Texas Taco Platter

Made this for dinner tonight, a "first."  SO easy.  So YUM!

*2 lbs. lean ground beef
*Taco seasoning packet
*Can of refried beans
*10 oz bag of Fritos corn chips
*1 cup cheddar-jack cheese, shredded

Choice of garnish: shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, black olives.

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet (with a little bit of onion if you wish; I use a sprinkle of dried onion flakes).  Drain.  Add taco seasoning and water per package instructions.  Heat refried beans on low on the stove top, or in the microwave.

Place the taco meat mixture on a platter, leaving about an inch all around the edge.  Top with refried beans, then cheese, followed by your choice of garnish (or, if your kids are like mine, you put refried beans on only half of the meat mixture and no garnish what so ever!!).  Arrange the Fritos on the outer edge and serve warm.

YUM-O!  Eat your heart out Rachel Ray....  ;)

Beautiful Texas sky.....

I'm BACK!!...did you miss me?!!

Well, all 1.2 of you who actually read my blog....LOL!!! Hoping to change that. ;)

I know I went out with a great send-off back on Jan. 1st, but after all that I'm still not writing on paper, so I figured that blogging is at least writing, albeit on the 'puter. But I miss it. I miss my friends here. And I just miss having a place to post the odd and unusual things that seem to happen in my little life!

I'm trying to decide if I should link back to Facebook with this blog (Kim, if you have the time, could you tell me how you do that and how you manage the posts and all that good stuff??...is it easy or complicated?).

So, for what it's worth, here I am! Blogging again...

Good bye, good health, and godspeed....

It's a weird way to ring in a new year, but I've decided that it's time to close down this blog. I realized with some horror last night that I haven't journaled (as in writing down on paper!) since last JUNE! The computer is taking too much time away from things like that. I've stopped writing at all, and I don't like that. I find a blog a fun way to write superficial stuff, have fun and such, but it's not "true" writing for me. This year is time to refocus and reset some priorities.


May you all have a wonderful and blessed 2010!

A Silent Night

I haven't posted much lately (I blame Facebook!!!....lol!) but wanted to come in and share a video for what has become my new favorite Christmas song. So, just in case anyone is still following this sad little blog (if you are then let me know and encourage me to git back to postin'!!).....







Sit back and enjoy this one, and once you've watched it once, play it again but this time close your eyes and just listen.....

Blessings my friends!

Didn't see THAT coming....

So the horse has been here for almost two weeks now. He's a real sweetheart and is settling in and putting on weight and all that good stuff. We spent weeks getting his shed and the turn-out pasture ready for his arrival. I was all ready to go and jump back into horse-ownership....

But I have made the unexpected discovery that I am just not as "into" it as I used to be. Didn't see that coming!! It's a very weird feeling and I've been trying to figure out what's "wrong." What I've concluded is - and this is a hard one to admit - that I don't have the nerve that I used to.

One day last week I was leading him, and some invisible boogey-man spooked him on the right, and he jumped straight and hard to the left, where of course I was standing. His leg hit my knee so hard that I dropped to the ground and couldn't get up for several minutes. Ten days later, my knee is still hurting me.... Yesterday I resolved that I was going to get on him. Thing is, I had to work up to it all day. When I finally did hop on him, we just stood there. For all of 3 minutes. I was absolutely terrified of him bolting or spooking or otherwise doing something to unseat me. Horses can feel your nervousness, so I certainly wasn't helping matters. D'oh!

He's a great horse, but I'm realizing that he's the horse I would have wanted 15 years ago. He's not the horse for me now. I guess I've just been away from it for too long. Weirder still is that I seem to have no resolve whatsoever to just beat it (the fear, not the horse!...lol!). I'm perfectly content to walk away and that's that. If I did get a different horse, what I'm looking for at this stage of my life is some older horse that's seen it all, one that you can lie back on and soak up the sun and he's just gonna fall asleep under you. My idea of a fun ride is just a stroll around camp, not hanging on for dear life going Mach 2! That was me once, but not now. I guess having 3 kids to raise and having a body that just plain takes longer to heal has changed my perspective some!

Today....

....is a bad day.....

Today, I am really disliking home schooling.

Today, I really wish I had another alternative!

But I don't. So I must press on. I feel like my kids are learning nothing. I feel like we just float through our days with no aim. Mostly that's my fault. I am no good at organizing a school day without turning it into a classroom-at-home. I can't seem to find that middle ground. If I try to put some organization to the day, the kids balk at having to do "work." If I try to back off and let them follow their own natural leading, it goes NO where! Well, no, that's not entirely true....but their leading more often than not has nothing to do with "learning" what so ever. Left to their own devices, it would be tv, video games and such.

I'm so frustrated. I feel like I can't win here. And I'm tired of fighting this battle.

.