And The Winner Is . . .

One of my new blog land buddies, Stacie has graciously presented me with this Honest Scrap award. I just started following Stacie's blog after we met at the Nester's swap meet a few weeks ago. She is a really sweet lady and we had a blast spending time together.


In accepting this award, I need to do the following:


1. Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2. Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.


10 Random/Honest Things about Me:

1. I am the oldest, youngest, middle and only child of 5 kids. (That's a post for another day!)
2. I dropped out of college get married and have a child when I was 19 years old. I finished my degree after my 2nd child was born in 2002. I use my teaching degree to teach my own children at home.
3. I love soup! I love making soups from scratch and in large batches. I can eat soup even on the hottest, stickiest North Carolina day. My husband looks as though he might pass out when I order soup in the summer.
4. I love to bake and cook. Every year starting in September, I start making Amish Friendship Bread. I keep 2 batches of starter going 5 days apart from each other and I bake, wrap and freeze the breads as gifts for Christmas. Last year, I baked my last batch on December 23rd and had over 80 loaves of bread to give out.
5. I could spend hours at the mall or any store for that matter and never spend a dime . . . especially if they sell furniture, fabric, home decor items, flooring, paint or shoes. I LOVE SHOES!!!
6. The first time I met my husband, I was a little afraid of the dorky guy in the Tazmanian Devil t-shirt and duck slippers. My fears were validated when he introduced himself to me as "Tater". I didn't find out his real name until we started dating a year and a half later and I met his sister and she called him "Mike". He is still just as strange as ever.
7. I am quote sure that I probably require medication for OCD. I have this thing where the inside of everything has to be exactly right and it looks like an advertisement for California Closets or something like that. The funny thing is that I have 3 boys (ages 12, 8 and 4) and a husband which means no one cares about what anything looks like and they are all slobs. I am slowly converting my 12 year old.
8. I have a photographic memory and I live in a house with 4 other people who are also blessed with this gift. I have found that it makes for really long drawn out explanations of everything because they feel like they have to describe everything from every angle using every sense. It also causes arguments like, "No it wasn't a white shirt, it was off-white."
9. I hate the feeling of newspaper. I cannot touch it with my bare hands. It makes my teeth hurt. Even typing this and thinking about newspaper is making my teeth hurt. When we moved and I had to pack up breakables, I wrapped everything in rags and clothing. I can read a newspaper if I don't have to touch it or if I am wearing gloves but even the smell of it makes me nauseous. I am going to stop talking about it before you send someone to my house to take me away to the psychiatric hospital.
10. I love fast, high, spinning rides. There is not a ride on earth that I will not try.


I tag... Rona, Amy, Terri, Nester, Jen, Emily, and Tracey because as different as they all are, they have all brought creative ideas, insight, encouragement, a great recipe, new friendships, spiritual advice, or laughs to me through their blogs. Thanks for being real, girls!

Prayers Answered

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Michael's job will be changing for the better. We are SOOOOO excited about this. I will let everyone know more when I find out more details. This is going to be a great year!

My Late Post About The Swap Meet

Pardon my tardiness. Yesterday was a crazy day. I was all set to take the boys to the movies with friends but all 3 decided to show me their "Mr. Hyde" so I said, "That's it! We are NOT going to the movies with our friends." As they sat there crying and begging for forgiveness, mercy and second chances, I said, "And there will be no Wii or TV either." To which Judah asked, " Well, can we go to the pool?" You gotta love 4 year olds!




We did not go to the pool. We did chores! Caleb, my peace maker, did everything I asked and tried to motivate the others.

Jeremy snuck off to his room to play with Legos but I did make hime help with the laundry when I found him.

Judah . . . well, I am just grateful that he did not try to make a bigger mess while we were cleaning.
He picked up fruit snack and granola bar wrappers and picked up the crayons.

We ended the day with more pizza creations (which I did not photograph). We had Black bean and shrimp with Mexican cheese blend and spinach alfredo pizzas. The boys actually preferred the bean pizza. We watched The Sandlot while we picniced on the family room floor.


This morning . . . Let's just say everyone is being super obedient today!


So one week ago, I attended a Swap Meet at the Nester's house. I met so many lovely ladies. Some that I knew from following their blogs and others that I am following now. It was a wonderful time of food, fun, fellowship and . . . getting new stuff (I couldn't think of another word that started with "f" that fit here). I got some lovely mossy green fabric and trim to match, tan curtain panels and a tall skinny lamp that I'll be using on my buffet in the dining room. I will post more on these items as I figure out how I will be using them.

There was so much food and while I tried to be healthy and brough a fruit tray (I know . . . boring), Stacie brought these yummy simple little treats made with bugles, peanut butter, chocolate and sprinkles. For a sweet/salty junky like myself, this was like CRACK and they were wonderful. I will be making them in the near future. Oh and Stacie was very sweet and great to talk to. Jen, Kimba, Richella, Emily (the Nester's sister), Bonita and Terri were just some of the ladies that I met that day. They are all just as fun and genuine as they are on their blogs. Here are some photos of my fun Saturday.







Here is one of me and the Nester. She is just as real and sweet as she can be!



All of these ladies have posts about the swap and we all hope to do another one.

Pizza That Cleans Out The Fridge

The other day my fridge was full of bits and ends of meals that were not enough to just reheat and eat alone so I had to get creative. I knew that pizza would be something that would be eaten with no complaints so . . . I pulled 2 partially baked pizza crusts out of the freezer and all my ends of food out onto the counter to brainstorm. I had made shrimp with spaghetti the night before and since shrimp was $4.99/lb at Harris Teeter, I made 2 pounds instead of one (which is never enough for my boys anyway). All of the spaghetti was eaten but there were 21 shrimp leftover. They had been cooked in a yummy lemon, garlic and herb mixture so I knew they would be fine on a pizza. I had also made some pesto using baby spinach earlier in the week and had a small container of it ready to be spread all over a pizza crust. I wasn't sure the kids would eat the pizza with only the pesto as the sauce so I mixed a little bit of jar Alfredo sauce that I had in the pantry into the pesto. And so I began to build.

Here is my thawed partially baked pizza crust with the pesto/Alfredo mixture and my leftover shrimp.

Then I realized that our oldest was not going to eat the pizza because he just recently decided that he does not like shrimp. I planned on making the second pizza a cheese pizza but I thought he might be weirded out by the sauce. I chopped up 2 Roma tomatoes that I had in the fridge and sauteed them in EVOO and a little kosher salt until they started to break down.

I ran them through the blender and mixed them into the rest of the Alfredo/pesto mixture. It made a lovely creamy tomato sauce.

I spread the sauce on the crust that was to be the cheese pizza.

There was a little leftover so I spooned it over the shrimp on the other pizza.

I topped both pizzas with a bag of pre-shredded Italian blend cheese. Here is the cheese pizza.

Here is the shrimp pizza going into a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I just put the pizza right on the oven rack.

Here is the cheese pizza baked for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is as golden as you like it.

Here is the shrimp pizza. I didn't want the shrimp to get over cooked so I took it out at the early stages of doneness.

Both pizzas were devoured and it took less than 30 minutes total to make them because I used leftovers to make some very gourmet style pizzas. My friend's son was over for dinner and he said I should give his mom the recipe. The bonus was that all 4 boys (my 3 and our guest) ate spinach without even knowing it.

What are your favorite leftover recipes?

What is up with me?

I vowed in April to start blogging more regularly. You see how well I've done. Later on tonight I am going to do a post complete with pictures. BUT, for now, I will just ask your forgiveness for breaking my vow and let you know that I have much to share. Come back later.