Rebels, Coffee Cake, and Saggy Pants

Ford made his first debut in the Grove on Saturday. It was cold, muddy, and rainy but we still managed to see a few people. The little man and I didn’t make it to the game. We let Trey go to the game and we came home to our warm house. I hope he can go to a few more games before it gets too cold.


Tired on the way home from the game

Yesterday we went to church and it was breakfast Sunday. No, I didn’t make my caramel French toast. Instead, I made sour cream coffee cake.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

Cake:

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup margarine softened
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ cup chopped pecans

Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter, margarine, and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking power and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture alternating with sour cream. Pour half of batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Mix cinnamon with 2 tablespoons sugar and sprinkle half over batter in the pan. Top with pecans. Top with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Bake 40 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to cool completely.

For glaze, mix butter, sugar and vanilla adding enough milk until proper consistency is achieved. Pour over cooled cake.

This recipe also comes from the Prime Meridian cookbook. It sounds like a lot to make this lovely little cake but it’s not that bad. The thing that takes the longest is the sifting. When you get your sifter out you know its big time. I think my forearm got the best work out of its life. It was yummy and there was none left to bring home. I am including a picture!!!!!! I am such a nerd. Trey asked why I took a picture of the coffee cake and I said I was going to put it on the blog. I sprayed my Bundt pan really good, but some of it still stuck to the bottom.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Okay lately when I go out around town to run errands I have been seeing something that really bothers me. I am not sure if it is because I am a teacher and we enforced dress codes or because it is just plain inappropriate (my opinion). When I went to Wal-Mart (forgot coupons AGAIN) yesterday I was walking in the door behind this young man who thought it was cool to sag his pants. WHY do these boys think people want to see their boxers?????? I for one do not care to see anyone’s underpants and wish they would buy clothes that fit or get a belt. I just had to get that off my chest…

Moving right along…



I think it is important to make goals for yourself. You know small achievable goals. Nothing extreme that will never happen. In high school my best friend, Jamie, and I used to say EVERY summer that we would go on diets to look like Victoria Secret models. That still hasn’t happened!!!! Don’t worry though, we talked about it this summer and laughed. I would not say that is a small, achievable goal. My goal 2 weeks ago was to clean out my closet and get rid of AT LEAST 20 things. I said 20 things is doable. I didn’t count as I was taking things off the racks and the shelves, but it ended up being much more than 20 things. I have an entire bag full of hangers. After I cleaned out what I didn’t want I tidied up my closet, color coordinated my clothes, and made sure everything was in its proper place. You can actually walk in there now. I feel so much better about my closet.

A good starchy recipe

Rebecca’s Potatoes

4 cans sliced potatoes drained/mashed
1 stick butter
1 cup sour cream
Parsley flakes
Black pepper
Salad supreme seasoning
Bacon bits (3/4 of a bag)
Green onions, 2 stems chopped
2 cups grated cheese

Combine all ingredients (I use an electric mixer) and bake at 350 until bubbly. Do not add salt.


We went to eat with some friends a while back and they served us these potatoes. I thought they were delicious, but figured anything that good must be hard to make. When I found out the potatoes were from a can I thought I can so do this. I know the recipe is kind of vague, but this is how it was given to me. It makes quite a bit so you may want to half the recipe.




While we are on the topic of food, let’s discuss my husband. I really don’t think I know anyone who loves food more than Trey. He gets so excited about food and pretty much loves everything but coconut. I even like coconut. Regardless of what he has for supper he always seems to need a bowl of cereal around 8:30 at night. He says it helps him go to sleep better. The other night I decided I wanted a bowl of Lucky Charms. So I went into the kitchen and started making myself a bowl. Trey turns around and asked if I were making him a bowl of cereal. I said no I was making it for me. He said “If you don’t make me a bowl of cereal I will scream and wake Ford up.” I told him that was just mean and I started fixing him some Lucky Charms. He did not specify how he would like his cereal prepared so he got it in one of Ford’s bowls with one of Ford’s spoons!!!!!!!! Needless to say, he was not impressed. I, myself, thought it was funny.


We are planning to take Ford to the Ole Miss vs. Alabama game this weekend. He and I won’t actually go to the game, but we will socialize before hand in the Grove. I am excited that he will be making his first début to a place Trey and I love so much.

