Welch Happenings

Day 21-a website

This website is a really good website. I'm not really for sure where she found me but Heather will always comment on my posts and always lifts my spirits when I need lifting! Her blog is about her life with her dogs and her husband. She also has grandbabies and family that she talks about and the life that she blogs about is a good one. There are many other blogs that I frequent, and I link up to those occasionally but this one...http://bnhwelch.blogspot.com is one you should definitely check out.

Day 21-Recipe

This is a recipe I found on www.kraftfoods.com and I made it about 2 weeks ago and it was delicious! And it is super easy and very quick. You can make it in about 30 minutes but the recipe says 40. But seriously, you should try it. And if you are on weight watchers, then the points vaule for 1 chicken breast is 6 points. I served it with baked tostitos, refried beans and salsa. So good and so easy!

What You Need!
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1/2 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
1/4 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips
1/2 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

Make It!
PREHEAT oven to 400ºF. Place chicken on foil-covered baking sheet. Slice three cuts on top of each chicken breast with sharp knife.
TOP each chicken breast evenly with salsa, sour cream and tortilla chips.
BAKE 20 min. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 10 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF).
TACO BELL® and HOME ORIGINALS® are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.

***And like I said above, this recipe came from www.kraftfoods.com****

Holly Hobby

Challenge #20-a hobby of yours

As I was trying to think of a hobby as I was blogging I was like I don't have a hobby. And then I realized that blogging is my hobby. I wish I scrapbooked or did digital photography but I don't have the creativity needed for those specific hobbies. I have some scrapbooking stuff but I don't know how to lay it out or anything like that. And apparently scrapbooking stuff is really expensive! But I really do enjoy blogging. I have always liked writing and I took a creative writing class in college but the creative part really got me. And then my friend started blogging and I followed her and I really enjoyed reading other blogs that I found. And then she told me I should start blogging and so I did. Because I fall to peer pressure. But it was good for me. It let me vent some things that were going on with my life and also, it gave me a place where I could find other people that have similar things going on in their lives that I could relate to. So, I'm glad I found blogging to be the hobby I have pursued for almost 2 years. Wow! That's crazy, but it has been a good 2 years!

Back in the saddle

So I kind of gave up for my 30 day challenge so it will take more than 30 days but here is for my day 19!

A talent of mine....hmmmm. I can't think of many talents I have that I use anymore. I used to be a cheerleader and a gymnast and I sang in front of the church when I was just a wee lass but I won't barely sing in front of my co-workers because I can't keep a tune. I guess that went with age.

My mom would say I have many talents still but the talent I would like to talk about is sarcasm. I have the gift of sarcasm. My biting wit sometimes gets in the way of straight answers. I don't really know where I got this from. My dad is more brunt humor and my mom has more of a sillly humor. Both are funny but very different from my own. I won't say that they don't use sarcasm because they do, but that is where I usually make my humor from. Especially because the people that I talk to on a daily basis don't always get it which makes it even better. Because I'm mean and I like to laugh at other people. And my hubby and I are very similar in our sense of humor in that sarcasm is a daily ritual in our house. It's funny when we say something sarcastic to the monkey and he of course takes it literally because he's 3. Oh well. We'll start'em early!

So yep...there's my talent!

Final Friday

I went to Final Friday a couple of nights ago with two of my friends. Final Friday is an art crawl in downtown Wichita (the city by where I live) where there are many different shops that hold little art shows for local artists. I had only been to one other Final Friday and it was about a year and a half ago. It was a lot of fun when I went but I just have never made time to go on a monthly basis. So when I decided to try to get a few friends together for the evening I thought Final Friday was a good idea. So we made our trek to downtown and started our little crawl. The first exhibit we went to was a local high school exhibit. They had all different kinds of pieces from watercolor to oil paint to really cool ones that used felt and paper mache. They were all extremely talented artists to say the least! But it made me think about when I was in high school there was no way I could have made pieces like that. We headed to another exhibit and they had a bunch of pieces that were painted on canvases. They were really good too but these ones were for sale so you got to see what “real art” would cost you. And it was in the tune of $300 a piece. Yikes! Finally we hit up Commerce Street, which is the street that has the “hip and edgy” galleries were. Those exhibits were crazy. One was all about male genitalia. I don’t know if it’s just because we’re more accustomed to seeing women’s body parts and not seeing men’s but I felt extremely uncomfortable. Maybe I’m just a prude. Either way, I was very glad to be leaving those exhibits! Again, those were for sale and they were even more! I saw one upwards of $800! Woowee. I need to become an artist! I had a great night and even though some of the art was a little weird I had the best quote of the night to sum up the awkwardness…I think I’m going to trademark it! Here it is: You can’t get mad when you use someone else’s imagination for your entertainment! Maybe that floats their boat, so just because it doesn’t yours doesn’t mean it’s not art!

