Calm before the storm

I have taken to writing my blog entries in the morning before work. I have found it just doesn't get done if I try and complete them at home; seems there are always about a million other things I should be doing. I greatly enjoy my few minutes before my co-workers get here where I can quietly catch up on emails and take a few minutes to reflect. This week is especially difficult for me because we are unveiling a brand new student information system to the school sites and I am responsible for training and implementing it. The first day of school was this past Monday and things seemed to roll out well. However, the real challenges are still ahead of me. Once I get everyone to at least grasp the whole concept, I should be in a better place. Until then, I feel like I'm being pulled in 37 different directions with expectations from everyone; no one wants to believe there could be another site that is as important as theirs. Lucky for them, they only have to worry about their one site. Me? I have 18 to be concerned about.

I'm going to allow myself to wander for a few minutes. Call it an escape if you will. Or, an update to how my weekend went and what happened around here!

First, we got some renters for our pasture. YAY! Finally we're not the weirdos down the road with 14+ empty acres. Our neighbor across the street has two mules and a horse that needed some new terrain and guess who just happened to have availability? The other exciting thing is that in September when he picks up his cows, he's dropping about a dozen or so onto our property. DOUBLE YAY! We will look like we belong out in the country!

Walking our new guests to their abode

Barry, who is a little intimidated by his size, feeding ER an apple

Our horse buddy, Dandy 

Right at home doing his job...Eat down the grass!

 We have greatly enjoyed having the animals on the property. Each night we go out and feed them the apples that have fallen from the trees. They were especially thrilled when we decided to give them a few carrots from the fridge. Such silly creatures. Their first day, they started galloping all around the perimeter of the pasture; just crazy circles! They are like big dogs. I'm told by hubs and boys that when they go out to work on irrigation, they are followed closely. I guess Chad had quite a parade going when he was on the tractor; turns out the three big guys wanted to be where ever he was. Silly.

View out my kitchen window

 I just love my blue glass. Wanted to share it with you. That's all.

Homemade Chicken Stock

 Sunday morning I made my first batch of homemade chicken stock. YUM! Smelled amazing. Just like fall (which is my ultimate goal ALWAYS). After simmering for several hours, I strained the stock and cooled and put in gallon freezer bags. And now I have three gallons of homemade stock. On top of that, I went through and pulled off all the meat and shredded it (I used bone in chicken breasts). Who has 5 quart bags in the freezer full of yummy shredded chicken? This girl!

PW Chicken Tacos. A mountain of them

 My family has become accustomed to PW (Pioneer Woman) tacos. They are amazing. Not low fat. But so good. This is a shot of them getting ready to be dressed at the table with our garnishes (I would have killed for some fresh avocado). You can find her recipe here.

Gingerbread topped with lightly sweetened cinnamon whipped cream

Last, but certainly not least, I decided I was going to FORCE Fall to make an entrance at my house. While the chicken stock was simmering, I got inspired to find a yummy spice recipe. I settled on Williams Sonoma Gingerbread (see recipe here...this isn't the exact recipe, but I couldn't find the one from my cookbook at home. Close enough). Oh-Em-Gee. I'm a huge lover of spice and molasses so this was right up my ally. Throw in that whipped cream and it was simply divine. Definitely a keeper.

So I suppose the time is up for my little detour from the real world. Back into student information systems. This weekend I'm hoping to attack freezer cooking, but we'll see. Need time to come up with what exactly I want to plan for.

Peace Out :)