Hawk

So for the past few days we have had this little treasure visiting us...

 Isn't she a beauty!  She has been plying us with her song.  We have seen her on various perches within eye shot of the backdoor and have heard her calling from her hiding space within the trees. 

I got a new camera Friday - an Olympus SP800UZ and it has a 30x zoom and I am so grateful that it does because it allowed me this wonderful shot!  She was on our back fence which is about 85 foot away at this point.  I have been playing with the different settings on my camera and am a bit scared of some of the "magic" it has - like the pinhole, fisheye, popart and drawing settings.

Somedays... Like today....

Some days I stop and wonder what I've done to deserve so many blessings in my life. Some days I stop and wonder why Heavenly Father has blessed me with the family and friends - both near and far - that I have. Some days I wonder why why Heavenly Father has places a pebble in my path yet other days I wonder why he has placed a boulder in my path. Some days I wonder how to jump the hurdles while holding onto the blessings. Some days, like today, I am thankful, prayerful, hopeful, confused, scared, confident, strong, tearful, joyful, stressed, weak.... I think if you were to provide an adjective I'm sure I could think of a time I have experienced that feeling.

Today though I am extremely thankful. Thankful the son of friends successfully had a needed surgery, that his doctors hands were skillfully guided and that he is mending. Thankful that my daughter has such wonderful friends. Thankful that the car in front of me was going slow enough that we both missed being involved in the VERY bad accident on the freeway by a few minutes. Thankful that emergency crews were able to get to the accident quickly and render the necessary aid. Thankful that I work with such WONDERFUL people who value me as a person and who make me feel a valuable part of the team. The list could go on and on. Now this isn't to say that there isn't a pebble in the road, there is, in fact, it is a boulder and may not easily be overcome without some wise counsel but the blessings, those wonderful blessings, FAR outweigh those pebbles, those rocks, those boulders.

Today I want you to know that I am thankful for the blessing you are to me, that you have been to my life & to the lives of my family. You make me a better person because YOU are YOU so THANK YOU... for being a blessing without every realizing it! Today, and well.... everyday I want you to know that YOU are a blessing to someone, somewhere, whether you know it or not that somedays, like today I thanked Heavenly Father for placing YOU in my path along with the joy, sorrow, blessings and hurdles so that YOU can help me be a better ME.

Entertainment Center

We got the entertainment center all moved in and are in the process of accessorizing it - which is a challenge for me so if anyone wants to give me a hand or some advice - I'd appreciate it!  If we had left the center oak I wouldn't have any problems but not sure how to accessorize it now that it's painted!

These are two of my cute little "helpers"

This is how they helped.....

Yeah, not so much huh?  We had left the backer panels outside overnight since we had checked the weather...  It was supposed to be nice - shouldn't be a problem....  The next morning I didn't give it a thought as I let the dogs out - it should be dry, right?  Apparently there had been a heavy dew and it had "lifted" the paint - I found this out as I let the dogs in and noticed the black paw prints on my freshly cleaned carpet!  I didn't stop to get pictures and as it is we are still working on getting a few of the prints off the carpet!

Anyhoo, this is what we started out with - I took this picture AFTER we removed all the doors and hardware.  We were just going to leave it oak but when I took handles off of the upper doors we found out that they had sprayed the stain and varnish on OVER the "face plates" that were behind the knobs!  Since we couldn't find a stain that would match (because of the age) we decided the next option was to paint it black!

(Notice the computer piece in the background - still trying to decide to leave it as is or paint it black as well....  oh, and the table/chairs FINALLY made it down to my brothers place in Gulfport!  We are slowly but surely getting our garage back - maybe I'll be able to park in it again soon!)

This is the finished piece (well almost! - still looking for the aforementioned helpers/ideas on finishing it up!)

 This is my main "helper"! - doesn't he look thrilled with me and this project! (I LOVE YOU HONEY!)

 He was such a trooper - we took off all the doors and the backer boards, he hoisted, removed hinges, filled holes in the doors, sanded, primed, painted (with a little help from the sprayer!), hoisted again, made a shelf to lift the TV and make room for the DVD & DVR, reinstalled the doors, made a sliding shelf (for the printer that is hiding behind the lower left door), he installed the new handles and then he set up all the electronics - THANK YOU HONEY!

I must also thank our other two "helpers" - Drew & Katie!  They helped me remove the old handles, the old hinges, the 6 sliding DVD/CD shelves/brackets, they sanded, wiped, hoisted, moved, reinstalled the lights in the long upper cabinets, installed the new handles, helped with setting up the electronics and Katie spray painted the locks for the DVD/CD cabinets from gold to satin nickel to match the handles.

