Laundry, Dishes and Cleaning OH MY!

Today I am in locked down full blown cleaning mode. I am determined to get the house clean before Michael and Jacob get home this evening. So Ladies… Wish Me Luck! I’m going to need it!

Hope everyone has a….

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Jack O Lantern that Jacob and I carved October 2007

Kitchen & Dining Room Ideas

   

Pictures from Halloweens past

Jacob and Mama at Trunk -r- Treat October 2007

Tyler @ Pumpkin Patch October 2008

Jacob dressed as a field mouse for Mothers Day Out October 2008

Eggs and a dash of Mocha

Now that I have finally up loaded the pictures for today I can tell you all that today was the first morning I tried my new routine. I really like getting up early and making my boys breakfast. Now lets see how long I can keep it up…

Steak Omelet

3 large eggs
2 slices of cheese- I use Kraft singles because they melt better
Pinch of salt
Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
1/2 leftover steak- I used left over ribeye

1. While your skillet is heating up chop your steak into bite size pieces.

2. Once skillet is hot heat up steak. Remove to plate and set aside.

3. Beat your eggs and season with salt and pepper. Pour into heated skillet. Use nonstick spray instead of butter for a lighter option.

4. Cook and flip. Once flipped lay down the two slices of cheese and add the steak.

5. Fold over and cook until cheese is melted.

White Chocolate Mocha

2 cups of coffee
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup milk- I used fat free milk
Whipped cream
Cinnamon

1. Brew your coffee a little stronger than you normally would.

2. Heat the milk and white chocolate chips until melted in a double boiler or small pan.

3. Ladle some of the milk/white chocolate mixture into your coffee mug. Pour your coffee over that and then ladel some more to top it off.

4. Top off with the whipped cream and sprinkle on some cinnamon. ENJOY!

And this is for my dear sweet husband who finds it amusing that I take pictures of my food to put on my blog :)
I love him to pieces!

This is his coffee this morning. Just plain jane black coffee.

Fun Kids Snack: Fruit and Cheese Kabobs

Lately I have been trying to get everyone in the house to eat a healthier so I have cut out as much junk food as possible. I needed a good well rounded snack that the kids would enjoy eating, so I decided to make fruit kabobs. I used colby jack cheese, gala apples, strawberries and swiss rolls for a sweet treat. My kids loved them!!!

Fruity Cheese Kabobs

8 small blocks of colby jack cheese
4 strawberries
1 gala apple
1 swiss roll- cut into 4 pieces

1. Cut up all your cheese and fruit.

2. Piece together kabobs alternating fruit, cheese and swiss roll.

I hope your kids enjoy them as much as mine did :)

Finally getting a good routine going…maybe…

I have been having trouble getting into a good solid routine since school started. I know, I know it’s been almost a little over 2 months and it is still killing me! Usually we are a huge ball of craziness in the morning getting ready for work and school and today was the end of my rope. If I have to go about my mornings all year like this I am going to run away to some far away island with no return address.

Here is the schedule I think may actually work for us:

Night before- Set out clothes for the boys, have backpack and lunch box by the door, take showers or baths and read book before bedtime.

6:00am- Get up and start coffee (you know this is the most important one of the morning), make breakfast and let Baylee out.
6:30am- Wake up boys, wake up Michael, get boys dressed and feed everyone
7:20am- Leave the house to drop Jacob at school.

I think that this may actually work! I am excited to try it and see how well it goes. If anyone has any wonderful shortcuts for the morning I would be so thankful if you shared them :)

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Makes 2 lattes

2 cups low fat milk
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups strongly brewed coffee
whipped cream

1. Start by brewing your coffee. In a saucepan combine milk, canned pumpkin and sugar. Heat stirring until steaming.

2. Once steaming remove from heat and add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk until foamy.

3. Pour into two large mugs, add coffee and top with whipped cream and a dash of pumpkin pie spice.

All dolled up and nowhere to go

This morning I wanted to get up and get ready for my day. I have found that when I take time to make myself look pretty, I actually feel better and prettier too! And I really wanted to try out my new Jilbere curling iron :) I have to say that it gets and A++ in my book. It is amazing!

I was wearing jeans and t-shirt today and wanted to dress it up a bit so I wore pretty sandals and these cute earrings .

