From beignets to blueberries

I tried my hand at making beignets for the first time on Saturday morning. The one and only time I’ve ever tried beignets was at Disneyland, nearly 15 years ago, and from that one taste, I was hooked.

As with pretty much anything else in my life, I glanced at the recipe and jumped in with both feet, hoping for the best. It’s not like the instructions were real challenging, so I gave myself a 75% shot at coming out with at least a few “winners” from the batch.

The original recipe, taken right from the Café Du Monde box of beignet mix, lists 4 steps. Mix. Roll. Cut. Fry.

Easy peasy mac and cheesy, as my 5 year old would say.

Where there’s stuffing…

…there’s most likely a nest.

Or, at least a critter in the midst of making a nest.

Let’s back up a bit, shall we?

About a week ago, Hubs mentioned that while locking up the house for the night he heard some scritching and scratching in the garage; then he saw a large rat (like, over a foot long LARGE rat) traipse over some shelving we have and skittered out of the garage by squeezing himself under our storm door.

“Ew”, I thought. But rats are outdoor creatures and maybe it was a cold night and the poor thing needed a warm place to hide out until Spring comes. Whatever.

This morning, as we were buckling up the boys on our way out the door for church, D asked, “What’s that?” Next to L’s car seat was what looked like lint of some sort. “Oh, it’s just dirt,” I said, not really paying much attention. Then I looked at it and kind of thought, “That’s weird.” Hubs looked at that point and then I saw what looked like stuffing of some sort on the floor of the car below L’s seat.

“Huh…that was not there yesterday,” I said.

Ridds Camp In

The boys and I read a super cute book the other day called “Lucille Camps In”. The story is about a little pig who has to stay home with her momma while her papa and older brothers get to go camping.

At first she has a bad attitude, but then she decides to have her own camping experience with items from her bedroom. She traipses down the stairs with a blanket, a flashlight, and a few other camping accessories and her momma helps set up the living room as their “tent”. They even roast marshmallows over a fire in the fireplace and have a camper’s breakfast the next morning.

My parents, my brother and his family, and other families from my dad’s church are camping this weekend up in Oregon. Our summer plans didn’t allow for me and my family to participate. Still, I had high hopes earlier this summer that we could squeeze in a short camping trip somewhere.

Once again reason took over and I decided we were already over-extended in our finances, our energy, and our sanity, so a camping weekend was out. However, I really want my boys to have that camping experience…someday. I know it will be stressful the first few times, especially since Hubs and I haven’t done much camping ourselves in the past decade or so.

New digs for old stuff

I think I’ve mentioned it before. In case I haven’t, let me make it clear:

This has been a very busy summer!!

So while it has been busy, it really has been because of some great stuff. Mostly it’s been loads of time spent with all kinds of family and friends, a very good thing indeed!

Thankfully we had planned early and were able to send D and L up to Oregon to spend a few days with their grandparents. Even more thankfully, the boys did really well and the grandparents even asked to do it again sometime.

YEE HAW!!!

The days they were in Oregon were the warmest days of the summer for us. So while I had all kinds of plans for how Hubs and I were going to revel in the freedom of being childless for a few days, it was a bit taxing to do even the simplest task with that blazing sun bearing down on our pink little home.

Easy Weeknight Meal: French Toast

This has by far been the worst summer for me when it comes to feeding my family healthy food. We are traveling a lot – fast food galore. I battle fatigue and hot flashes every evening – slaving over a hot stove? Hah!

I’m sure a warm evening in general is tough for most moms, which is why I feel compelled to spread the love of an easy meal. My family and I enjoy breakfast for dinner every Wednesday. While breakfast hasn’t gotten “old”, waffles have. At least, they have for me. And since I’m the cook, that means I get to change things up a bit.

Enter in: French toast