Vacation 2010

I know, some of you are thinking, "How can she be talking about vacation for next year?" Well, Vacation is something I look forward to all year long, so as soon as I can plan our vacation for the next year, I do. We had a lot of different thoughts about vacation this year. I had it narrowed down to Puerto Rico, Cancun, and Hilton Head. I did a lot of research on all the different places, and read a ton of reviews about each resort. It all really came down to what would be the most economical (Cheap) vacation. I called Member Services today, and we will be celebrating our 6th anniversary in Hilton Head Island, SC. We will be staying at the Disney Vacation Club Resort. (Which we are members of) We spent a week there in May, 2006 and have wanted to go back ever since. Hilton Head is a great vacation spot. It's not very "touristy" and that is what we love most about it. I'm sure I will be writing more about this as it gets closer. Only 207 more days!

Beautiful

This morning, Andrew is playing in the praise band at church, so we had to be there at 7:30 am, that meant we had to leave our house at 6:30. I wasn't planning on going with him, and I was going to drive later on for the third service at 11:30, but last night I decided we would just ride together. Well, the Lord blessed me with the most beautiful sunrise this morning. It was worth getting up at 5:45 am!

Scratch made biscuits anyone?

That's right, I got up this morning and made biscuits, from scratch.
So good with some home made strawberry jam.
This was my first attempt at making biscuits, and they turned out
pretty good.

I've been tagged

I was tagged by Sarah's Sweethearts. I guess I'll play along.

A - Age: 27
B - Bed size: queen
C - Chore you hate: dusting
D - Dog's name: Molly and Toby
E - Essential start your day item: Hot Shower
F - Favorite color: Purple
G - Gold or Silver: silver
H - Height: 5'6"
I - I am: wondering what will happen next
J - Job: Executive Administrator for an Industrial Construction Company
K - Kids: Praying that God will bless us with one.
L - Living arrangements: House
M - Mom's name: Linda
N - Nicknames: Toot-Toot, Spongie
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: slept in the hospital room with Andrew when he had his surgery.
P - Pet Peeve: Stupidity
Q - Quote from a movie:Clairee Belcher: [about the new mayor's wife dancing] Looks like two pigs fightin' under a blanket. (Steel Magnolias)
R - Right or left handed: right
S - Siblings: 3 sisters
T - Time you wake up: Supposed to get up at 6:30am, but doesn't always happen
U- Underwear: yes
V - Vegetable you dislike: mushrooms YUCK!
W - Ways you run late: overslept
X - X-rays you've had: ankle
Y - Yummy food you make: Tacos, chili beans, ziti, and lots of baked goods.
Z - Zoo favorite: monkeys

Now it's my turn to tag someone. Hope you play along
Mom - The Adventures of Pat and Linda
Sarah - She's a Peach
Amy - Timpe's Times
Abigail - Adventures in Mommyhood
Sara - Sara Joanna

The Difference Between the North and the South

Having been born in the north and living there for 13 years, but living in the south for the last 14 years, I can attest to most of these.

The North has Bloomingdale's , the South has Dollar General .
The North has coffee houses, the South has Waffle Houses .
The North has dating services, the South has family reunions.
The North has switchblade knives; the South has .45's
The North has double last names; the South has double first names.
The North has Indy car races; The South has stock car races .
North has Cream of Wheat , the South has grits.
The North has green salads, the South has collard greens .
The North has lobsters, the South has crawfish .
The North has the rust belt; the South has the Bible Belt .

FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . . ....
In the South : If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store... Do not buy food at this store.
Remember, 'Y'all' is singular, 'all y'all' is plural, and 'all y'all's' is plural possessive.
Get used to hearing 'You ain't from round here, are ya?'
Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.
Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective 'big'ol,' truck or 'big'ol' boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.
The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper .
Be advised that 'He needed killin..' is a valid defense here.
If you hear a Southerner exclaim, 'Hey, y'all watch this,' you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.
If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.
Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mamas taught them how to aim.
In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.

I got this in an e-mail from my Dad. Thought it was too funny not to post. Thanks Dad!

My Quest to Make the best cake balls

Well, I'm getting better. Practice makes perfect...that's my motto. Of course, the more I practice, the tighter my pants get...hahahaha! But, the people at work love being the taste testers.

Last weekend, I set out to perfect my method of rolling and dipping the cake balls. I tried strawberry cake and yellow cake. After the cake cooled completely, I crumbled it up and mixed in the icing. After it was good and mixed, I put the bowl in the freezer. After the mixture was in the freezer for about an hour, I took it out, and started rolling out the balls.

After all of the balls were rolled out, I put the trays in the freezer and left them over night. The next day, I started the dipping process. Freezing them before hand does much better then when they are soft. Last week, I used a double boiler to melt the chocolate, and it never really got melted completely. This time, I used the microwave to melt the chocolate, and that worked a lot better.

This time I used a spoon to get them out of the chocolate. I have tried using 2 forks and tooth picks, but the spoon works the best.

These turned out a lot better then the ones I did last week. They were covered more completely and with a thicker layer of coating. Still not as good as Bakerella, but I'm getting closer.

And really, it doesn't matter what they look like, because they were Delicious!

Next time, I'm going to be trying red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Both dipped in vanilla almond bark coating.

It's getting cold....

You never really know what to expect during Fall in the South. Some days it is in the 80's and then others, it gets down to the 50's. Yesterday was one of those cold, wet, rainy days. After work, I decided to make some Chili for dinner. I headed to Food Lion to pick up what I needed.
I use several different varieties of beans, plus one can of Salsa, one pound of ground turkey, and one package of taco seasoning. You can also use ground beef, but turkey is a little healthier.

Once you brown the meat, add the taco seasoning and let that sit for a few minutes. Then start adding the beans and salsa. It's that easy.

While the beans are getting nice and tasty, it's time to make the cornbread. Why make corn bread from scratch, when you can use Jiffy? It's easy and cheap, and it tastes really good.

After 20 minutes in the oven, the cornbread is ready. I like to eat my cornbread while it is still warm with a little butter on it. What a yummy dinner for a cold, rainy night.

I made a huge pot, so now I have plenty to freeze and leftovers for several days. I usually make this about once a month between October and March. It's so easy, and so good.

Cake Balls - A Wonderful Thing

This past weekend I made some carrot cake, cake balls. Although very time consuming to make, they were also very easy to make. And of course, the final product was Delicious.

I have seen on many different blogger's post a recipe for cake balls, but one particular lady goes above and beyond just cake balls. These are what mine looked like

and these are what hers look like.

She doesn't just do balls, she does cake pops too!

My goal it to try and perfect the cake ball and be able to make mine look half as good as Bakerella's.

Let me know if you try making them, and what flavor cake you use. I will be making some more this weekend.

Here is the recipe:

You can use any cake combinations.
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

TIP: Only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot.

Fun times at the apple orchard

Andrew and I went up to Hendersonville, NC to Grandad's apple orchard today.
Aren't we cute?