I am absolutely loving this weather. It isn’t too hot or too cold. It’s perfect. It has been raining here a lot so when I made my weekly Wal-Mart trip this weekend I did have to put on a jacket. And will you know that I found a tube of chap stick in the pocket! I was so excited. I am constantly losing my chap stick and it really pumped me up that I stuck my hand in my pocket and found a perfectly good stick. And for anyone who is wondering, YES, I forgot my coupons AGAIN!


If you haven't gotten your Halloween costumes (for the kids) yet Pottery Barn Kids has some really cute ones. Free Shipping too! I can't wait to post pictures of my little man on here all dressed up for his first Halloween. Trey asked why I was dressing him up since he can't eat candy and I tried to explain that I have been waiting to dress him up since I found out I was pregnant. He is going to be as cute as a button!

Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday and she will be 37. That would make her about 10 when she had me!!! She is coming down to Toby Town along with Aunt Ashley, Molly Cate, and Caroline. Should be a fun day! Happy Birthday Gran!!!!!

One last thing…. I am LOVING finding out that people actually read my blog.

Driving with the Garmin to the nose bleed section

Okay, so I did not mention it in an earlier blog post because it was too painful of a topic to discuss, but it has happened. Trey and I LEFT our precious baby at home and went to the football game in Nashville. This was something I had to get mentally prepared for…I mean days of preparation. Friday got here and I tried to avoid thinking about 12:00 when Trey would come home and say we had to leave. Well, the time came to load up in the car, without Ford, and head to the Ole Miss vs. Vandy game. We packed the car and started pulling out of the driveway. Trey was not looking at me, but was admiring our new shrubbery and his freshly laid sod. He decided he should ask me how pretty I thought our yard looked. When I did not answer he looked over at me and saw that I was crying (we were still in the driveway people!!!). He said “Oh, I guess you don’t want to talk about the yard.” I only cried until we got in the interstate which is not that far from our house. Trey would probably say I squalled all the way to Nashville. Once I got over the initial shock of leaving my child I was okay and we were en route to see our Rebels play.
We got to Nashville and to our place which happened to be really nice. We managed to junk it up within seconds because I do not know the meaning of packing lightly. I feel that it is better to be safe than sorry. My parents took us out to eat Friday night and then we met up with some friends at a place called Rippy’s. I stayed out much later than I would have liked to. I kept telling Trey that I was a mom and that mom stands for..
M = married
O = old
M = mother

Saturday we went to see one of my good friends from high school. Thank goodness for the Garmin navigation system or we would have NEVER found our way around Nashville. When we got to Rebecca’s house I went to knock on the door while Trey looked for his sunglasses. At first I thought I was at the wrong house because no one answered the door. Then all of a sudden this HUGE cartoon looking dog greets me on the other side of the glass door. I thought “holy cow” Trey has got to see this. I told him to come see this dog. I do not think he understood how big he was. Finally Rebecca opened the door but Trey and I were too fascinated with her dog to say hello. She was cooking breakfast and the dog’s nose could sit up on the counter top. He made Delta look like a bug!
After our visit with Rebecca we went back to the room and changed for the game. Then we proceeded to go to 4 tailgates, all of which included food, but Obama attended one party. After socializing for several hours we left for the game. When we get up to the gate at the stadium the security guards said that they needed to check all ladies purses AND that your purse had to fit inside a box. Well, when you think box you may think of something big, but this was a small box about the size of a rectangular Kleenex box. My purse is as big as the state of Texas and it was not going in that box no matter what way the lady turned it. I felt panic come over my body, because my purse is like my oxygen source and I need EVERYTHING in there. I started pulling stuff out of it like Trey’s coat, some sunglasses, my wallet… it was NOT going in that box. Fortunately she told me to go on in the game and not to bring such a big one next time. HA… like I go to Vandy games a lot.
Trey was hungry when we got inside the stadium (imagine that) so we got some food and headed to our seats. We were on row 72… there were only 75 in the stadium. I could have touched a bird we were up so high and not to mention the workout my legs got walking to our seats. We won the game and headed back to the room. I straight up refused to go out again. I had ONE thing on my mind and that was getting home to see my baby. I woke up when it was still dark outside, and we got ready and left. We were home by lunch and I think Ford was glad to see us. He had grown!!!!!!!! I don’t think I will leave him again for a very long time even though Puddin and Pop said he did great. Thanks for taking such good care of my baby Puddin!!! Trey and I had a lot of fun though!

