Page 89

Just a Country Boy

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Saturday we cruised out to The Ranch to ride and look.

T and Miss A were out there hunting, and T called to say he stuck a big sow and we should come see her. We went back up to the house, and Baby Gray checked her out while T got her ready to weigh. Baby Gray watched intently as T moved the front of the tractor up and down. Once the sow was up, she weighed 302! Baby Gray wanted to “pet” her. Ugh.

T and Miss A were getting the dogs situated and loading the Ranger when Baby Gray decided he needed to drive the trac-or himself.

A few good turns of the wheel, a couple bites of ca-cker, and a few good ahg-ahg‘s of the imaginary horn, and he was good to go.

He drove off into the sunset with his big ol’ sow.

Baby Gray/pacifier

Cut it Out!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

This week, we embarked on a new, albeit quite scary, adventure.

When I put Baby Gray in the car, he grabbed his pacifier like normal, only to find it was not normal at all! The tip was missing! Someone cut it plumb off.

He stuck it in his mouth, gave it a good once over, poked it a few times, and looked to me for confirmation of what he was seeing.

I got in the car, and off we went. A few seconds later, I heard a thud.

He was done.

He was, however, only done with the pacifier in the car. He made it quite clear that he is not ready to relinquish the pacifier in his bed. And, quite frankly, I’m doing OK with that. After all who will ever know if he still sleeps with a pacifier when he goes to kindergarten?

blessings/friends

M’ Lady

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Since about mid-December, I’ve been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to have such good friends–and so many of them. Some people have no one to share their life with; I sometimes have to debate who to share with.

I read the other day that at some point in your young life, you have about seventeen people you call friends. As you get older, you get down to about two (this is a total paraphrase, and I have no idea where I saw this originally; sorry). That seems pretty sad. I don’t feel like my friendships are declining. I mean, I guess at some point, natural selection will win out, and I might get down to two, but we’re nowhere near that!

This weekend, Mr. Gray and I were in Kingsville for a wedding; we got to catch up with many friends from college. It was so fun! And, for the most part, none of us skipped a beat. We picked up right where we left off. As a matter of fact, we had a late night snack at Whataburger–sans kiddos–to top it all off!

At the wedding, the bride had The Black Dress Society as part of her bridal party. Basically, this was the group of girls that would have been her bridesmaids had she been twenty-two. They sat close to the front, wore black, and were present throughout the big events of the night. I thought it was a very neat way to honor those friendships.

It got me thinking about my bridal party. What amazing friends I have–and I’ve only added to them! I love we’ve grown and met new people along our journey. I’m glad we’re not stagnant and declining. We have such amazing people in our lives. I’m grateful we’re not living up to the crazy, dwindling friendship statistic, ~~although we might be if I don’t do a better job showing them I appreciate them~~.

Wedding photo by Mary at Sledd Weddings, June 2006.

beef/freezer/potatoes/Recipes

Roll ’em Up!

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Roll ’em up! Throw ’em in the pan!

If you believe everything you see on Pinterest, and I do, you’ll know that you can put pretty much anything into a crescent roll.

Last week, I needed a quick, easy dinner. I browned some ground beef, added some diced tomatoes (drained), and stirred in a couple cups of grated mozzarella. I scooped the mixture onto a crescent roll, rolled it up, and voila!

I’ve also rolled bacon and cheese in a crescent for a quick breakfast for Baby Gray and I. Pinterest is right, you can put anything in there!

We had mashed potatoes with our homemade hot pockets. If you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and you’re not using it for mashed potatoes, do yourself a favor and try it. They can be as smooth or chunky as you want with anything you want mixed in.

For this particular dinner, I had some leftover red potatoes. I cubed and boiled them (peel on), added them to the mixing bowl and put milk, butter, yogurt, salt, and pepper. I wanted them a little more chunky, so I didn’t mix them as fast or as long.

This was a super fast and easy dinner. We froze the leftover hot pockets, and they’ll reheat easily for a lunch.

Baby Gray/haircut

A New ‘Do

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

This morning, Baby Gray and I headed out to get his first hair cut. I love his long hair, but it was getting stringy and uneven. We headed to Luling first thing this morning. I was prepared for the worst when we headed that way–I had books, snacks, and some toys to distract him, just in case.

When we got there, he waited very patiently until Raven was ready for him. He looked around at the new surroundings.

He read the newspaper.

When it was time to get a haircut, we let him look at the seat and his cape. He checked it all out before getting settled in like a big boy.

He thought the booster was pretty neat. He was proud to be sitting in such a big chair by himself. We talked about the cape as we put it on, and Raven showed him the water before she got his hair wet. He was a little startled, but he did fine. He didn’t even notice her cutting, really. I had to hold his hands or get a high five a few times because he was trying to rub his hands through his hair, but that was really all.

I was so impressed with how well he did. He looked at himself in the mirror when we were done, and was so proud as everyone told him what a good job he did.

We got a cute little certificate with a lock or two of his hair attached to save. I can’t believe we’ve already had our first haircut! Time flies!

pasta/Recipes

In a Pickle!

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

This pasta salad is one of my all-time favorite dishes. It is so simple and delicious.

