what's for dinner?

Dinner is in the oven (or 'tea' if you're reading this in England!). Last week I found a recipe in one of my cooking magazines that I thought I would try out. It's Enchilada Casserole. It was SO good that I am making it again this week, tonight actually. I know you've been deprived of photos lately, so I thought I'd show you step by step (in pictures) how it's made ;-)

Step 1.

First off here are the ingredients you'll need (plus 1lb of ground beef or turkey, not shown in this picture). I always use ground turkey now, we can never tell the difference and there's less fat.

Step 2

Cook the turkey and onion until no longer pink

Step 3

add the can of black beans drained and rinsed

Step 4

add the salsa (2 cups)

Step 5

add Italian dressing (1/4 cup), taco seasoning (2 tblsp) and cumin (1/4tsp)

The recipe tells you to add lettuce and tomato on top before you serve it and fresh cilantro. I knew I wouldn't be doing that (Jason doesn't like fresh tomatoes) so at this point I added a tblsp of chopped fresh cilantro (and if you don't like cilantro just leave it out).

Step 6

spray the bottom of a 2 qt dish and layer 4 tortillas (mine are large so I only used 2)

Step7

spread half of the meat mixture on to the tortillas, then add some dollops of sour cream!

Step 8

sprinkle on cheese (any kind you like, I used cheddar on the bottom then the rest of the mexican cheese I had on the top)

Step 9 (not shown)
repeat the layer of tortillas, meat, sour cream and cheese.

Cover and bake at 400 for 25 mins. Then uncover and bake a further 15 mins.

Step 10

DINNER IS SERVED!

notice anything different about me?

well not me, but my blog! Of course you do. I've given it a whole new look as you can clearly see. A few blogging friends have been using blog themes from THIS SITE and so I thought I would give it a try. They are free themes and very easy to install on your blogger blog.

I thought perhaps the new look would give me motivation to post more. I have added a pretty theme to my knitting blog too AND I set up a new blog called Dens Simple Daybook. (I'm jumping on the band wagon and doing this to join in with some other bloggy girlfriends) I will be posting to this blog every Monday. You can read more about a simple notebook HERE, anyone can join in :-)

The weather has turned really cold today, possible freezing rain forecast for tonight, but I hope not. I have the fire burning and I'm off to watch American Idol. I'll try to post again soon with more of an update on life!

is it that time again?

Seriously! Has it already been 4 days since I last posted, it feels like I just did it yesterday? No pictures this time I'm afraid. We really haven't been up to much this week. We were off school Monday for 'Martin Luther King' day so we had a nice relaxing day around the house. Kristen played with Connor next door for most of the day.

Back to normal on Tuesday. I took Kristen to school, called in to the grocery store on the way home, cleaned up the kitchen once I'd put groceries away, then headed out to the gym. Once I'd finished at the gym I went off to buy some wood for the fire. We just got some a few weeks ago but we've had a few cold nights and the pile of wood we bought has already gone. I love when it's chilly enough to light a fire, it just makes the house feel so cozy. So after I bought the wood (the guy loads it in to my van) I headed home again, and I had to unload the van and stack the wood. You'd think this would be a 'mans' job! But the man of this house is of the thinking that he'd rather work an extra hour and pay someone to do this for him!!! Only problem is, you have to pay 3 times as much to have wood delivered to your door. So what only cost me $40 would have cost about $120 if we'd done it Jason's way :-/

So after all that, guess what I did on Wednesday . . . . . NOTHING!!!! :-) Jason said he was going out after work with colleagues from the office so I knew I didn't have dinner to make. Nor did I bother doing any laundry or other housework stuff. I basically took the day off, did some knitting and watched TV. Then I went to pick up Kristen from school and knit and watched TV again when we got home. Yes, it was a lovely day.

Today (Thursday) it was back to the usual housework stuff as well as a trip to the gym. I'm determined to look and feel my best this summer - are you with me Nenna? :-)

I really should blog more

.... after talking to my sister again on the phone today and realizing that she pops in here more times than I realize, I really should blog more than I do. I kind of miss it sometimes, and I miss having (or finding) the time to visit my fellow bloggers too. That's not to say I'm not always on the computer like I used to be, because honestly, I'm on it just as much as ever. I just find other things to occupy me on here. For instance I now 'plurk' all day and keep up with some of my old bloggy friends that way. I am on Facebook, although I don't check in there as often as I used to since I signed up with Plurk, and I belong to Ravelry (a knitting community where I can spend hours looking at other knitting blogs, patterns, yarns - ok, this stuff is addictive I have to admit). So, where was I? ah yes, blogging more often! So even when I don't have much to say (cos we just chatted for nearly an hour sis ;-) I'll blog so you have something to read (and look at) when you pop in here (and for you too Big Sis xxx).

OK, so I don't waffle on about nothing I thought I'd add a few 'old' pics that I was just looking at on my computer. I hardly take photos any more but back in the day when the princess was a wee toddler. . . . well here's a little photo-shoot we had with mommy!

2003

And I'll leave you with the one we finally chose for our 'valentine card' that year

x x x x x x

wish it was good news

Gosh, it's been over a week since I posted so I think I better put an update in here (even though I have no photos to add to it).

I had a bit of surprising news this week when I finally went to see an ENT specialist about the ongoing problems with my sinuses. The bottom line is this: I have nasal polyps! 3 large ones to exact, the size of grapes he said. That plus the fact my sinus cavities are so blocked up now with thick mucus that hasn't cleared up with antibiotics makes him recommend surgery to remove everything. This was the surprising bit! I hate the idea of surgery, am absolutely terrified at the thought of going under anesthetic. Of course it's not something he can force me to do - he just 'recommends' I do it. The problem is, and he told me this at the time, there is no guarantee that the polyps will grow back. And by the way 'polyps' are benign growths that result from inflamed mucus membranes in the sinuses and nasal passages. You can read more about them HERE if you would like.