Handbag Heaven

This is so unlike me and I am scaring myself just a little bit but I have found the perfect handbag! I know you are sitting there saying ya right! I swear I’m not crazy :)

Rewind to when I was in Oklahoma City back in August I went to TJ Maxx to see if I could find a new purse. When I walk in the first thing I noticed were these designer handbags sitting on table in front of all the other ones. So, being curious me I walked over and started looking. I immediately saw $199 and knew that it was out of my price range. And the fact that they normally go for $400 shocked me even more! There were a bunch of black ones there and a dark green one, but underneath them all was this on tan colored one. It was big with a red interior and had two straps for your shoulder and a long strap so you could use it as a cross body… needless to say I was in love! But I still couldn’t afford it. i decided I would think about it while I shopped so I grabbed it up and put it on using the long cross body strap and it was so nice to have free hands… but the more I thought about it the more I knew Michael would kill me!! So I reluctantly put the bag back without looking at a designer or anything.

Fast forward through August, September and the beginning of this month. I have searched countless hours on eBay trying to find the handbag that got away. Until last night! I googled ‘brown cross body bag tj maxx $199’ and WHAM! there is was!

The designer is Jenrigo from Italy and it is made of authentic snake skin. I have never heard of the designer but there are several of them on eBay and boy those things are not cheap. I however did find the one I want and now just have to convince myself to buy it since Michael gave me the green light. I really really want this purse, now I just have to somehow justify the money…I mean it is a steal compared to $400 right?

Beautiful Fall Colors

Here are a few pictures of the leaves around here changing colors.
I absolutely love fall! 

   

School picture session at home

This last week was school picture day for Jacob. I have to say that growing up I really hated school picture day, not because of the actual picture, but because my mom would always complain about how much it cost to buy the school pictures. Then when they sent home the envelope with prices on I instantly knew why my mom dreaded buying pictures for all 4 of us.

Looking over all those packages and prices I had a wonderful idea! Why couldn’t I take his picture before school and then blow those up to give to family? Five 8x10’s will cost me roughly $10-$15 at Walgreens as opposed to $60 for the package through the school.

So I decided to give it a shot :) Here’s how it came out…

 

This one I love his smile and it is my favorite

And this one is soooo Jacob

Look how much she has grown!

I Love Texas!

 

Yesterday I had to go on a road trip to drop of Michael’s antelope with the taxidermist we use and on the way back I stopped to get this beautiful shot.

Deer Camp Burritos

With whitetail season right around the corner I thought I would share one of my favorite things to cook while at deer camp. We like them so much we have them all the time here at home. They are so easy to make and my kids love them!

Deer Camp Burritos

1.5 lbs ground deer meat
3 potatoes
1 medium onion
2 jalapenos- seeded and sliced into thin strips
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder

1. Brown deer meat until done. While browning meat peel and slice potatoes, onion and jalapenos. Season meat to taste.

2. When meat is browned add potatoes, onion and jalapenos.

3. Cook until potatoes are tender.

4. Serve with cheese and hot sauce!

An edger and a foam roller

Here is my living room wall before…
(please excuse the mess)

Here is the wall in progress…

 
And here is sweet Baylee sleeping while I do all the work :)

 
More to come!

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

2 lb. ground meat- I use deer meat
1 onion- chopped
1 pkg ranch dressing mix (buttermilk variety)
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can white hominy- undrained
1 can yellow hominy- undrained
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 can Rotel- I use two of them
1 1/2 cups of water
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Cumin to taste

1. Brown ground meat with onion.

2. Once meat is browned add all the other ingredients. Mix well.

3. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

4. Serve with cornbread and enjoy!

And we have a name…

…we have decided that our new sweet baby girl is going to be called… her legal name on paper is going to be Baylee C. Barkers, but we are just going to call her…

Baylee

It’s a Girl!

I would like to introduce the newest member of the family. She is a 7 week old yellow lab and we have yet to settle on a name. It is down to Birdie (Tyler’s pick), Jackson (Jacob’s pick) or Dakota (my pick). I will let y’all know here name just as soon as I do :)

Another Little Peak

Backstrap Roast

Backstrap Roast


1 to 2 deer backstrap
1 lb bacon
Garlic powder
Fresh ground black pepper
Montreal steak seasoning
Salt
1 cup water

1. Season the backstrap liberally with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and Montreal seasoning.

2. Wrap the backstrap in the back so that the bacon covers all of the backstrap.

3. Wrap the bacon wrapped backstrap in tin foil and place in a crock pot. You can either set it on High 6 hrs or Low 8 hrs. The outcome is the same either way. Make sure that your tin foil crease is facing up and not down.

4. Pour the 1 cup water all around the foil wrapped backstrap, put the lid on and walk away.

5. When done unwrap, slice and serve with roasted squash and zucchini.