This book is by one of my all time favorite Authors L.E. Modesiit Jr, his Magic of Recluse series is my favorite series of all times. So after reading Imager’s Choice, the first of a new series, I eagerly awaited this 2nd volume.  I was not surprised at all, this was as good as the first and as the Magic of Recluse books. Now I eagerly await the 3rd book of this series which is due out some time later this year.

To see my full review of this book head on over to Tracy’s Book Review and see why I like this book so much.

I’ve seen this video in a few Blogs and since I really liked it I thought I would share it with all of you.

Now I am the first to say that I prefer WordPress to Blogger, but that does not mean that I do not find some Blogger Templates appealing. This is a free Template that I came across a few days ago and I thought I would share it with all of you.

Features Demo Link Download Link

This Theme was found at Jackbook.com- I actually found the theme on Instant Shift and followed it back to Jackbook.com.

Mexican Tortilla Soup

1 lb ground beef
10 cups chicken broth
1 med onion, chopped
1 29 oz can Pinto Beans
1 28 oz can stewed tomatoes
2 cups Frozen Corn
2 pkgs Taco Seasoning
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 med potatoes, chopped

Tortilla chips

Garnish:
Cilantro, chopped
Shredded Cheese **
Sour Cream

Brown Ground Beef, drain off fat. Add remaining ingredients, except tortilla chips and garnish, and simmer until potatoes are tender.  Crush several chips into each person’s bowl, ladle in soup, and garnish with chopped cilantro, cheese, and/or sour cream. Serve with while tortilla chips on the side.

Easy Breezy Chicken Tacos

3 chicken breasts (can even be frozen)
1 jar of salsa
flour tortillas or corn if you’d like
shredded lettucs
cut up tomatoes
shredded cheese **
anything else you enjoy on your tacos

Directions:
-Place the chicken breasts in the crock pot
-Pour almost one jar of salsa over the top (save the rest for the tacos)
-Let it go on low all day long- about 8 hours or you could do high for 5 hours
And that’s it! Once the chicken is done, you can make tacos out of the tortillas (the corn probably need to be hardened in some hot oil, or just buy the already made taco shells), put on the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.

** With Shredded Cheese I really have found that when you do it yourself the results are really a whole lot better than what you get pre-shredded in bags at the store.. yes it takes more time but it melts better and to my mind tastes better.

These are recipes that I got from my mom and have enjoyed for quite some time. I’m sorry that there are no pictures this week but I have been super busy and have not been able to take the time to get pictures so I figured I would just share some of my favorite things.

Abraham Lincoln:

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.

Agatha Christie:

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Arthur Rubinstein:

Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.

Life and death have really been laying heavy on my heart since yesterday. One of the moms in my in my small group at church unexpectedly died yesterday. Now I did not know her very well, only seen her a time or two, but she leaves behind 3 children and a husband. Her oldest and youngest are the same age as mine so this kind of hits home for me. My Thoughts and prayers are with her, her family and her friends as they deal with this.

1. Are you more of a talker or a listener?

Listener… definitely a listener.

2. Bra. Underwire or wireless?

usually its wireless

3. I wish I was…..?

4. The Academy Awards are on tonight..will you watch?

Probably not, doing the kids swap with their dad and cleaning up the basement

5. Do you put your deodorant on before or after you get dressed?

before.

6. Would you rather do the dishes or clean toilets?

dishes I would rather do the dishes

7. How much did you weigh at birth?

5 something I think

8. If you could only buy one thing for the Spring/Summer season..what would it be?

A new bathing suit

This past August when the kids were going back to school I decided that I was going to stop using those pesty zip lock bags- now I do like them for some things but we just were wasting way to many.  So in a  move to save some money and to stop adding so much garbage to the world we live in I spent a few bucks at Ikea and got this set:

The smaller rectangle and square are just perfect for my kids lunch boxes.  Both kids love those lunch-able treats so now I make my own for the kids to take to school.  Cheese, Meat and Crackers each go into their own containers for the kids to assemble any way they like at lunch time.  Then the kids bring home the containers and I can put them in the dishwasher or do them by hand, its a win win situation for us.  We have now been doing this for 6 months and while the lunch items might change the kids are still enjoying these lunches.

For the bigger containers they also get used for left-over or as a plain toy or art supply holder. This set is really great for us, and I’ve only lost 1 of the smaller rectangle lids to the heating coil in the dish washer.

This set has really simplified a task that I do not like to do, I never liked eating lunches at school- maybe the butter my mom used to put on my sandwiches (yuck) scared me for life – but I also do not like to make lunches.  But this is a chore that I am destined to do so I might as well Simplify it right?

Trying this out since I just found about it from Mama M and it looks interesting…..

Questions for Friday, March 5th: (Thanks to Courtney, Erin, Renee, Thorney London, and Sandy for their question suggestions! Wanna be linked in a future 5QF? Head on over here, to my community, and offer up your best questions! Quirky, zany, fun, serious, advice seeking…it all flies!!)

1. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Books and Sims3…… get me every time

2. What is your favorite TV series?

Tudors… I have such a crush on Jonathan Rhys Meyers…

3. Can you speak any foreign languages?

a smidgen of Spanish but not enough to really be useful….

4. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

That are still mine and I actually wear…. 5 1 pair old black Rockport slip ons, Teva sandals and 1 pair croc flip flops and 2 pairs of Nike’s…. I gave my son about 8 pairs of running/gym shoes this past summer when his feet grew enough to wear them…. since Emmy was born my feet grew 1/2 a size and my 10s were too small…..

5. What’s your favorite kind of M&M’s…peanut, almond, straight up regular, etc.?

The new coconut one is really good… other than that the strawberry one is decent and you can’t go wrong with the plain ones…

The Awake/Tonight Tour featuring TobyMac and Skillet with House of Heros is coming to ACS tonight!

I hope that all who attended had a great time and enjoyed the school……….