Chicken and Noodles

Hey There Wednesday!
I'm back with a delectable treat for a frigid day like today. 

This is comfy, cozy food at its finest. 

There's nothing better than a bowl of chicken and noodles on top of mashed potatoes.

What You'll Need: 

1 Pound Chicken Breast (I used thawed)

2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup

2 Cans Chicken Broth

1 Stick Butter

1 Package Frozen Egg Noodles (24 oz.)

Get out your oval Crock-pot. 

Trim any extra fat off of the chicken. 

Place the chicken in the bottom of the Crock-pot. 

Pour the soup on top of the chicken. 

Add the chicken broth.

Put the stick of butter on top. 

Set the Crock-pot to low for about 6 hours. 

Take the chicken out and put in a separate bowl. 

Shred the chicken. 

Place it back in the Crock-pot.

Add the frozen noodles. 

Mix in. 

Cook for 2 more hours.

*I have to give credit to Pinterest for this recipe.
I adjusted it a bit, but I got the original recipe from there.
I couldn't find who posted it, but it was a Pinterest win!

I was considering putting these on top of a warm biscuit but Alex requested mashed potatoes. 

So, we had warm chicken and noodles on top of mashed potatoes!
Yummy!

Ronald Reagan Macaroni and Cheese

Happy Monday!
By the time you are reading this I hope I'm back in my classroom. 

I went to school one day last week and that was for a professional day of meetings.

 

It's rained, snowed, been -4 degrees, been 50 degrees, and flooded all within the last week. 

Our weather in Ohio is crazy, and as I'm typing this I think I have cabin fever. 

On Thursday it was snowing at 4 am and then an inch or two of snow an hour later. 

I waited until Alex got home to take me to grocery store. 

I had gone running in the morning and it was even slippery to run, so I was a bit hesitant to head to the store. 

I've been baking all kinds of good recipes while I've been home. 

My only caution is to not bake too many things because we're only two people and can't eat it all. 

I typically share a lot with my parents and that helps make things go faster.

Today I'm sharing a recipe that I've found several times in my grandma's recipes. 

Ronald Reagan's mac and cheese must have been the rage at the time!

What You'll Need:

1/2 Pound Macaroni

1 TBSP. Butter

1 Egg (Beaten)

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Dry Mustard

1 TBSP. Hot Water

1 C. Milk

3 C. Grated Cheese (I used Cheddar-in the future will try American)

Cook macaroni as directed (usually about 9 minutes).

Drain. 

In the meantime, butter a casserole dish. 

Add butter and beaten egg to macaroni. 

Add in cheese. 

Add salt, dry mustard and hot water to milk. 

Pour macaroni in buttered dish. 

Pour milk on top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. 

The last 10 minutes add a little cheese on top. 

The recipe called for you to pout the milk on top of the macaroni; however, in the future I might might it all together and then put it in the dish. 

I can't quite handle boxed macaroni and cheese anymore. 

I just don't like the taste for some reason.

Any kind of macaroni and cheese used to be my favorite, so I'm not sure what has happened along the way.  

This was a great alternative.

Enjoy!

Friday Favorites: Snow, Snow Days, Menu Plan

Happy Friday!
The buzzword last week was "winter storm".
We braced for a big one last weekend.
They weren't sure if it would be all snow, snow and rain or what combination.
If I'm being honest, I was hoping for snow.
I love a big snow, but I pray people stay at home and are safe!
We went to bed last Friday night anticipating snow all day Saturday-the forecast was about 8 inches.
I jumped up out of bed Saturday morning and found rain-ALL. DAY. LONG!
Without further adieu, it's a Friday Favorites kind of day!
Let's see what this week had in store...


As always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week, too.

Winter has returned!

Winter made her return a couple weekends ago!

We had big plans to go to the outlets, which then led to just go to a mall, which then led to stay at home!

I ran Saturday morning. 

It was calm with a dark winters sky. 

I got to run with the deer across town; this is one of my favorite things because they actually are the same exact deer that I used to look out my bedroom/bathroom window and see. 

Over the years I just started talking to them like they are regular people or animals. 

When I saw them I asked them what they were doing so close to town. 

They turned around and ran back up to my parents house. 

There's something about those creatures that always make my day, except when it involves driving and deer!

By evening we had this amount of snow. 

We got a few inches and thankfully it fell over the weekend, so we didn't have to miss a whole day of school.

Fast Forward one week later and we got all rain...