You will need:

1 package veggie pasta

1 jar pickled vegetables

1 can black olives, chopped or sliced

Kraft Zesty Italian dressing, to taste

Cook the pasta until al dente
Drain
Put in a large container (to store or serve)
Pour the pickled vegetables over the pasta (with most of the juice)
Chop the pickled vegetables into smaller pieces, as needed
Drain the black olives and add
Stir
Add Italian dressing to taste
Stir
Serve chilled

Delicious! This is one of Baby Gray’s favorites, too!

Baby Gray/Christmas/Recipes

Energizer Bunny, Anyone?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Christmas just keeps going around here! It is almost over, promise. First, though, I need to share these super fun Santa hats!

I found these on Pinterest and made them for our Shindig. They were so easy, and everyone loved them. I’m thinking they’re going to be a Christmas staple for years to come.

I keep trying to think of other things I can make similarly to these (feel free to leave any ideas in the comments); they were fun! When Baby Gray gets a little older, they’ll be a great activity for him to take part in as well. (Also, recognize that cake stand?)

You can find the recipe here:

Source: freefunchristmas.com via Mrs. on Pinterest

2012/New Year's Eve/shopping

If The Dress Fits…

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 1 Comment

… make your husband arrange New Year’s Eve plans!

Seriously, Mr. Gray and I had no big plans for New Year’s Eve (and probably wouldn’t have) until I bought this lovely dress I had been eye-balling. It was on sale, it fit, I had a gift certificate or two, so I bought it ~~and quite a bit of other stuff~~. The only issue here was that the dress was sequin. There’s only one universally acceptable occasion for a sequin dress: New Year’s Eve. So, Mr. Gray accepted his challenge and set up dinner reservations in Austin. Our beloved babysitter came through, too! She’s a rockstar!

We walked on South Congress for a bit, had some coffee (I even got half-caf instead of decaf for our big night out), and finally went into Snack Bar–they had Audrey on their big screen. Love.

Such & DD were able to meet us for dinner at Perla’s. The guys went a while back, but neither of us could join, so we were glad to finally get to go. We enjoyed some actual champagne from Champagne, good food, and good conversation. The waitress had to come let us know it was almost midnight. Oops! We celebrated with the kitchen staff and our waitress. They even gave us some sparkly headbands.

We had a great evening, and I’m so glad we decided to go out. Even if I didn’t get a good photo of my dress. And, even if the oyster bar was out of oysters.

Sunday morning, we headed to Revolution (thanks for the memories, Vision 2012) and then to lunch with great friends. We packed away all the Christmas gear when we got home. It’s always a little sad to put it away, but I was glad to have a clean home (even though it looks rather empty now) to start the new year.

crock pot/Recipes

Finishing Off the Holidays

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Monday, in an effort to use holiday leftovers and keep from doing too much actual cooking, I threw a few things together in the crock pot. I did buy a few ingredients, but I had many on hand.

Noodles, pasta, barley, and all those great starches are always sort of a challenge in the crock pot. Put them in too soon, they’re soggy; put them in too late, they’re crunchy. I tried fideo yesterday, just to see what would happen. They puffed up, joined together, and turned into dumplings–yep, dumplings. It was quite a surprise.

You will need:

Turkey (you could also use chicken; I was doing the leftover thing)

Baby carrots

Brussel sprouts, shredded

Onion, chopped

Celery, chopped

1 small bag fideo (you could use any type of pasta, really)

Chicken stock, to cover

Salt and pepper, to taste

Turn the crock pot on low
Shred the turkey (chicken) and add to the crock
Add the veggies
Cover with fideo
Pour in chicken stock (you might need a little water, too) to cover the ingredients
Give one good stir, to get the dumpling effect from the fideo, you don’t want to separate them too much
Cover and let simmer 5-7 hours
Once everything is tender, turn the crock pot down or off to keep from having mushy veggies

bacon/Christmas/family/Recipes

Bakin’ Bacon

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Mrs Gray / 1 Comment

September was the first time I had heard of anyone baking their bacon. After a little reading, I found out I was behind the times in this revelation. Many restaurants use this method because it cooks much more evenly; friends use it because it seems to produce less grease; and I will use this method forever more because I didn’t get popped with bacon grease one single time.

I cook breakfast for our families Christmas morning, and this year, I managed to set my alarm for PM instead of AM, so I didn’t get up quite when I meant to. Hence, no photos of this bakin’ bacon to be had.

Start with a cool oven and cool baking sheets

I lined mine with foil because I was using my good jelly roll pans and didn’t want to have to hand wash a big mess later (there are very few things I exclude from the dishwasher; my jelly roll pans are in that elite group) or have permanently baked on bacon residue.

Lay the bacon flat on the sheets
Put the baking sheets into the oven and turn it on 400 degrees
Check the bacon at 17 minutes (this was the target time for everything I read; I will let mine go a minute or so longer next time so that it’s a tad more crisp)
When you are pleased with the crispness of your bacon, take it off the pan and put it onto a paper towel-lined dish

I did make a second batch of bacon after letting the oven and the baking sheets cool a little. They were still too warm, and the bacon got pretty crispy. It wasn’t burned up, but it was very crunchy within about 12 minutes.

Both batches got rave reviews Christmas morning! I’ll never fry another piece of bacon on the stove again.