Fall into Flavor

It's week 4 for Fall into Flavor. I missed week 2 and 3 but wanted to contribute this week:

Here's one of our favorite snacks while watching the big game.




Mexican Cheese Crackers
1 box (14-1/2 oz) cheese crackers (the square ones work well)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place crackers in a large shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, combine butter, taco seasoning mix, Worcestershire, and salt. Pour butter mixtures over crackers, stir well. Bake 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Pour onto waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container. Yields: approx. 6 cups

Having lunch at school - embarrsing my kid

Alright, the weekend is finally here. Today is family picnic day with sweet baby girl. It's always fun and the kids are so happy that they don't have to eat cafeteria food! And they are actually happy that their parents come to have lunch with them. Unlike my high schooler who would die if I showed up to have lunch with him! I tried to trick him and his friends last week. I had to get some extra football tickets for the game and the secretary in the athletic office was on an early lunch. So I had to go to the school cafeteria to buy the tickets. Being the loving doting mother I am, I was so excited that I was going to get to see my baby at lunch. Unfortunately my timing wasn't perfect and they were already finished and getting ready to go to class. But if you could have seen their faces when I walked up. I told one of the boys I had come to have lunch with them and he almost choked. I acted really disappointed that they were not happy to see me. Of course my son tried to act like he didn't know me, like his friends don't know me!! Ha. Anyway it's fun to be a parent - most of the time.

100 years of football continues. Tonight we will honor players from the 1980's - my "era". Hope to see some old friends and their families. Cruisin' the Coast will wind down this weekend. I hope to get out and see some of those Ford Mustang and Chevy Camero cars that I "covet". Forgive me Lord - I am truly thankful for the Windstar mini-van!!

The Very Hungry Catipillars

So glad tomorrow's Friday. Baby girl home not feeling well today. Maybe I can catch up on domestic duties around the house in between lots of lovin' and nose blowing. Last evening we were out in the backyard, and discovered some of God's beautiful creatures having quite a party. We counted about 20 of them. You can see how much they have eaten already by the stripped branches in the background. What would Martha say?! This is not a good thing.

Fall into Flavor with Sweet Potato Casserole

Linda at 2nd cup of coffee shared a favorite comfort food recipe. Here is one of my family's favorite dish we serve during the holidays. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and put in casserole dish.

Topping:
1/3 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Mix topping together. This will be crumbly. If you think topping is too dry, you may add more melted butter. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.


Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 30 minutes until topping is brown.

So yummy and sweet you might think it's dessert!

100 Years of Friday Night Football

***UPDATE**
We won!!! What a great football game. Exciting nail-biter down to the last 8 seconds of the game. Woo-Hoo. It was great to see my brother and his teammates together again. Some had not be "home" since graduation. A few travel between 3-7 hours just to come for the game.
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It's beginning to feel like true Fall weather around here. I love the crisp air earlier in the morning. I love to open my windows and air out the house. It smells so clean and fresh Tonight it's Friday night football. This year our town is celebrating 100 years of football and tonight they will honor past players from the 1970s. My oldest brother will be out on the gridiron once again. I remember growing up how much he loved football. Lonnie ate, breathed and slept football. He wanted me to love it too. He tried to explain to me once what those X's and O's meant as he studied his play book. I tried to seem really interested but wanted to play tic tac toe with the X's and O's instead. He wasn't the biggest player on the team, but he had the biggest desire to be out there. He never broke curfew on Thursday nights. The coach would call to make sure his players were in early and getting rest before the game on Friday. He had to personally speak to them to make sure the parents weren't covering for them. They had so much pride in their team and school. He didn't play in college, but has continued through the years to stay involved with sports as a volunteer coach. He gave everything he had to teaching those kids discipline and fundamentals.

He's a little older now and had to give it up do to bad knees, but he makes a great armchair quarterback on the weekends. Now days he supports the team on Friday nights and he gets to see his old coach. I'm sure they still talk about the good old days. My family will be on the sidelines again cheering him on as we shout out their class moto" "GHS mighty are we, we're the class of '73!" Go Commodores!!!

Are you a slugabed?

Today's word of the day: slugabed \SLUHG-uh-bed\, noun: One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.

Just this morning my sweet hubby asked me if I was getting enough sleep. Let me give you a little background here... See we've been married now for 23 years and he knows my sleep habits well. When we were first married I longed to sleep in until noon on Saturday while he was up early ready to go enjoy the weekend. He didn't quite understand that I was enjoying my weekend - sleeping. When I was growing up, my brothers used to have to drag me out of bed on Christmas morning. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't wait to see what Santa left me, but why did I have to get up at 5am?! I loved to sleep till at least noon- 1pm on the weekends when I was a teenager. I stayed up on Friday night to watch The Midnight Special (yes I am dating myself here) which didn't come on until - well Midnight. So I was up late which justified me sleeping late. Right? This drove my parents crazy.

But that's not the way things are now. I am actually waking up before the alarm goes off. I explained to my hubby that I wake up and can't fall back asleep so I get up. He started to laugh and I knew where he was going next. He said he remembered when I would set the alarm about 20 minutes before I had to get up just so I could hit the snooze button a few times before I actually got up. Come on now, I know there are those of you out there who have done this. I even know there are those of you (and me) who have set our clocks in the car 10 to 15 minutes fast just so we would not be late for work or church or where ever else we had to be. I told him, "Well I guess I'm just getting old. I can't lay in the bed all day anymore. Or maybe I've finally grown up."

Whatever the reason I have found this to be one of my favorite times of the day. I actually enjoy seeing the sun come up as I look out in my backyard. The house is quiet and still. There is no ESPN or Hannah Montana on the TV. I start my coffee and look out my kitchen window to see the mockingbirds. If you have not heard one of these birds in the morning outside your bedroom window, count your blessings. They are obnoxiously loud. Anyway, this is one of the sweet little gifts God has given me lately - the quiet time, not the mockingbirds. Uninterrupted quiet time. Time for me to just be say "Good Morning Lord".

So are you a slugabed?