That then turned to snow Saturday night and we woke up to about 8 inches Sunday morning. 

We shoveled and shoveled and plowed. 

I made soup and a cake for comfort food. 

Fast forward to Monday morning when it was negative degrees with a -14 windchill. 

We had a professional day on Tuesday, so while the kids didn't go, the teachers did! Yay! 

I about biffed it getting out of my car. 

It was too cold for the salt to work and there was a layer of ice beneath all of the snow.

Then, we jump to Wednesday when it warmed up to almost 50 degrees. 

50!

It rained all day Wednesday, and then early this morning (I'm writing this on Thursday) it turned back to snow. 

I honestly have no idea what's in the future. 

We are currently on a two-hour delay and I'm hoping we actually go, so that we don't have to take anymore days off.

Insta Posts

I always enjoy seeing quotes on Instagram. 

Who doesn't love every shade of black?!

At our team meetings we have a weekly agenda. 

On the week that you are in charge of hosting the meeting, you are in charge of the agenda and adding some memes to it just for fun's sake. 

This was my meme for last Wednesday.

Then, it was freezing snow/rain and school got cancelled (again)!

I listened to a podcast with Christine Caine the other day. 

I loved how encouraging she was, so I jumped online and looked her up a bit more. 

This quote really spoke to me!!

Snow Day Fun

We actually haven't had as many snow days as it seems!
Thankfully, a lot of our big snowstorms have fallen on the weekend. 

While I feel like I have cabin fever, a lot of it is from staying in all weekend for the last few weekends straight. 

We are crossing our fingers that this weekend we can get out and about. 

In the meantime, I've spent a lot of time sippin' cocoa and watching my girl Kelly!

I love Kelly and Ryan!

I've also spent a ton of time reading and drinking milkshakes.

You need to read Girl, Wash Your Face-->More on that on another day! 

This was the coldest day of the year. 

Literally the high that day was about 12. 

Alex thinks that's too cold to run outside, so I worked out inside that day. 

Then, he brought me home a milkshake.

On the coldest day of the year!!

It was good nonetheless. 

I've also been doing a lot of cleaning. 

I'm getting our Spring cleaning out of the way now, so that we can enjoy the sun and warm weather when that time comes. 

I know we have a good at least two more months, but I'm getting it done!

Last week I cleaned out the bathroom and all cabinets, both bedrooms and the living room.

Dusted, swept, washed the floors, dusted blinds, washed, ironed and rehung curtains!

Seed Sowing

It's almost time to start sowing my seeds for this coming summer. 

I ordered my seeds last week. 

They've arrived, and I just need to get some soil when I actually make it out of the house again. 

Then, we are all set for planting!

I'm working on making a yearly menu. 

At the end of last year I felt so overwhelmed with meals.

I was still trying to plan ahead, and I was asking Alex for ideas on what he wanted. 

I just felt like things were chaotic. 

I never felt like I had the recipes in one place. 

I'd look here and there and still forget something. 

Somewhere along the way I decided that I would make a menu for the whole year. 

This has been an ongoing idea in my head. 

I wasn't sure how I would make it happen, but I had been keeping track of meal ideas in the notes section of my phone. 

Now, I've transferred that over to a Google spreadsheet. 

I'm currently making a tab for each month and putting down our meals on there. 

If I'm using a recipe from someone who blogs (like Shay's recipe books below) then I simply put a hyperlink to the already blogged recipe. 

If I'm using a recipe that hasn't been blogged (like the recipes below) then I take pictures and plan to add them to my blog and put a hyperlink to them. 

I have all of the my grandma and her best friend's recipes. 

At first it was super overwhelming because I didn't know what to do with them or how to keep them. 

Some of them are organized and some not. 

I'm slowly pulling out a few recipes at a time and keeping them close by. 

Each week I'm going to make a new dessert recipe, so that a little at a time I can add those tried and true recipes to my blog. 

I'm super exited for this menu plan!

I hope to blog more about it as it takes shape later in the year. 

Whether it is sunny and 75 or cold and snowy or rainy and gray where you are, I hope you have the best weekend!
Enjoy! 

Ruthie's Potato Soup

It was a frigid one last weekend. 

Unfortunately/fortunately we got mostly rain on Saturday, which then turned to snow Saturday night and we ended up with about 8 inches by the time we woke up. 

We spent the morning shoveling snow at our house, some neighbors and at my parents and their neighbors. 

When we got home a few hours later I was ready for a nice bowl of soup. 