Riding on a Toolbox and Sleepless in Senatobia

The title to my last post was called “The Coupon Queen.” I stated that I had gone to www.coupons.com and printed off some coupons for my next Wal-Mart trip. Well, I went to Wal-Mart on Saturday and got behind this truck. Do you something wrong with this picture? Isn’t it illegal to ride on the toolbox of a truck? Whatever happened to “Click It or Tick It”????? You know me, I always have my camera handy so I whipped it out of my purse and captured the moment. Taking pictures of random cars and posting recipes might be my new claim to fame. Probably not! And will you know, when I got to Wal-Mart I realized I had left the blasted coupons at home. Never fear… I will use them next time!

Speaking of recipes I said I had a good one to share next time… and well, its next time. This one comes from the Prime Meridian cookbook.

CARAMEL FRENCH TOAST

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup butter
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
10 (1 ¼ inch French bread slices)
4 eggs beaten
2 ½ cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup butter melted

Ina medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, ¾ cup butter and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Pour syrup evenly into a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Place bread slices over syrup. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. Stir well and our over bread. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
Preheat over to 350. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over soaked bread. Drizzle ¼ cup melted butter on top. Bake, uncovered, 45 to 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

My Sunday school class has breakfast once a month and this is my signature dish. It’s really pretty quick to fix too.

Don’t you just love the pictures of Ford????? (I have bragging rights since he is my child). We had someone take these and I just had to share. Speaking of the little guy… he WON’T nap very well. I mean to put it lightly he sleeps a total of 1 hour a day. He naps 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. He has never been a great napper, but at one point I had him sleeping for 2 hours in the afternoon. I could accomplish things. Now I can barely stuff my lunch down and start a load of laundry before I hear him talking. He is waking up happy and usually kicking his legs in the air, but I can’t get him to stay asleep. We are also having problems with him waking up in the night. When he was smaller we used to swaddle him in his Miracle Blanket (new mothers invest in one) and that really helped. He has outgrown the blanket. What do I do????? Veteran moms I need help. I know a lot of you won’t comment on my blog, but if you have the secret to staying asleep share the wealth. E-mail me at jlamar44@hotmail.com

The Coupon Queen

Yesterday I was watching the Rachael Ray show and they had some “expert” on there talking about saving money. I would definitely consider myself a thrifty shopper and remind Trey on a regular basis how lucky he is to have me as a wife since I don’t spend a lot of money. I grew up in a household that was conservative when it came to money. I blame that on the fact that my dad is a banker! Well, this guy was talking about coupons and how the average person who uses coupons comes from a household that has an income of $75,000 + and the ones who make less than that usually don’t use them. My mom is the COUPON QUEEN! I have a lot of memories of her from my childhood sitting in her chair with the newspaper, scissors, and her red Fred’s coupon holder. She has now graduated to a navy blue leather one. I started thinking that I should sooooooo cut out coupons, but we don’t get the paper. Well hello, it is 2009 and I do have the internet. I got on www.coupons.com and printed off some good ones. I highly recommend that website!!!

Today my mother in law offered to keep Ford while I went shopping. Bless her little heart. Unless you are a mother of a small child or have been at some point in your life, you have NO IDEA what it means to get out of the house ALONE!!!!!!! I mean when she pulled in the driveway that baby was in his seat ready to go. Before getting in my car I decided to get out my “old cds” from high school. They were so old some were in a zip lock bag!!!!!!!! I am so ridiculous. I went thru them laughing and trying to figure out which ones I should listen to. There were lots of “classics” to choose from. I picked out a few and popped them in the cd player and jammed out all the way to Southaven. It was GREAT! Now if you went to Oak Grove High School you can ONLY imagine what all I might have been listening to. And unlike my husband, it was not country!!!!!! I laughed thinking of my 3 best friends from high school and how we used to get all ready to go out on the town and “bump” our tunes! I am attaching some pictures of us from high school. We called ourselves the posse’.

You gotta love the fashions we were sporting!




