Somebody has to save him everytime.

He loves to pull the kids' boots off our shoe shelf by the front door. I actually couldn't get in the door one day because he and the boots made it impossible to open.

Random papers and art supplies that he took out of the kids' craft cabinet. He also pulls coloring books and our big roll of paper out of there. He hasn't discovered the drawers with the crayons, markers, and scissors yet, thank God.

The only drawer in the kitchen he gets to play with. He has had everything in the front half of the drawer out at one time. The drawer is kind of hard to pull out, so he doesn't get to the back half very often.

Well, those are just a few of Zeke's hotspots. Though these pictures don't include the bookshelf, the computer desk, his toy box, the wooden puzzles under his crib, and the dirty towels basket in our bedroom. This little man likes to explore his surroundings, but I'm hoping I can teach him to clean up as well as he dirties down.

Random Family Pictures

Oh boy, guys. This is bad. Really bad. I just downloaded over a hundred pictures off my camera. Yikes! Talk about dropping the ball. Then again, maybe I should be proud of myself for taking over a hundred pictures in just over a month. At least I'm using my camera, right?

I won't post all 117 pictures, though. I picked my favorites to share with you. These are just some random moments in our lives. I will post more specific ones next (i.e. the chalkboarded fridge, Zeke's first haircut, etc.).

So, here they are, in no particular order. Okay, that's not true. I'm too anal for "no particular order." So, here they are, in chronological order.

***WARNING: There are lots of pictures to look at. But trust me, they're worth it. My kids are really cute!***

Zeke eating his favorite snack. The kid is obsessed with Cheerios. Why is it that when you bring a baby toy in, FOR THE BABY, the big kids immediately descend on it?

Bath pictures. Those dirty crawler's feet should tell you why he needed a bath.


Our new faucet. The old one was leaking. DON'T LOOK AT THE DIRTY DISHES!!!
Sierra fell asleep reading one night.
Sierra was helping him walk in these all-cloth cowboy boots.

'Cause I'm the coolest mom EVER!


Just some cute pictures of my baby man.

He ends up with his eyes closed in a lot of the pictures I take of him. Maybe my flash is too bright?
First 4-wheeler ride.
Love the Mama.
At least Sierra and I look cute.
This is how interactions between Zeke and Tyner usually go. Somebody poking somebody else.

The kids playing crazy on the swing.

The wind was blowing hard. See his hair?
We all went for a ride.

Tyner was sleeping like this during a nap one day.
OMG! He looks so old. :*(
I had to give him the Tupperware cupboard so he would stay out of the pots and pans and bakeware.

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures.

O! M! G!

I am so sorry for the month-long blogging break. Sometimes life gets in the way, ya' know? Just thought I'd post a quick note that says "I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN YOU!" I hope you enjoy the new look of the blog. And I will be back tomorrow to post some pictures and things. I promise....I think.

Beth

P.S. Please DO NOT look at the time this was posted. My husband is gone hunting, and I'm not always so good at getting to bed at a decent time when he's not here. :D