My roots

When I was in college, I spent two summers working in Ft. Worth and living with my Aunt Estelle and Uncle Dale Haley. Estelle is my dad's older sister - the middle of three children - and a retired school teacher. She was never low on advice, and as they had no kids, I was quickly adopted as their own. In the two summers, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with Estelle as she cooked something delicious (and not good for my waistline but alas at 19 and 21, I didn't care so much). She didn't have a wide repertoire of recipes, but what she did cook was done with perfection and simplicity.

Because I love you so much, I will impart on you the three recipes I got my from Aunt Estelle that I cannot live without. These are generally from "The Valley" - no, not California Valley Girls, but the Rio Grande Valley where my dad spent much of his childhood. I am writing these like she did, so forgive me if it's not organized.

King Ranch Casserole (6 servings)

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can of chicken broth
1/2 can of Rotel or 1-6 oz can of chopped green chiles
1 small sweet onion, chopped
4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped, or you can cheat with a rotisserie chicken - all of the meat chopped
1 dozen corn tortillas, cut or torn into med size pieces
2 cups of shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Mix first 5 ingredients for the sauce. Spray 9x12 pyrex dish with oil. Layer tortillas, chicken, sauce, cheese - twice, ending with cheese on top.

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

Note: I fixed this tonight and my kids cleaned their plates! I also add some chili powder to the chicken to give it some smokey flavor. Salt and cumin wouldn't hurt either.

Chicken Enchiladas

Cook and chop two whole chicken breasts. Mix 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, 2 small cans chopped green chiles, 1 can tomatoes chopped (can substitute drained Rotel for the last two items). Mix 1/2 of the sauce with the chicken, and reserve the rest. Soften corn tortillas in heated oil in a skillet for just a dip. Roll chicken/sauce spoonfuls in tortillas and lay them in a pyrex (greased). Add small amount of water to remaining sauce and pour over the enchiladas. Top with shredded cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend). Bake at 325 F until cheese melts and sides are bubbling - about 45 min.

Recipe came from Dianne Haley from Laredo, TX.

And the coveted....

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp oil (veg or olive)
2 cups of diced and cooked chicken
1-14 oz can chicken broth
1-14 oz can beef broth
1-10 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups water
2-4 oz cans chopped green chiles
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp A1 sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
6 tortillas cut into small pieces (1/2")
shredded cheddar cheese
Corn chips or fried corn tortillas (I use Fritos)

Sauté onion and garlic in oil in a large soup pot. Add all but last three ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to low. Simmer for 45 min. Cook uncovered for 10 min after adding corn tortilla pieces. Serve in a bowl and top with cheese and chips.

Note: This is my secret weapon :) Kids won't generally eat it, but adults will polish it off during cold weather and football. Keeps good in the fridge and reheats well!

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Crafting in my spare time (what??)

I got this beautiful fall wreath from my mom for my birthday, handmade with love and lots of hours. She brought it to Fred's house for our joint birthday celebration, and Fred oohed and awed over it. Meanwhile, I had been seeing these "how to make ribbon wreaths" on Pinterest and had wanted to try my hand at it. So I set off to Michael's to make a wreath for Fred's front door.

I got a wire frame, sparkly pipe cleaners for wire (which I cut in half) a large spool of mesh ribbon, two rolls of other sparkly ribbon, and then some floral decor for the final product.

Here's my progress photos - it cost about $25 (some fall stuff was on sale) and took me about an hour to complete.

First layer of mesh ribbon. I went four times around from the inside to the outside and had plenty of ribbon left. Leave a tail at the beginning and end if you want one. They had gold and chocolate brown for fall colors - I picked gold to not be too dark. They had other colors but mostly bright primes and neons.


After four layers.


Added first decorative ribbon, alternating front and back tying spots. This took the whole roll plus had two tails. Just a decorative diamond pattern in fall colors.


Second ribbon added, alternating the opposite sides from the first. It had fall leaves on it.


Final touches - added a leafy backing, with a sparkly leaf overlay, and then some berries on too. I wrapped the bottom stems with some chocolate wire ribbon I had to hide the plastic stems. Secured it with the pipecleaner wires onto the bottom of the wreath at the tail section.


On my front door!



This was my first time doing this, and I'll probably branch out at Christmas time. I saw some burlap ribbon that I would like to try to see if it works as well.

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Lest we forget...

