Something Yummy....

Ok...I know...I know...I didn't do it every working day last week...lol...

So...here's one for today....


Kari's Cheese Soup

1 bag Colby / Monterray Jack cheese
1 bag Monzerrella cheese
1 block Velvetta cheese
1 packet Knorr Spring Vegetable Soup Mix
2 Tablespoons Chicken Base (not the cubes...use the paste kind...it's the best!!!)
1 pint Half & Half (I use the fat-free one...you CAN'T tell the difference!!!)
1- 2 pints 2% milk (I use skim milk...because that's what we drink...)
1 stick Butter
8 cups Water
1 cup Carrots (finely grated)

Put water, chicken base, butter, carrots, and Knorr soup mix in a soup pot and bring to a boil.
Cook long enough to get the soup mix and carrots good and tender. Cube up block of velvetta and add to the pot as you cube it up. Let that cook a bit until the velvetta is melted and combined with the other ingredients. Add the bags of cheese one at a time to let them melt and combine with the other ingredients. Add the 1/2 & 1/2 and one pint of milk. Bring it back to a boil and add the remaining pint of milk to make it to your thinkness. (It is also good if you add broccoli florets to it but if you add the florets, add them in when you add the carrots, so they cook through.)

This is REALLY, REALLY good!!! Rich as can be...but GOOD!!!! I love making it on a cool night (face it...we live in Texas...we don't really have cold nights...LOL). We also throw some crutons on top of it...makes it better!!!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!

Until next time....

YUMMY Cheese Straws!!!

Ok...so I've thought about this for a long time. I have some GREAT recipes...so I thought that I would share one a day (work day) with you... (This one I got from one of the other blogs I read...so I thought that I would share her's first...it sounds YUMMY!!!!) I have a TON of them...so if you want something...I'm sure I have it... I'll take requests...

Day One: Cheese Straws - Starwoodgal http://starwoodgal.wordpress.com/

2 cups grated cheese (sharp or regular)

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cold water

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cream butter and cheese together. Sift flour and baking powder. Add salt and cayenne pepper. Form in dough as pie crust (this means not to stir or handle it too long.....it will make the dough tough and you don't want tough cheese straws!!!). Roll out as thin as pastry (which means get it pretty thin...but not TOO thin...LOL). Cut in strips with a pastry wheel (a pizza cutter works just as good as a pastry wheel...). Spray pan with cooking oil (I use butter flavored Crisco in the can). Lay cheese straws on the pan...not too close together...about 1/2 inch apart. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from pan and place straws on cooling rack to cool as soon as you take them out of the oven... Enjoy!!! Let me know how you like them!!

Daddys Headstone

Daddys headstone is being placed today. I wanted to be there when they placed it (he said that I could help him and that he would bring an extra shovel for me) but since I started the new job, I can't. This really sucks!! I'm going there as soon as I get finished with cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Kristie may go with me if she can. If not, I'll go by myself. I like going by myself because I can "talk" to him. Lol. Miss him so much! Love you Daddy!

vaCAtion....

Get it?? vaCAtion... We went to CAlifornia... LOL... We went all over Northern CAlifornia... Carmel, Monterey, Napa, Sanoma, and San Francisco... We had a blast!! Here are a few pics....

From top left to right:

Our view from our condo in Carmel; The Aquarium in Monterey; At Bubba Gump's in Monterey; Pebble Beach Golf Club in Pebble Beach; Riding horses in Pebble Beach Riding Club; and V. Sattui Winery in Napa Valley.

There are MANY MORE....but the page wouldn't hold them all...LOL... I took close to 500 pictures!! I will upload them to MySpace and FaceBook this weekend... Check them Monday to see if they are there yet...LOL...

Have a great afternoon... I'm not going to...I have to go to the vet and pick Kokoa up... We had to have her put to sleep today... :( She's been really sick...and I didn't want her suffering anymore!! She needed blood and plasma transfusions and the dr. said that it was going to cost an EXTREME amount to do that... We tried vitamins and steriods...but she didn't get any better... I noticed that when we would go to pick her up that she would whine and cry...so there's something more going on... And even though she's only 3 1/2...I couldn't let her suffer!! Say a few extra prayers for Karson... She knows that this could have happened...but I haven't told her yet... I didn't want to ruin her day at Moody Gardens with Aunt Vicki, Nanna, Conner and Uncle Gary...so I told Nanna not to tell her... That I would tell her when I got home... Uncle Bryan knows and he's going to dig us a hole to bury her in when he gets home from work. I told him Karson didn't know yet, so don't let her see you digging the hole...

Until next time ya'll....

~Kari~

Goodness...

Well... My mom told me something yesterday that is a little wierd!!

Bryan was at the house one night and he was there by himself.... He walked down the hallway and stopped and looked at our HS graduation pictures hanging on the wall... He never stops and looks at them...but he did... Well...he was standing there and all of a sudden...he heard "HumpUm" (the sound my dad ALWAYS made...like clearing his throat)... It scared him half to death!!!

THEN....mom is home yesterday by herself.... She's in the living room or kitchen doing something... Well...all of a sudden...she hears... 'crash, boom, bang!' ... She looks in all the cabinets and nothing falls...looks in the bathrooms...nothing fell... She walks down the hallways...and just so happen to look up...the attic door is hanging open about six inches!! She waits until someone is there...MeeMaw...before she opens the door...she didn't want to get knocked out by something falling... She said that it was one of the boxes from the other side of the attic...one that had not been touched in YEARS!!!

Now...you tell me how that sound and that box fell???

I do NOT believe in ghosts....but....I do believe in spirits and angels...

Daddy's doing a GREAT job watching over us!

Love you Daddy!

Today...

...I can tell today that it's going to be a bad day...

...I'm looking at old pictures of when Karson was born and there are so many with her and my dad...

...Today's going to be a bad day...

...He is SO MISSED!!!...

...Love you Dad...

NEW JOB!!!!

Well...

I got a new job!!! YEAH ME!!!!!

I will be leaving Crosby ISD after 7 years and starting a new journey at Sheldon ISD building their purchasing department from the ground up!!

I'm REALLY excited about this!!! It's not too far from home....so that's GREAT!!!

I'm going to miss my CISD family, but I know that I will make a new one at SISD!!!

Thanks for all the loving prayers in hopes that it would turn out the way I wanted it to!!