Busy Work!

We are adding more shade structures to the backyard, we are tired of chasing down our umbrellas when the desert winds pick up!
I paint the boards and hubby puts it together!

The posts are being anchored and set!

Then we add the boards, I will have to paint about 80 boards!

More boards!

 

Here is how the structures turn out,
we built these a couple years ago to line the back wall.

 I did manage to sneak away to take a class at Colleen's: www.beadmeataler.blogspot.com

You take a fork and sculpt it into a fabulous necklace!

Then you wire wrap a bead on and call it done!
Time to Eat! I just love how mine turned out!

First day of summer!

We all know by now that this is my favorite day of the year!

This is summer!

I get to wear sandals, tank top and shorts 24/7! Even at 11:00 at night! I love that, no more bundling up in sweatshirts and sweaters, like when I lived in California.

Love this outfit and I can wear it all night!

Out here in the desert it gets hot and stays hot! I think my best feeling in the world is when you go in a restaurant to have dinner and then you leave and you walk out the door expecting it to be cold because it is now night time, and then it hits you - the warmth of the heated desert night.
Oh heavenly bliss, I don't think there is anything better.

Just my opinion...

Oh, found this on pinterest, Love it!

I'm going to be getting a new tattoo in July when my son and his wife and my sister come to visit. It's our little ritual, go get tattooed!

I want an anchor with the Pisces fish swimming around the center rod, then a circle of small anchors around the large anchor, each to represent the cruises I have been on, I only get 4 to start, I have been on four cruises so far, but after each cruise I can add another anchor to the circle....yeah, something like that!

This one is cool, my kind of quote!

Baseball, Wine and Friends!

I had a fun weekend visiting my friend Mary.
She lives in a beautiful home in some canyons. Each morning we walked the dogs through the beautiful countryside.
I was there to take in my first Wine Club Adventure and an Angel Baseball game.

With ten people tasting, you had to have 40 wine glasses ready, plus some food, Mary made a lasagne, she puts black olives in her lasagne, it's a Jersey thing, but it gave it a rustic flavor that was great! She also made some zucchini boats filled with a spicy black bean filling, I will be making that for my sister when she visits! Delicious!
The other couples brought appitizers, one couple brought brussel sprouts with bacon pieces, YUM!

The bottles and glasses at the end of it all!

The wine that night was Shiraz, it had to be from Napa/Sonoma country for this tasting.
I was so nervous I forgot to take notes, so I don't remember the names!

Actually my favorite wine was the wine Chris and Mary served on Friday night, a luscious Pinot Noir from Melville winery in Santa Barbara. But the Shiraz's were good and they go great with the bold spicy foods that were served. Hopefully I did not make a complete fool of myself with my lack of wine knowledge, everyone was so nice to this little wine newbie.

Love Angel Stadium!

Sunday we headed off to the baseball game, nothing like a little more wine (a cheap chardonnay), peanuts, and a hot dog at the good ol' ballpark! Chris had won some great seats in a raffle and we enjoyed a great game even though the Angels lost....it got pretty exciting at the end!

I would like to thank Chris and Mary and John (Mary's Brother) for a great weekend of wine, food and friendship! I had a wonderful time!

#24

 Today at 4:00 my husband and I will have
been married for 24 years!

We love to party like rockstars! Hahahaha!

I gave him this card on our 10th anniversary, and I found it again this year at the card store!

I love going on roadtrips with him!

It was the inspiration for my bedroom wall.

I love this saying, it inspires him and I to just relax and enjoy this crazy life, with all it's ups and downs and everything in between, as long as we are still in love and enjoying the time we spend together we know we can conquer the world!

 

Chicken Flautas Fast and Easy!

I dine at Mexican restaurants on a weekly basis, we love to munch on chips and salsa and drink beer and wine, but I struggle with what to order. I have had veggie fajitas, salads (boring), veggie burritos, sometimes I have a little meat and order chicken tacos or chicken flautas, but the chicken is always over done and tasteless.
So I searched the internet for a good chicken flauta recipe, I found one when I came across The Culinary Chronicles recipe at TastyKitchen.com. I simplified the recipe a bit to meet my husbands picky-ness.
For the full version click here: spicy-chicken-flautas

Before we get started, this is what I was taught about Taquitos and Flautas: A taquito is made with a corn tortilla (meat rolled inside and fried). A flauta is made with flour tortilla (meat inside rolled and fried) It bothers me when you order a flauta and it shows up with corn tortilla! Corn is for Taquitos! We are making Flautas today, use flour tortillas!

For my short and sweet and to the point recipe and for really tasty chicken flautas just do this:

3 chicken breasts
olive oil
spices: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, onion powder, salt and pepper.

1 cup jack cheese, 1 cup cheddar cheese grated.

6 to 10 flour tortillas - 8 inch size
canola or vegetable oil for frying (just about a 1/4 inch in the cast iron skillet bottom.)

Heat oven to 350. Coat the chicken breasts with a little olive oil, now sprinkle on the spices, nice and heavy, really coat the chicken, and rub it in, place on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake 40-45 minutes until temp reaches 165, take out of oven and let cool. I made homemade guacamole and Spanish rice while the chicken cooled, you really must have guacamole to dip the flautas in!

Once chicken has cooled, chop it up nice and small and take a taste, the chicken is very flavorful! Now mix in the cheese, now would be a nice time to add lime juice or a little chicken broth but I was all out. The chicken cheese mix worked great though.

Now you want to heat up the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium. Once oil is hot, lay a tortilla down on a plate, dump a couple spoonfuls of the chicken mix on and roll tight, secure with a toothpick and fry them in the oil until golden brown, set on a rack over paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain, then serve with rice and guacamole! Delish!

I forgot to photo mine, this is from meal plannig 101.
Mine looked like this, very tasty and light and flaky, don't use a ton of oil, you just need a little to fry them up!