Great Northern Beans!

I didn't have any garbanzo beans or chorizo, but I wanted to make this dish. (With the kids back in school, this week has been really low key and I have time to enjoy myself!)

Ingredients:
1 package Beef Polska Kielbasa, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, stems removed and rinsed
1/2 cup white wine

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the beef until fat is rendered, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. To the oil in the pan, add the onion, bell pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes and cook until the onion is soft, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic, beans, and beef and cook, stirring until the beans just begin to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Arrange 1/3 of the spinach in a casserole dish. Pour half of the bean/beef mixture over the spinace, and top with another layer of spinach. Pour the remaining mixture on top, and top with the remaining spinach. Pour the white wine over the top, cover and bake about 15 minutes.

Add more wine, if necessary. Give it a big toss and enjoy!

Look For The Sunshine

Life can make choices for us.

Sometimes these choices seem unfair and make us unhappy if we let them.

But in the end we control our own destiny because we can decide how we are going to allow people or events to affect us.

So much of our happiness, and unhappiness, lies within the choices we make.

We can accept that life isn’t the way we want it to be, or we can work to change it so it will be.

We can walk through the shadows, or we can choose to smile and to seek out the sunlight.

We can create grand dreams that never leave the ground, or we can be builders of dreams that that touch the sky.

We can look at only the negative aspects of ourselves, or we can lift ourselves up by being our own best friend.

We can live in the past or dream about the future, or we can live for today.

We can give up when the road becomes difficult, or we can keep on going until the view is much better.

The choices in life are endless, and so is the potential for happiness…….

Copyright © 1996 By Nancye Sims

Parking

For some reason, the skateboards get parked in the dining room. Why? Why.

Almost Complete!

We first got the permit to finish the basement in 2001, that's right...10 years ago!

Danny and his dad put up all the framework. Danny and I put up 90% of the dry wall. Then things started to slow down. It's time to finish, wouldn't you say? So, in order to have contractors in to finish the drywall, Danny moved everything into the middle of the room.

His gaming console was the LAST to move out!

Under the stairway...this is going to be my new pantry. It also has a hidey-hole to the right. Harry Potter would have felt right at home!

All our stuff had to go into the garage.
Amazing how much is collected over the years.
I am not a hoarder!!

It was too much of a hassle to move this sofa back up the stairs, so the contractors wrapped it up. They also put thick paper on the floor. Not exactly sure what the wet spot is on the floor, but I'm thinking Lucy (our oldest dog) wanted to mark her spot. Ugh...just keepin' it real!

Yea!!! The drywall is finished. Danny and Tony painted the entire basement. Danny gave me an accent wall as well! I can see this turning out to be rather nice. No wonder the Tonster wants this as his room.

Bathroom is finished. It took only 8 trips to the Home Depot.
Danny has sworn off plumbing forever.

Here are the stairs with carpet.

Carpet! Now we have to get the support beam covered.

This will be Danny's new gaming place.

Next up...the baseboards!

Grillin' With The Garzas

We love our Sunday family dinners! It's a tradition, especially during football season, which is upon us! Today at Mass, we bought locally grown sweet corn, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus scholarship drive.

I marinated the chicken earlier this morning. Once we got home from Mass, we cut up the veggies and threw everything on the grill.

Minutes later...

Oh, the sweet corn!

Tortillas!

Our canine natives were restless!

Add some refried beans and we gotta meal!

It's A Bust!

I look like I was punched on the eye lids! Not the outcome I was envisioning! Lessons are definately needed on how to apply the 'smokey eye' make-up. Or, I could just stay ME. I tried!

Smokey Eyes

I've been watching too many Jerseylicious episodes (but I do love that little Olivia!). Anyway, with my upcoming trip to New Orleans, I thought it would be a good time to 'experiment' with makeup. I know! Don't laugh! I'm going to attempt to do the smokey eye concept on the weeks I'm off from work. This way I won't embarrass myself looking like the Housewives TV reality princess wannbes. No offense to you REAL Jersey girls, you have the look down pat! I'm a big hair Texas gal with a Colorado o'naturale flair. Sad, but true... Wish me luck (and have a few laughs)!

Grapevines

Our vines are out of control!

The vines get too heavy for the trellises.

I wonder what we can do with all these grapes.

Before / After

Liebe gets lost in the backyard! It's time to do something about it...

We have not been doing regular yard work this summer. It's been too hot! This was the dog run fence before...


This is the dog run fence after!

The view from the birdhouse before...

...and now after!

View from under the plum tree before...

...and after!

Danny and I did lots of hard work today.
We treated ourselves to strawberry and blueberry parfaits.

IKEA

So...we got the new IKEA catalog in the mail.
Gave it to Tony. Liebe got ahold of it.

A River Runs Through It

I feel cooler just looking at this photo! The highway snakes along in tandem with the river. This was taken by my friend, Shirley, when we were visiting Estes Park. Very relaxing!