I had been going through recipes and found this one of our dear family friend. 

My grandma Beabout never really wrote down her soup recipes, so I was excited to find this one. 

I grabbed the potatoes and quickly got to work. 

What You'll Need:

2 TBSP. Butter

6 Large Potatoes-Diced

2 Med Onions-Chopped

3 Stalks Celery-Diced

1/2 Tsp. Salt

Pepper to taste

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Cup Milk

2 Cups Cheese (Velveeta)

In a saucepan, melt the butter.

Add in the diced potatoes, onions and celery. 

Add your desired salt and pepper. 

Saute 5 minutes. Stir often. 

Add 2 Cups of Chicken Broth.

Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender. 

Stir in 1 C. milk. 

Add 2 C. cheese. 

Heat until cheese is melted.

*You can opt to use half and half instead of milk. 

In addition, we didn't have any onions, so I didn't use any. 

This is a great lunch for a snowy, chilly day!

Enjoy!

Word of the Year: 2019

If you read my goals for this year, then you know one of them is to be present more. 

To be where my feet are. 

This might sound silly, but I find myself thinking about all of the other things going on and not truly being present with where I am. 

For that reason, I deemed my word for 2019...

When I'm at school I want to be focused on schoolwork, not what I want to do that night or what I wished I'd done over the weekend. 

I truly enjoy each day and enjoy my days at school, but I often feel like I'm not truly there. 

There are days where I wish I was more focused or in the moment. 

I want to learn with the kids and enjoy our days together. 

I want to be in the moment. 

When I'm at home I often am thinking about ALL of the things that I need to do the next day or my never ending to-do list. 

This has been a major struggle all 7 years of teaching. 

This year I'm really focusing on controlling what I can control and leaving the rest alone. 

There are only so many hours in a day. 

I can't work 24/7.

I need time away from school and need time to myself and my family at home. 

I feel like I'm doing a lot better in this area, but it's SO easy to get sucked back in. 

I want to be present at home and focus on life outside of school. 

So, my word for 2019 is present. 

Be where my feet are. 

Focus on where my feet are. 

Let the worries subside and really enjoy each day, no matter where I am!

Blog Plan 2019

Blogging.

It's no surprise that blogging has been rough for the last year.

I've thought about giving up so many times, but I really, really enjoy this world. 

There's simply just not enough hours in a day. 

I really considered closing down the blog after last year, and then I thought perhaps I could make it more meaningful and useful to me. 

I love the random and interesting posts that many bloggers do; however, many of them are earning money through their blog, not just doing it for fun. 

That's not my case, which is totally a-okay, but I need to change my outlook and posts because of that. 

From time to time I am going to do fun and random posts, but I'm going to try to make this more of a resource for me. 

For that reason I want to focus on...

1. Doing fewer posts-but with more quality

It's okay to not blog 5 days a week. 

I'm hoping to post two quality posts a week. 

This helps lessen the stress and allows me to really focus in on what I'm doing.

2. Transferring all recipes to the blog

I recently just started making a monthly menu. 

I have recipes in a recipe box, recipes in binders, recipes on Pinterest, recipes on the blog. 

Basically there are recipes everywhere!

The easiest way for me to access my recipes is for them to be online. 

I'm creating a spreadsheet for each month and linking my recipes on there, so I have access to the recipes at the grocery store and in my kitchen. 

It's so fun and easy to link other bloggers recipes, but there are a lot of tried and true recipes that I have that I haven't blogged yet. 

That's one main goal for the year. 

3. Reading recaps

I'm a reading and writing teacher, and I really love looking back at what I read. 

I want to do a better job of recapping what I've read. 

I feel like my memory is terrible, and often times need a jump start to think about something from the past. 

I really feel like keeping a regular reading recap would be beneficial!

4. Travel recaps

There are some trips from last fall that I haven't even gotten around to blogging yet. 

I don't want to forget the feels and memories of these trips, so I really need to make it a priority to blog about them. 

I never bought a domain name because I'm waiting and considering blending the blog with my travel agency. 

This is a huge jump and not something I want to hop right into. 

I'm being patiently and really considering the ups and downs of this, but I need to focus more on travel.

Overall, I want to enjoy blogging. 

I love reading others' blogs. 

I just simply have too many plates full right now to be super attentive and detailed. 

My main goal is to enjoy blogging and remain consistent with it without it feeling like a job or burden.

Christmas Cards 2018

Merry Christmas!
It's looking a whole lot like Christmas outside right now!

