Hairapy, A New Kitten, Freezer Jam, Prototypes, Knitting & Football...

That's what the weekend is turning out to consist of.
And what a perfect weekend for it all, as it sounds like it's supposed to rain the entire weekend!

I'm SO READY for a good haircut & style. Do you ever get to the point where your hair takes on a personality & mind of its own? And this unfortunately is the "I'll do what I want, when I want" personality....not the "Sure, I'll work with you this morning" personality (a much nicer personality to deal with. We'll, the Ugly personality seems to be with me - EVERY MORNING lately!!

I'm ready to look like a new woman and get an ugly personality attitude adjustment!

I'll be SERIOUSLY SMILING about 10:30 tomorrow morning!

Since my dad is going to be out of town this weekend, my mom decided she is coming to spend the weekend with Glen and I. I always look forward to any time we get to spend with either of our parents.

We always manage to have a good time (and the food's not 1/2 bad either!)

This weekend our itinerary includes:

Mom's arrival - 1 pm

A trip to Oakland County Pet Rescue to pick up a kitten for Mom & Dad (and I've been informed, a KITTEN and nothing else - I'm supposed to have a strong talk with Mom per her direction if she tries to bring anything else but the kitten home).
A trip to the local Yarn Shop to touch everything & find something fun & new to knit for winter.

(and of course, pick up the wool yarn to make our trademark felted slippers - photo to follow at a later, more complete date :o)).

At this point, Glen be watching Michigan whoop on Notre Dame.

Arrive back home, with wonderfully yarn treasures & get football update.

Begin squishing up ripe peaches and strawberries to make freezer jam.

I'm not sure about you, but I've never made freezer jam before. Or done any thing that involves 'canning' anything. I'm a pretty good cook, but when my mom went through the canning phase, I didn't think I had any interested in trying to funnel all those silly string beans into the mouth of a canning jar......

In any case, I'm very excited about making of this freezer jam! Can I tell you what a time I've had trying to find ripe peaches?! But have no fear, 'Have Peaches, will Jam!'

After freezer jam is done, we'll be making a yummy recipe we found in the Taste of Home Light & Tasty magazine. I LOVE these Taste of Home magazines. Mom K (my mom-in-law) got me a subscription to Cooking for 2 when it first came out, and I've become ADDICTED to all the Taste of Home magazines. Thank goodness you can view all the recipes online!! YIKES, something else I'm addicted to!

Here's the recipe for this weekend's yummy tummy meal. We were going to make it earlier in the week, but decided to wait as we thought mom might really enjoy it as well!

Chicken with Creamy Jalapeno Sauce
4 boneless/skinless Chicken Breast halves

1/4 tea Salt

1 T Canola Oil

2 Med. Onions, chopped

1/2 c Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth

2 Jalapeno Peppers, seeded and minced

2 tea Ground Cumin

3 oz Reduced-Fat Cream Cheese, cubed

1/4 c Reduced-Fat Sour Cream

3 Plum Tomatoes, seeded & chopped (we'll use the Roma's from our garden)

2 cups hot cooked rice or pasta

We'll also add 1/2 a Cubanelle Pepper, a bit of fresh minced garlic (you can NEVER have too much garlic) and some freshly ground pepper.

Directions: Sprinkle Chicken with salt. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, brown chicken in oil on both sides. We usually grill the chicken, but if weather prohibits, inside cooking is just fine. Add the onions, broth, jalapenos & cumin (cubanelle, garlic & ground pepper if you wish). Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and let simmer for 5-7 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 170 degrees. Remove chicken and keep warm.

Stir in the cream cheese and sour cream into the onion mixture until blended. Stir in tomatoes, and heat thoroughly. Serve with chicken and rice/pasta. Makes 4 servings.

As Rachel Ray would say - YUMM-O!!

Provided we're not all passed out with full stomachs after dinner, mom will be knitting and I'll be working on parts & pieces for the 80s Bash Birthday invitations. I've got a LOT of little Mr T's Mohawks & goatee's to attach - not to mention the amount of gold chains he wears!

So, now that I feel like I'm all over the place and have adult ADD, I wanted to share a creative project! Pardon the photos, like a doof I forgot to take photos before we were en route to our Girls Day Out Festivities when I was going to deliver this little container to the Bride-to-be! DOH!

I used the Accent Essentials Cart for the frames and then attached a shadow to it as well. Both on the lid as well as the front of the cute little paint can. The paper was Heidi Swapp I believe (it was the same paper that she used as part of her wedding invitation packaging). The flowers on the lid were a few extras from the Wedding Shadow Box I did for her bridal shower, as was the beady lace.

The Buttons - my mom got me hooked on buttons. But that's a story for another time.

Thanks for looking today and listening to the incoherent babble!

Hopefully I'll have a few somethings to show for on Monday after our creative chaos this weekend!

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend - filled with productivity & creativity.

Min