(Day 17 of challenge: A piece of artwork. Just because I’m not showing you I’m telling you about it! J)

Letters From Home

I skipped yesterdays challenge (the first one out of 16) because it was fan-fic. I’m not even sure I really know what that is so I couldn’t do it justice so you got my spin cycle instead! Day 16 is a song that makes me cry or almost cry. Well the song that I kept going back to when thinking about it was John Michael Montgomery’s “Letters From Home.” I’m not a political person so I am definitely not going into the we should or shouldn’t be at war, or any of that, but every time I hear this song it strikes something inside of me and I cry. Even when listening to it at work just now I got tears in my eyes and goosebumps. The part I think that gets me the most is the “letter” he gets from his dad where it says he’s proud of him and that no one says anything because there isn’t anything funny when a soldier cries. I have a really vivid imagination (sometimes) and when I hear this song I can just picture it in my head, a group of soldiers sitting around and when he reads the letter he has to hold back the tears and everyone just kind of looks away because they all know if they got something similar they would be feeling/acting the same way. So, there’s a song that makes me cry. If you want to listen to it, here is a clip to YouTube. It’s not the actual music video, but it puts the lyrics up there so you can see it while he sings it. This was just the first version I found. I hope you enjoy it and you might need some tissues!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDPgBBrNf48

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

I really like reading famous people's memoirs. I find it really interesting because no matter how much money they have they always have some messed up stuff that has happened to them. And it's kind of nice because, honestly, who doesn't like to hear about others misfortunes. I'm morbid I know. Get over it!



So I read Chelsea Handler's Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. It's her third book she's written but the first one I've read. She's really crass and even though she's super famous she seems really cool. I won't say down to earth because she freaking took her chauffer (sp?) on a vacation with her and her friends and family. And honestly, who does that? But it would be cool to get into her circle because even though some of the stuff she does is ridiculous (like trick her boyfriend into thinking she killed her friends dog accidentally and then planning a big prank to get her boyfriend to believe said murder) it would be fun to be around that on a daily basis. I deal with stuff like that anyways with the hubby...some of the stuff he comes up with is ridiculous...but at least I'd be making a lot of money!



So back to the book...I think the best story that she told involved her dad renting out his house on the beach. A letter sent to her father about the condition of the house and then Chelsea having to go in and tell her father that he needed to refund them money because it was a horrible experience is so funny. And funny in an, "oh my gosh, did that really happen because if it did that is disgusting" sort of way. But I suggest people who like to read about rich people and the crazy things that they do go out and read this book. I am going to try to get her other books from the library so that should be more entertainment!

New fiction

A fictional book that I am looking forward to reading is All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. It is a book by Janelle Brown. It is about a family of women that all of their problems come to a head all about the same time.

Here is a synopsis from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/All-Ever-Wanted-Was-Everything/dp/0385524013)
From Publishers Weekly
In Brown's withering Silicon Valley satire, a family wakes up on a June day to realize that patriarch Paul's company has hit the big time with a phenomenal IPO. But instead of rejoicing about being newly rich, the family's three women each find themselves in the throes of a major crisis. Paul has fled with his new amour, who happens to be wife Janice's tennis partner. Desperate housewife Janice discovers the soothing power of the pool boy's drug stash and sinks into addiction and denial. Meanwhile, 20-something daughter Margaret learns the price of living a Hollywood lifestyle on an artsy hipster's budget—gargantuan credit card debt. Finally, 14-year-old Lizzie wades deeper and deeper into a sea of adolescent trouble without an adult to confide in. From the ashes of their California dreams, the three must learn to talk to each other instead of past each other, and build a new, slightly more realistic existence—but not without doses of revenge and hilarity. Brown's hip narrative reads like a sharp, contemporary twist on The Corrections.

I just finished Chelsea Handler's "Chelsea Chelsea Boom Boom" and I'll be writing about it tomorrow, but when I take it back to the library I will be picking up a copy of All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. Hopefully it is everything I hoped for. Haha...I'm sorry. That was a horrible play on words. If my husband were here he would put the car crash on for that joke! And speaking of books...I really want a Kindle. How awesome would that be? I could just download the books to it and I wouldn't even have to go to the library! Awesome!