This year I ordered our cards from VistaPrint. 

I used to order from a lady who personally designed them, but I'm not sure that she did cards this year. 

I loved finding a card that matched my skirt from our Mexico trip!

We started hosting Christmas dinner at our home about three years ago. 

I like to put in a little invite to our Christmas dinner in with our Christmas card.

I feel like it let's people know in advance that we still plan on having them over. 

This year it was a bit tricky because we were leaving the next morning for a cruise. 

We needed to leave our house by 3:30 am, so we wanted to have dinner a bit earlier.

I, also, started the tradition of having a spa day with my mother and mother-in-law as their Christmas gift. 

We've, also, been doing this for three years and have gone to two different spas. 

This year we went to the same spa we went to our first year. 

I think next year we will try out a completely new spa that none of us have been to.

I add this invite in with their Christmas card and Christmas dinner invite!

As much as I love making these invites. 

I really need to find a better way to do it. 

I like being able to customize things, but I also like printing at my local Staples because it's quick and cheap. 

Sometimes the sizing doesn't equal out when I make them myself and then print them to Staples. 

If anyone has ideas, for quick, easy, customizable invites that aren't too expensive, let me know!

Let's Look-Coziest Spot

Hey There!

Shay and Erika are starting their new series-Let's Look today. 

Last year they did "How We" and this year they are doing "Let's Look"

It's a Let's Look Tuesday, so let's get looking!

These are our topics for the year and today we are looking at...

 the coziest spot in your house!

Hands down, the coziest spot for me is my reading chair!
I love this spot so much during the holidays. 

So, you're getting a little glimpse at me doing what I love-reading in this cozy spot.

Travel Planning-Check!

Christmas Novel-Check!

Cupcake-Check!

A little Jesus time on Christmas morning!

Lots and lots of reading options nearby!

My little reading chair after all of the Christmas decorations came down!

I just took all of our Christmas decor down, so I'm feeling a little blah right now, but I've been back at it reading in my little spot. 

There's nothing fancy about it. 

It has a chair, ottoman, light nearby and I always have lots of blankets!

Goals 2019

1. Be Present

I want to enjoy ordinary life more. 

The end of the year always get so rushed, and I find myself more times than not not being able to remember little things. 

I want to watch the sun rise and the sun set. 

I want to enjoy where I am. 

Christy Wright is always saying "Be Where Your Feet Are"!

That's exactly what I want to do; live in the moment. 

2. Work Less

This sounds a bit crazy, but I'm making this one of my goals for the year.

I love my job as a teacher, but it easily becomes overwhelming and can take over your life. 

There's always another lesson to create and more papers that I could grade. 

I have a very hard time separating home and work. 

While I've gotten better at it, I want to leave work at work more often and be able to feel like I can do my own thing at night and on the weekends.

3. Read 3 Books Per Month

I'm a reading and writing teacher, so it only makes sense that I read. 

When I look back at what I read over the year, there are months where I read five books and months where I read one. 

I want to read more, and so realistically I think that's 3 books each month. 

Hopefully some months I will read more, but I want to aim for 3!

So there are my goals for 2019.

It's easy to stick to them at the beginning of the year, but I want to stick to them all year long!

I've written them in my planners and hope to keep checking back in on them each month. 

My students and I revisited the goals they made at the beginning of the year. 

I had them assess whether they've met their goal, want to tweak it or need to make a new goal for the second half of the year. 

We make one reading goal and one writing goal. 

One thing that I've been neglecting with them is checking back in on those goals. 

So, I've added it to my monthly list to check back in on those goals!

Christmas Decor 2018

Better late than never!

Today I'm sharing my Christmas decor. 

I really struggled with the blog in 2018. 

The end of the year got super busy as well, so I didn't post anything in the month of December. 

I toyed with the idea of not blogging in 2019, but I decided that I would make some changes and attempt to continue doing it. 

Next week I plan to share my 2019 Goals, our Christmas card and some Friday Favorites and the following week my Blog Plan for 2019 and maybe a yummy recipe. 

I want the blog to be authentic and useful for me. 

More on that later!

Today I want to share my Christmas Decor because I like having pictures of each year's decorations in one spot. 

So Merry Christmas to you!
Let's pretend it's the week before Christmas!
Who doesn't want to celebrate a little extra long?!

This weekend I need to take these decorations down!
I love having the house decorated. 

It feels so comfy and cozy, I'm not ready to let the twinkle lights go!

Have a great weekend!

Enjoy!