Katie Stays the Night

Katie and "A" dressing up for the ball

I've enjoyed getting to know "A's" momma. She is so sweet and we seem to have quite a bit in common. Yesterday, the girls had a field trip. The class went around (walking) visiting the Police station, power company, and distributed canned goods to organizations that will make sure it goes to the needy. Us parents met up with the children at the area park for a picnic lunch. A's mom and I texted each other until we got to the park. By the time I got to the park, I had enough time to play catch up with a few of the parents that are friends of mine. I was so glad that A's mom got to place their picnic blankets next of ours, so we could talk. We just didn't have enough time.

I've never seen such happy little girls because they have planned this sleepover for a week. This maybe sad, but this is the first time Katie's slept over at one of her friend's house, that is not a relative. She has been aggravating me for the past couple of days about what she is going to take and stressing over who will be picking her up. Too funny.

Of course, a few times tonight I've been wondering what the girls are doing. Is Katie using her good manners? She is like any other kid and forgets them from time to time. LOL! I've enjoyed A's mom sending me pictures of the girls having a great time.

Oh me!

My sweet princess!

It was so strange not picking Katie up after school today. Get this, I even got to take a 15 minute nap. This never happens! So nice. I'm going to have to do something special for M, A's mom. She just doesn't know what an angel she is. LOL! So, what did I do with all this free time. Just me and Colt. Well, I finished up a couple of my Halloween gift projects.

This is for Katie's teacher.  Kind of a Halloween "Teacher Appreciation" gift.

The cup is an 24 oz. insolated plastic cup filled with assorted chocolates and candies.  It's decorated with a Halloween bow and label.  Yes,  I actually put together the decoration.  I got the idea from Blackberry Vine.  I printed the label about a month ago and already punched out the label with my cutter.  I'm pretty sure that I got the label from either Living Locurto, The Celebration Shoppe, or The Tomkat Studio.  I honestly can not find it in any of my bookmarks, so if it is yours let me know.  For the black part of the label, I cut  2 - 1 1/2" strips of black cardstock paper.  Folded the paper accordion style and cut off the tail at the end.  I placed a small strip of double-sided tape to both ends and attached both strips of paper together.  It should look like a zig-zag circle.  Once you have the paper down on a flat surface, tape the "Happy Halloween" label to the black cardstock and then tape it to the bow.  Yay!  I love it.  

I helped Katie put these together for her classmates at school.  There are a whole lot more, but I only have a few for the photo.  I made all the kids Halloween bookmarks by using clipart from The Toymaker.  He has a lot of neat things that you can print out on paper/cardstock.  All I did was save his clipart bookmarks and then by using Photoshop, I added the sayings: "Happy Halloween" and "Spooky" for examples.  I printed them out on cardstock paper.  I think they turned out cute.  Katie likes them.  I stuffed all the candies, bookmarks and stickers in sandwich baggies.  I stapled the cute trick 'r treat labels on top.  You can print the same design for several other party supplies through The Celebration Shoppe.  I just loved this theme last year and had to use it this year for something.

New Chicken Dish

I believe I've stumbed upon something really good and easy. I'm sure it's been done. I just have never done it before and I don't know what to call it. Here is what I did.

Roasted Chicken
Whole Young Fryer
1/3 bottle Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce

I cut up the chicken in pieces (bones in). I don't care for the backside of the chicken, so I filleted it the best I could. There is never enough meat on the back. 

Allow the meat to marinade in the white sauce for at least 2 hours. I used Big Bob Gibson's famous white sauce. It is so good.

Place the chicken on a pan roaster and cook on 350 degrees for approximately 1 1/2 hours. It depends on the size of the chicken and if you keep the bones in. Just stick a fork in the thickest part. If it slides in with ease, it should be done. Professional chefs would frown at me because I like to cut a slit in the breast meat to double check if the meat is white. 

I pretty much left the meat alone while it cooked. When I took the chicken out of the ziploc, the marinade stayed on the meat real well. So, I didn't have to baste like I thought I would. When my time was up, the meat was nice and golden. I like the nice golden look on the skin because when you bite into the meat that nice crispy crunch. Oh, the juices ran when I took my first bite. Yum! Remember to spray the roasting pan with cooking spray or you will have a mess on your hands. Yuck!

S was over, so I really didn't have time to sauteed my squash and zuccini. I just boiled them in flavored bouillon, salt, pepper and BUTTER. I absolutely LOVE Bush's Grillin' baked beans. My favorite is the Steakhouse recipe. Yum! Doug is not much for baked beans, so it's seldom I get to eat my Steakhouse recipe.   Tonight was seldom.  I believe I saw Doug with a couple of spoon fulls on his plate.  LOL! 

S stayed for a sleepover tonight.  It's nearly 11PM and I'm thinking it was a big mistake.  Either Katie got a finger to the eye from S.  They bump heads or hitting the walls, causing noises, or Katie's 1 minute of sleep nightmare.  I guess that's the whole idea of a sleepover.  Normally, we only agree on sleepovers if it's on a Friday or Saturday.  We made an exception tonight because as you know S is moving up north Saturday. 

Speaking of nightmares.  I believe Katie is throwing the nightmare card a little too often.  I can hear her laughing or talking in her bedroom and not 30 seconds later, here she comes crying to me saying that she had a nightmare.  Ugh!  Bottomline, I think there's not enough light in her room for her to feel comforted.  She doesn't like the dark and one of her nightlights was perfect to light up the whole room, but not too much.  Doug insists on using one of the desk lamps that was already by the computer as her nightlight.  He's a man; therefore, he doesn't understand that she's scared of the dark.  We packed away the princess lamp, but I'm considering digging it back out.  A little while ago, she agreed with me and doesn't feel there is enough light in her room.  Now, she has two lights on in her room.  I just hope the girls can sleep with all that light.