All in all I am super HAPPY with the results - still have a few touch-ups to do and that accessorizing to figure out and we are considering "rebuilding" the DVD shelves (which were actually meant to hold cassette tapes and VCR tapes in the plastic cases) but they work for now so.....

Now onto the next projects - finishing pulling my notes together for the food dehydrating class I am teaching at the stake preparedness fair this weekend (YIKES - that's in 3 days!), pulling stuff together for the neighborhood yard sale that is 2 weeks away, getting the garage back in order and then pulling together the information for the once a month cooking class that I am teaching soon.... oh and then there are the crochet, sewing and quilting things that are calling to me from the other room!!!!!

Oops and OH NO!

On Wednesday we had Stanley Steemer come out and clean the carpets in preparation for getting the new entertainment center into the family room.  Said entertainment center is in the back yard - freshly painted and starting to look great.  It is oak and I hated to paint it but wanted to changed out the knobs BUT when I pulled off those "wonderful" 80's face plates that were behind the knobs we discovered that they had stained and varnished the upper doors WITH the face plates on so there was bare wood behind them and a "lip" of varnish around where they had been soooo.... we painted it black.  It's almost done...  Will post pics soon!

Oops - We painted the backer boards for the entertainment system kinda late last night and left them overnight to dry (it was supposed to 55 degrees last night) so we thought they'd be safe.  I went out to look everything over and discovered that they were COVERED in BUGS!  Stuck in the paint so todays chore was going to be debugging the backs for touch up so we can get everything in before the rain sets it tomorrow but that got delayed a bit - keep reading.... you'll see why!

OH NO! - I THOUGHT that the back panel pieces were dry so I let the puppies out to do their business and went into the kitchen to get a drink.  The puppies wanted back in so I opened the door, they both came in and I turned and just happened to look down - only to find BLACK paw prints on the carpet!  Apparently the puppies had walked across the back panels and since they were wet with dew which has "released" the paint!  So after giving the puppies quick baths to get the paint off their paws (and one of Sugars ears) I grabbed the carpet cleaner (and recruited my helper, Drew) to get the carpet spots cleaned and then proceeded to scrub the master bath and floor - there were black paw prints everywhere (since I couldn't put both puppies in the bathtub together without them wanting to play!).  I had such a hard time not laughing at it all!

So I don't have pictures of the "painted" puppies since I was concerned over their health and the effects the paint might have on them BUT I do have pictures of the backer boards that I will post - I don't know where the memory card adapter is since half the living room is in boxes and the "big" computer isn't up (I am writing this on my laptop).

Now, I am off to start "debugging" the backer boards so Howard can spray them again and we can get everything put together!

Have a great day AND enjoy this gorgeous day!

Chicken Tortilla Bake - Serves 8 - 10

I am posting the recipe as I got it and will make notations about changes I make at the end.

Chicken Tortilla Bake - serves 8 - 10 - Uses 5 - 6 qt. crockpot

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked & cut into bite-sized pieces, reserving 1/4 cup broth
8 large flour tortillas, cut into 1/2 " x 2 " strips
2 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon oil
10 3/4 oz. chicken broth
10 3/4 oz. cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. mild green chilies, chopped
1 egg
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Pour reserved broth into crockpot sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Scatter 1/2 the tortillas in bottom of crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients together, except remaining tortilla strips and cheese. Layer half chicken mixture into crockpot, followed by other half of the tortillas, followed by the rest of the chicken mixture. Cover, cook on low 4 - 6 hours, high 3 - 5 hours. Add cheese to the top during last 20 - 30 minutes of cooking. Uncover and allow to rest 15 minutes before serving.

* I use a 14 oz. can of chicken broth and since I use a can of chicken and kinda shred it through my fingers I just pour enough of the chicken broth into my crockpot to cover the bottom and follow the rest of the recipe as it is written.
* I also use dehydrated onion and just let it pull moisture from the chicken mixture.
* I only use 1/2 the chopped green chilies because Howard's belly can't handle more.
* Lastly, Drew and I like sliced black olives in this - Howard and Katie not so much - so I use a small can of sliced black olives and divide it between the layers and sprinkle it on top of the chicken mixture over just half of this casserole.
* I have successfully doubled this into my larger oval crockpot and know someone who makes this in her 3 - 4 qt. crockpot by creating 3 layers rather than 2 and it turns out great as well!