Eleven years ago today I was working on a construction job on an island down in the Caribbean.  Life was easy; the sun was shining, the sand warm, and the fruity cocktails flowing. I was heading home in a week for good, and looking forward to getting back to my normal life.  Little did I know, I would never get back to life as I had previously known it. 

This day, eleven years ago, our lives were changed permanently.  We have learned alot since that day about the resilience of a people, about how as Americans we are able to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and move on with our lives.  We did not let what happened that day weaken our resolution to be a better society.

Our President George W. Bush soon after the attacks on NYC visited Ground Zero and spoke to hundreds of rescue workers there in his famous bullhorn speech.

 

President Bush: "Thank you all. I want you all to know -- it [bullhorn] can't go any louder -- I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens."

Rescue Worker: "I can't hear you!"

President Bush: "I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"

Rescue Workers: [Chanting] "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"

President Bush: "The nation -- The nation sends its love and compassion --"

Rescue Worker: "God bless America!"

President Bush: "-- to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for makin' the nation proud, and may God bless America."

Rescue Workers: [Chanting] "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"

 

This speech and many more to follow inspired us as a people, provided some words of condolence for those who had lost friends and family, and also told the world that we as Americans would not stand for such insolence, radicalism, and hatred.

 

This brings me to my thoughts I had today while driving into work, recalling that sinking feeling of watching the twin towers crater into rubble and people jumping from the top floors to avoid being burned to death or crushed to death. 

 

Today I let the memory of what insolence, radicalism, and hatred can do to a nation remind me that even if I feel so strongly about my way of life, about my beliefs, my religion, my political stance, that I should never let radicalism and hatred drive me to act on that hate. 

 

Don't misinterpret what I'm saying.  We should fight for what we believe in.  And just as importantly, fight to defend our right to believe in it.  But always fight fairly and in a way that your God would be proud of.  I don't believe for one second that the God of the 9/11 attackers was proud of what they did, nor encouraged it. 

 

What this means for us today as a nation, as we face elections coming up, and as we watch with disgust the twisting of a political debate into debauchery by the media, we should take the time to evaluate ourselves fully and what we truly believe in, without the influence of the media slant, and then stand firm by our beliefs.  And then voice that belief with your vote... and not with insolence, radicalism, and hatred towards others.  This is how we take the first step to becoming the better nation that we told ourselves we would be after this day eleven years ago.

 

Random rants

Annie lost her second tooth this week. Unfortunately I was out of town, and her daddy's tooth fairy brought significantly more cash than my tooth fairy did for tooth #1. At least she hasn't quite figured out the full value of the numbers on the bills yet, so my $1 doesn't seem too puny. Here's the toothless wonder herself.




This May is going to be chaos. I literally had to make a separate schedule for myself for the kids activities (besides my normal calendar) between now and when school gets out so I don't miss anything. So far we've got:

Kindergarten field day
Kindergarten picnic
Elementary school carnival
Kindergarten math day
Mother's day brunch with Will
Will's book fair
3 birthday parties
Two dance recital rehearsals
One dance recital
And one cousin's baptism

I need three months to get all that done! I mean seriously, is it all necessary? Can't they combine the field day, picnic, and math hour into one relay event that's a hot dog eating, potato sack race where they count their hops? And two dance rehearsals? Seems extreme for six yr olds who are going to mostly stand there anyway... I mean we're really only there to see them in costume anyway, right?

On that note, I swear my daughter's ballet costume looks like a Playboy bunny outfit. It IS a bunny costume, tutu, tail, ears and all. If she was 16 instead of 6, it would be obscene. Yikes!

Speaking of obscene, Annie has recently noticed her "ribs". That's what she called them at least when she asked me where mine were and looked down the front of my shirt. I had to explain to her that her breasts were not her ribs, however absent they might be at the moment. Hopefully she'll inherit her "ribs" from my sister or my Aunt Margaret and not from me, as she searches desperately down my blouse for them to appear...

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Beijing or bust

Okay folks... It's 10pm in LAX which means its midnight at home and Carrie's starting to get a little punchy in the Asiana Airlines Star Alliance lounge. Daryll and my other brother Daryll are sitting a few seats over from me and I had to put on my head phones because they make Larry the Cable guy look classy. I mean, really folks... I'm from Texas. It's that bad.

