out with the old....in with the new

Well, less than an hour until 2009. What a year it has been. Many ups and downs for us, but we are ending on an up note and I can only hope and pray for a happy and very healthy year ahead not only for my family but for everyone.

And for the resolutions? Last few years I haven't really made any - why bother since I always blow it pretty much immediately...... But this year I'm getting my butt into shape - really I am! How can I not now that I've put it out there for everyone to see?! ha.

And how about a resolution to post a comment if you stop by? I have to do that, too, with the blogs I read!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Major delish!!!

So we are staying in this New Year's Eve and I wanted to make something scrumptious for supper. Jackpot!!!!! I searched allrecipes.com and found this: Creamy Pesto Shrimp

This was sooooooooooooo good. Of course the battery in my camera is dead so I couldn't post a picture of the final product but seriously, try this soon!!!

It is not low cal/ low fat but is totally worth it.

CREAMY PESTO SHRIMP

Ingredients:

* 1 pound linguine pasta
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/3 cup pesto
* 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguine pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in cream, and season with pepper. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Stir Parmesan cheese into cream sauce, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Blend in the pesto, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until thickened.
4. Stir in the shrimp, and cook until they turn pink, about 5 minutes. Serve over the hot linguine.

I did use mostly half and half instead of heavy cream. Next time I'll add some fresh mushrooms and tomatoes. Delicious!


SUBMITTED BY: Loretta Buffa -- have to give credit where credit is due. Thanks for this recipe, Loretta.

We also had BACON WRAPPED SCALLOPS. Yum again. I went ahead and bought a few big scallops, precooked the bacon just a teeny bit, and broiled them - just drizzled a little olive oil on them and seasoned with salt and pepper. I didn't get them done early enough to have as an appetizer so we each had a couple with our pesto shrimp.

In the crockpot I have some chicken wings cooking and they smell great. I'll post that recipe later. Guess the buffalo chicken dip will have to wait until tomorrow!

Where does the time go?

How did it happen that there is only one more day of 2008?!?!?!?!?! Wow - does time fly, even when you aren't having fun.

Don't you love it when...

...you find the perfect gift by accident?!

I did today - found a gift for my hubby. I think he is going to like it. It is something I had kind of thought about but in a different way, if that makes sense. It wasn't something I was planning on getting, but when I saw it was like, "that's it!" I sure hope he likes it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So it not only looks like Christmas, it feels like we are actually at the North Pole!

holy cow!!!!! It's cold out!!! -10 when we went to church, -7 on the way home. I have things to do but no way am I going out again today. Going to do some cut-out cookies (pre-made dough, sorry) and when Katwoman goes down for a nap I'm going to start a big pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs for dinner. Mmmmmmm.

And just for fun, there is a potential of 9-18 more inches Tuesday through Wednesday...the fun never ends :-)

If you have kids.....

...do your kids like to watch the same thing over and over and over and over and over?! I mean, I love Mary Poppins and all, but PUH-LEEZE ~ we've watched it 4x (in a row .......here and there when she gets her little bit of TV) and she wants to watch it AGAIN. ugh.

It's beginning to look A LOT like Christmas!

Ah, yes. I know this post means nothing without pictures but I didn't get them off the camera yet. We got 13 inches - yes, count em - 13 inches of snow! So I got my snow day. YAY. And, I'm feeling better (of course it is 10:30 at night) so it's all good. We are supposed to get another 2-5 inches Saturday night into Sunday and then of course windchills will be -20 to -40 (of course I still have some shopping to do - ugh) and then we are looking at another storm Tuesday night into Christmas Eve. Yes, this is weather watch on the blog but when you live in WI winter, one talks about the weather. A LOT :-)

So ya, nothing else too exciting. I'm still behind in my goodie making but oh well. I just don't really care anymore. Merry Merry!!!

Seriously!

This woman just amazes me......how dumb can you be? Ah, elected officials continue to give Milwaukee a bad name. And like MPS isn't screwed up enough?!

Charlene Hardin should be removed but she won't because this is Milwaukee we are talking about


So on to other important thoughts.....the biggie for the day: being sick SUCKS. Poor Katwoman got the flu. It wasn't pretty and I was home for a day from work. Today I have it, but not as bad. Came home an hour early to sleep and hope I can only hope it is gone tomorrow. I have way too much to do; don't have time for this!!!I guess the only good I can say about it is that it is out of the way before Christmas.

And now, a request: please do your best snow day dance for me! Please?!

I know, I know, as a teacher I should never want a snow day but: seeing as we are supposed to get up to a foot, and seeing as it is the last day before our 2 week Christmas break so it is going to be wild anyway, and seeing as I'm not feeling very well I think it would be best if I just stayed home - don't you?!

Go to the movies!

See Slumdog Millionaire. AWESOME flick. Seriously. You will love it. We had free tix to a screening tonight (thanks honey) and I have to say...loved it!

Is she really only 4?!

My kid is playing. She is having a party. She told me I was invited. She just came over to ask me my name. She had her list. I gave her my name. She checked her list. She told me, "NO MOM'S ALLOWED!!!" She finally did cave and tell me I could stay in the parent party room. :-)

I thought 4 year olds still wanted their mommies! I feel so abandoned!