I've been doing a lot of research online since my appointment. Honestly, surgery to me is the last resort, and just because I've had two courses of antibiotics that haven't cleared up the sinus infection it doesn't mean I'm going to rush in to the operating room and have such an invasive procedure only to be told 12 months from now the polyps have regrown. I say this because right now my symptoms are very mild again, I can taste, I can smell, and I can breath through my nose ok, so the antibiotics have done something. I just still get a sinus headache once in a while. Also, the Dr has put me on another 2 week course of antibiotics prior to having a CT Scan (so he can get a full picture of what everything looks like) which is scheduled for January 30th.

So right now I'm weighing my options. I've read that a course of steroids can significantly shrink the polyps and I'm leaning toward asking for that before I consider the surgery. We're heading in to Spring and Summer and my allergies are not that bad over these months, so if the polyps shrink I think my Nasonex spray and antihistamines will be enough to keep everything in control.

Sorry this is a boring and dull post, but that's all that's really happened this week. Life plods on as usual at the Schulz Casa, and everyone else is doing fine.

As Promised. . .

. . . more pics and a video!

I took more pictures around the living room and kitchen yesterday and then thought I might try the video setting on my camera so I can do a 360 kind of view (the video is below, after the photos). The video gets a little dark at times because of the sunshine outside but it gives you a good idea of the flow of the room. In this first picture you can really see the error on the window treatments (see the left panel). I also find the tie back in the middle panel too tight so that is going to be re-done too.

I've always loved how most of the homes (especially the ones we've owned) in the US are open plan and you don't have doors closing off the kitchen and living room. In England it's very common to have all rooms closed off and then we used to find that in winter time one main room was kept warm and other rooms were freezing when you opened the doors! With an open plan home I like how the inside temperature of the house is all equal and there's no 'cold spots' :-)

Click bottom left button below to play. . .

trying to be a good blogger. . .

ya know, just in case someone pops in to read another post (Nenna!) ;-) Thought I'd add a picture of me and Jason. His Dad took this picture of us while he was here (I think it was on New Years Eve). I'm showing it so that you can see my new window treatments and the lovely new art work we got.

Remember I told you a while back that I had decided to change the decor in the living room and kitchen? No? well it was way back in October or November I think, so no wonder you forgot! Anyway, I think I mentioned (or I may not have - my memory is getting bad too) that I was going to have a designer come in and help me do the room. Long story short - I have worked with her over the past couple of months and while we were away at Christmas the new furniture/art work/curtains I picked were ready, so I left her a key and she came in with her crew and did everything ready for when we arrived home. So you can see a little here of just the new curtain and lovely picture above the fireplace. I promise I'll try to take some more pics this week and show you before and after shots. By the way, ignore the cushion on the chair, that totally doesn't match! I want to get some fabric that will go with the curtains to re-cover them.

So, today I got a call from the Dr's office. I was really surprised as I thought I would end up having to call them by the end of the week to ask about the results of my x-ray. The Dr's assistant told me that my sinus cavities looked much improved from last time but that they still showed a lot of 'thickening mucus' (sorry if that sounds gross), and the Dr still wants to refer me to an ENT. I said good, cos I was still having issues with my ears too and get daily sinus headaches. Now I just need to wait a day or so until I can pick up the referral and make an appointment with a specialist. I am hoping it won't take too long to be seen. I really want to get to the bottom of this, and I think it would be a good idea to do allergy testing on me again. It's been over 12 years since they tested me.

I missed going to the gym for nearly all of December, but I went back on Monday and I was there again today. Jason said he's going to join soon (like this week!) as our neighbor Steve said he'd work out with him. We are trying to get back to eating a bit healthier too. And Jason is taking salads for lunch to work with him. Hopefully he can lose a bit of weight and get in shape, finally! There's nothing like the start of a new year to make new changes in your eating and exercising.

back to the grind. . . .

. . . and the gym. . . and the post office. . . and the grocery store, not to mention the trip I took to 'radiology' this morning to get another x-ray of my sinuses! Yes, it's back to school for Kristen and it's back to getting up at 6am each morning for me. Not something I've been looking forward to. We've really enjoyed these past two weeks off for Christmas break, and I was so not ready to start getting back in to our early morning routine, but we don't have much choice in the matter.

It was cold and wet when we set out for school this morning. The rain has stopped but it's still very cold today. I have a wood fire burning this afternoon. Kristen is home from school as I type this, and I have a yummy butternut squash soup cooking on the stove.

I'm still having problems with my sinuses. Despite a month on stronger antibiotics I still feel all stuffed up in my head and ears. I hope the Dr refers me to an ENT after seeing the new x-rays. If she doesn't, I'm going to ask her to refer me anyway. I wake up just about every morning with a sinus headache and I still keep losing my sense of taste and smell. I'll keep you posted on this in later blog posts.

Not much else to write about today, so I'll make this short. I do hope to start blogging more again now that the new year is here. It's just a matter of organizing my days and catching up with laundry and housework first.

2009

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends and may 2009 be your happiest year ever!

Jason's dad flew in from Amarillo on Tuesday, we've had a nice few lazy days just hanging out and catching up. He will be leaving later today. I'm gonna take the tree down today and get some laundry done but hope to be back later to blog more.