Keebler Salad

The benefits of no more school and no more homework...spending time with friends!  Kevin and I were able to take off to High Point on Sunday morning and spend the entire day with Jamie and Billy and Hayden and Nolan.  Sadly, no pictures were taken.  So, you'll just have to imagine our wonderful day: Lunch at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.  Kevin happened to be holding Nolan when he ordered and got to take advantage of a kids meal for himself! :)  Somehow Hayden's ice cream ended up on the floor after two bites (we got a replacement).  The fries were AMAZING!
:playing in the backyard (swinging, hide-and-go-seek, hitting the wiffle ball and riding the power wheels car).  Kevin and Hayden played hide-and-go-seek with Kevin moving constantly during his hiding turn- to really confuse Hayden.
:playing in the bonus room, a pizza dinner, and helping Hayden with homework...Nolan powered through with no nap and was a bit crazy by the time we left, but he's so sweet we didn't mind.  Oh and he asked Kevin twice to take him to the bathroom.  When Kevin's around, we all know who's chopped liver.  He's the favorite one for sure!

In honor of a wonderful day, I have a recipe from Jamie.  Keebler Salad!  She always makes this with her family for showers and parties and I've known her since 6th grade, so Keebler Salad's been part of my life for a LONG time!  I can't believe I've never shared this recipe.  It's awesome, so let's get started!

Ingredients:
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 package Vanilla instant pudding
* 1 can Mandarin oranges
* 1 (8 oz) cool whip
* 1 package Keebler striped cookies

Directions:
1. Crumble up all cookies except for one row.  Set those aside for the top at the end.

2. Mix together the buttermilk and vanilla instant pudding.

3. Fold in the cool whip.

4. Toss in the drained Mandarin oranges and mix up completely.

5. Pour into the bowl you're going to serve in and place the extra row of cookies on top.

6. Wrap in saran wrap and cool in the refrigerator overnight, or at least a few hours. (It's always better if you make the night before.)

This is one of my favorite treats!  Jamie and I both love the tang of the Mandarin oranges with the sweet of the rest.  Billy and Kevin both dislike the Mandarin oranges and wish we'd just leave them out.  Pretty funny!  If the girls are making it (and we typically are) the Mandarin oranges stay! :)

Update on Life!

This is my 100th post.  How is that possible?

I just wanted to take some time to update you on what's going on in our life.

The number one thing that's been on my mind lately is school.  I've been taking Accounting classes since Fall 2013.  I was taking them because I get 3 tuition waivers each year, so I can take classes for free and I thought...why not?  Start taking classes, and if I can get a Master's out of it, then cool!  Well, I recently spoke with the Master's program and then talked with a girl my age who's in the program, working full time and is married.  The insight she gave me was so great!  She told me things she wished she had been told as a non-traditional student with a non-business (or accounting) background.  After our talk, I stressed about my decision.  I debated back and forth for so long...finish this semester to get the credit for what I've already done and then don't take anymore classes for awhile, or just stop now.  I decided to continue and finish out the semester.  And then, while doing my homework and quizzes on Tuesday night, I thought, "why am I doing this?  I'm forcing myself to try and care about something that I'm not interested in right now."  I realized I'm tired of taking classes.  I'd rather hang out with my husband.  Thankfully, the snow extended the drop day, so this week, I dropped my class.  Boom!  I was a student and now I'm not.
I may come back to it some day, but 2 years of prerequisite classes with a year and a half to go before I can even get in the program.  It's daunting.

Work is going well, but what I do may be changing in the coming months.  I process bi-weekly payroll for our 700 students that run the gym/rec center and coordinate the hiring of new students 4 times a year.  Well, our payroll process may go ALL electronic in the next few months.  Meaning, I would no longer have to receive the timesheets from all supervisors and calculate that they're correct before filing them in student files.  AND our applications for hiring are currently paper applications that I pass around to the supervisors for them to interview and choose who they're hiring.  We're investigating that process and are pretty certain we're going electronic with that too.  So possibly no more paper in my world, but a huge shift in what I'm doing.

Kevin is killing it over at Etix!  He switched from the client training side of the house to Manager of Client Services a few months back.  His traveling will hopefully slow down a lot.  At least his attendance to fairs and festivals from March-October should be less.  That's one of the reasons I made my decision about classes.  He's been in attendance on a number of sales pitches in the last few months to show the client how once they sign, he'd be supporting them.  So, that's pretty cool!  His hard work is paying off and I'm super proud of him and of his work ethic, which has always been amazing.  I only wish he could "turn off" work when he got home.  Prying him away from his phone is almost impossible!  Etix just celebrated 15 years and the founder bought Hopscotch.  So, that's pretty awesome!  Anyway...work is good!

Kevin just recently started boxing and loves it.  He's waking up SUPER early in the mornings to go box before work and goes on the weekend too.  I'm excited that he's so happy about it!

We're gearing up for a busy, but fun, Spring and Summer!
* Kevin's mom is coming down to celebrate her birthday with her boys in NC.
* His aunt Patti is also coming for a weekend visit.
* My best friend, Ashley is coming from South Africa for a visit home.
* We have two awesome weddings to attend in May and June both here in NC and in Vermont!
* We've got some summer concerts- Billy Joel, Kenny Chesney, etc.
* The First Ever, 6th Annual American Brew-A-Que is BACK on July 4th weekend!
* And we're hoping for a beach trip this Summer!

We also have plans to return to Europe this Christmas!  And WE CAN'T WAIT!!

In honor of this 100th post, I want to share with you a lady who is 104 and drinks Dr. Pepper every day.  Dr. Pepper is my vice, so I want to be her when I grow up!

Modern Shepherd's Pie

I love the snow!  Waking up and seeing everything blanketed in white and undisturbed is so peaceful.  It just makes me happy!  It also calls for some warm comfort food!  You can't have a really cold day and eat a cold salad.  You need something warm.

I don't know about ya'll, but I LOVE Shepherd's Pie!  You've got your starch, meat and veggies all in one and it's hot and really warms up your soul.  It's perfect!  I've thrown together a dish that I cook a few times a year, during the cold spells, that's my modern twist on the Shepherd's Pie.

Let's get to it!

Ingredients:
* 1 pound ground beef
* 3 cups of peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
* 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 3/4 cup milk
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* Any extra veggies you want to throw in (I like to add a can of peas)

Directions:
1. Peel and slice your potatoes, chop the onion.

2. Brown your ground beef on the stove and drain the fat/oils.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream of mushroom soup, onion, milk, salt and pepper.

 

5. Alternately layer the potatoes, soup mixture and meat in a baking dish.  (It seems easier to me to combine the meat with the soup mixture...helps with layering.  I also throw in a layer of peas or your choice of extra veggie.)

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until potatoes are tender.

7. Top with Cheddar cheese and continue baking until the cheese in melted.

8. Enjoy!

This last time, we didn't have an onion, so I left that out.  Occasionally, I'll throw in some carrots or another veggie.  Make it your own.  You can't go wrong!