I have a good two hours here in the lounge after three in the bar before I could get my boarding pass. I'll be happy to be on my way soon if I can stay awake. I'm normally early to bed, early to rise, so this might just get interesting since my flight doesn't leave til 2:30am Houston time.

The Asian population is high here in the international terminal - kind of already feels like China but with the TSA. In fact, the TSA agent who checked my boarding pass and passport called my honey AND sweetheart, but didn't even ask for my number... I feel jipped.

I'm going to speak at a conference in Beijing, and as much as I know you would all be impressed, I will not be doing my presentation in Mandarin. Next time maybe.

I'll be home soon!

Adios muchachos!


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Location:Los Angeles,United States

Spring Break a leg? I hope not!

Well, my love Fred is taking me, his 16 yr old son Nick, and cousin Bruno snow skiing to Steamboat, CO, tomorrow for a whole week. Nick is going to hone in on his snowboarding expertise. Bruno has been practicing for months in the French Alps. And Fred, well Fred has been on snow skies since he was a wee tot.

Me... well that's another story. As most of you know, I am born and raised Houstonian. I did spend a frigid four years in the great white tundra of South Bend, but rushed back home to Texas to thaw out at every chance. My parents are not skiers; my mom tells the story of her two attempts at the sport in which she failed miserably and even had the lift operators exasperated with her. Hence we did not take any family ski vacations growing up.

And so, I will make my first snow skiing attempt starting on Monday. Please pray that I don't injure myself too permanently, or even semi-permanently. And yes, I do water ski, and I'm pretty good at it too, but it's been a solid 10 years since I've done that so I can't even claim recent similar experience.

It's taken a few weeks for Freddy to see the true fear in my face and now he's realizing the "handful" that I warned him I just might be, so pray for him too!

On a more positive note, the kids are going with their dad and big cousin Reece to DisneyWorld for the better part of a week. I know they'll have a blast - it's still a surprise to them so it will be fun to hear about their adventures when they get home.

On second thought, maybe Mike and Reece need your prayers too...

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Cute like puppies

Dinner eating contest discussion tonight (girls vs. boys):

Annie: "The girls are gonna win. I know it."

Fred: "Oh yea, why is that?"

Annie: "Cuz we're cute. You know. Like puppies. Girl puppies."

Oh lord...

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Working mom blues

I just got back from 10 days in India and found out yesterday I have to go to NYC next week to speak at an investor conference. It's in place of my CEO, so it's a very good opportunity for me and I couldn't really say no. This year, the kids are with their dad for Spring Break. So between my travel, weekend custody, and Spring Break, I'm feeling very short of time with my munchkins for these 6 weeks (2 in India included). Hopefully the time will fly by, and the kiddos won't forget my name in the meantime.

I did, however, have Will's parent/teacher conference yesterday which went very well. And Team Working Moms (BTW I just came up with that on my own... We don't actually call ourselves that, but maybe we should) from Annie's kindergarten class managed to cooperatively pull off a nice class science fair experiment and display through "divide and conquer" methods.




My new favorite craft item for such projects? Sticky-back colored card stock. AWESOME.

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Better than chocolate...

Literally!

For this slightly OCD mother of two, this weekend was a huge success!

Fred was so kind to help me get my garage organized and clean this weekend - I feel like a new woman! I can get my car in there now, and I can get to all my tools (yes, I have a toolbox!) and my Xmas light boxes and even have a convenient place for the kids' bikes. Oh what a feeling!!

Now I just need to tackle all of those unnamed containers of photos, "important" papers, and other half-started craft items that are hogging up my closet space for no good reason. Any volunteers???

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Off the road again...

Whew! The kids and I just returned from a 3 day weekend trip with Fred and his 16 yr old son to San Antonio and we all survived. Despite the forecast of really cold, the weather was great, and a relaxing and fun time was had by all. The little kids swam with me, played on the playground, hiked the nature trail with mom and Fred, and learned a few soccer tips with Freddy taking on the rest of us and still kicking our toushies! The big boys even got to watch all the football they could stand.

Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch was very nice and not crowded... I bet the summer is crazy there! hope to go back to float the lazy river when the water is warmer :).

I raked leaves with a little help from the kids (emphasis on little) when we got home today and had to soak in the tub to recover. The oaks in back might be the death of me before they finish dropping all their leaves.

Now I'm just wondering when the Christmas elves are going to arrive to take down my tree...

Stay classy Houston

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