*30-day challenge: Fictional book*

Days of summer

I know it's not the summer yet but I am yearning for it. And I am getting my fix by going for long walks and grilling. I love grilled food. It is absolutely delicious and I am not having to slave over the stove to cook something. And it cleans up so much faster. Usually 1 plate and a turner or tongs. Amazing. In the last week I have grilled 3 times. Pork chops, chicken and hamburgers. And in the upcoming 2 weeks I am planning on grilling 3 times. I am grilling chicken tonight and then hamburgers and more chicken for quesadillas. The other night when I grilled pork chops they turned out AMAZING! I only seasoned them with seasoning salt and pepper but they were great. And tonight with the chicken I will just let them cook and add bbq sauce to them when they are almost finished. See, what did I tell you? Easy.

And the food that goes with grilled goodness. Also amazing. Have I mentioned how amazing all this food is?! But seriously. With our pork chops we had corn on the cob and baked potatoes. And tonight, with our chicken we are having deviled eggs and cheesy, roasted garlic potatoes. mmmm...my mouth is watering just typing this! And we're not big people that change the types of food we eat that often, but if you have a great recipe for the grill...especially for kabobs or veggies let me know because that is definitely something I am wanting to try this year!

I am counting this as my "whatever tickles my fancy" post for my 30 day challenge. I hope everyone is enjoying the effort I am putting into my blog lately!

Me

Todays challenge a recent picture of me. Here is me and my little monkey at his birthday at the bowling alley. So since this was taken about 2 months ago, imagine me now minus 11 pounds! :) Hehe. I had to throw that in there. So there I am. Looking fly in my Jayhawks shirt. Rock Chalk baby!

I hope everyone had a happy weekend. Mine was super busy filled with working, volunteering at a local renaissance festival and then my little monkey had a birthday party for his little girlfriend from school. It was weird though because he was the only person there that was not related to the birthday girl. When I pointed this out to my hubby he said maybe they considered us family. Maybe, but still weird! But it was a good time and they had a jump house and Leo adored it! So all in all a pretty good weekend.

A long time ago

Sorry for the poor quality of where I can type but I had to scan pictures in and I am not a pro at it! Today I am supposed to show you a picture of me at least 10 years ago. The one on top is from pretty much exactly 10 years ago. I was 16 and working at Sam Goody in our local mall. It was such a fun job! I really liked that job and the only thing I disliked about it were the crazy hours, especially around Christmas time! The picture below is of me 20 years ago. I was 5 and I'm guessing it's either Christmas or my birthday because I am holding up my new Barbie game. What a lucky girl I was! :) I hope you enjoy these little blasts from the past!

My little baby

So this challenge is photos I took so I thought I would give you a birthday picture journey of my little baby. I guess not all these I took since I'm in 2 of them, but you know. I cheat sometimes and I like to put pictures of my little guy up here!

1st day of life. Checking out the goods!

First birthday. Not sure if he's really supposed to touch this!

Not wanting anything to do with his Blues Clues cake that I spent hours on making!

And this year...finally old enough to blow his candles out and open his presents! Big boy!

Far, Far Away

Today's challenge is a picture that makes me mad or sad. I don't have a lot of pictures of things that make me mad but this one definitely makes me feel sad. This was when Leo was just a tiny baby. He's the little one in grandpas lap. These are Leo's great-grandparents and we only get to see them about 3-4 times a year. That's a lot more than some people get to see their family but they only live 2 1/2 hours away and we just don't always have or make the time to go visit them. And the other girls in the picture are Leo's cousins. And we recently found out their mom was getting married and they will be moving to Texas to start a new chapter in their lives. So that will be more time that we won't get to see them and their great-grandparents won't get to see the girls that much either. So, I just wish that when making a family the whole unit could stay together. I know that is not possible but that would be ideal for everyone!

Family Photo

Todays challenge is a photo that makes me happy and this one definitely does it! This is my little family last August when we went to Kansas City to visit my aunt and uncle and their kids. We stayed with them the whole week and even though we had some incidents with our little monster, I mean monkey we had a great time! This picture was taken right before we were leaving to go watch the Kansas City Royals which is a baseball team if you didn't know. We had such a great time! Here are a few more from the game...