As I blogged about recently, I am doing a Beth Moore Bible Study. It is going great. When I got ready to leave last week the person I was sitting next to said that I smelled good. I thought… hmmm is that a compliment or do I normally stink. I said thanks and kind of laughed saying I did shower that morning! (I always shower). She said I know but you just have a small baby and all. Are you supposed to stink if you have a small baby!!!!!!??? Well, when I got home I put Ford down for a nap. When he got up it was time to eat. He sneezed and green beans went on my pink shirt. I picked him up and got slobber all over my shoulder, and when I changed his diaper… well, lets just say it wasn’t tee tee that got on my hand. So maybe now I understand why she said I smelled good. It was only 11:00 in the morning!!!!!


He found his feet yesterday


I feel odd not adding a recipe since I did the last 3 blog posts. Maybe I will add another one next time. I already have one in mind!

I was "The Host"

I spent all of last week cleaning and freaking out over hosting a baby shower at my house. Since Ford has come into the picture my idea of cleaning is running the vacuum cleaner and cleaning the bathrooms. That is about it. I had lots to do before all these people showed up at my house. Trey likes to make fun of me and tells me I stress out too much over stuff. He is right, I do. I honestly started cleaning six days early and still had to recruit my mom to come on Saturday. I had “the list” of what all needed to be done. I feel such a sense of pride and relief when I make a “to do” list and I get to mark something off!! We even had the yard man come and plant a circular bed around a tree and to add a bed in front of the lovely addition to the storage room. For those of you who have read my blog for a while you probably remember Trey’s “man room” we added on while I was pregnant. Naturally it poured down rain the day of the shower, but ironically didn’t really rain during the shower. Everything went well and I think my friend got a lot of good baby supplies…and I got a clean house!!

I look like a shrimp in this picture. Did I shrink???????



Recipe #3

Corn Flake Chicken Casserole

Corn Flakes
1 stick of butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. sour cream
3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

Boil chicken and cut up. (I actually chop mine in my chopper) .In a small square casserole dish crumble corn flakes to cover the bottom. Melt half a stick of butter and pour on top of corn flakes. Mix cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, sour cream, and chicken in a bowl. Pour mixture on top of corn flakes. Crumble more corn flakes on top of the chicken mixture and melt the rest of the butter. Pour it on top and cook at 350 until bubbly. ** I use the light sour cream and healthy choice/fat free soups to cut down on calories. It still tastes wonderful.


Now this is what I call sleeping!!!

Ford was supposed to be playing on the blanket. I walked in to find him partially under his baby bed.


WAYS TO PREVENT THE SWINE FLU

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation.
In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do
any harm.


And to end this blog post.... Where do you think this guy was going????

Reunion, Recipes, and More

Ford and his best buddy, James Still

So we had the big class reunion and Shae’s wedding this weekend. I actually didn’t take as many pictures as I thought I would. I don’t even think I got any of the wedding. I apologize for those of you who were looking forward to them. The reunion was a good time for all the old buddies from the class of 1999 to get together. Trey only graduated with 38 people so it was rather small. I graduated with 240. We have to wait 2 more years until my 10 year reunion… I’m still a baby. I think all in all everyone had a blast and enjoyed getting together.

Recipe #2 as I promised.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE

1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 9’’ pie shell (graham cracker)

Melt 1 stick of butter. Mix with 1 cup of sugar. Beat 2 eggs with a fork. Mix. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped pecans. (I chop my pecans up real fine. Not a big fan of pecans). Pour into a 9’’ pie shell. Cook at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

That was fun wasn’t it??? It’s my signature pie. I actually got the recipe from my mother in-law. Trey says I make it all the time. Not only is it easy it’s delicious. If you make it you will understand why.

As you all know I am staying home with my sweet baby this year and not teaching. I do miss little kiddos though. I started tutoring again yesterday so I feel a bit connected to the teaching world. It was fun. I am tutoring a 4th grader in math.

Ford is doing well. He is growing like a weed. He is so funny how he loves to look and see what is going on….kind of nosey. Not sure where he gets that from???? He has been helping me get our house all nice and clean for the baby shower this weekend. My best friend from college had her precious baby boy several weeks early (14 to be exact) and we didn’t get to have her shower before he came so we are throwing one this weekend. I volunteered my home and now I have to get it all in order. The shower isn’t until Sunday but since I stress over the small things in life I have started cleaning and all that jazz early. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.