Madeline Home-Made Costume
Halloween is pretty much my favorite day of the year! I LOVE coming up with cute costumes and figuring out a way to make them myself, almost always out of butcher paper. A costume parade has become a tradition for all the schools where I’ve worked. It has changed over the years from just costumes to a storybook character parade.
When my AP said she had a nun costume, I immediately suggested that Madeline would be a storybook to model our team after!! There aren’t 12 of us in the office, but I was sure it would work. I’m pretty sure I was right!!
Our capes were made out of a blue plastic table cloth, white plastic table cloth and a ribbon all stapled together. The hat was made of yellow butcher paper taped around the head, rolled up and a black ribbon tied around it, (see picture below to see how we wrapped the hat with tape.) We all wore black dresses, white socks and black shoes. Voila! An awesome group costume!! What do you think!?
Time to Get Organized
I have never owned a planner before, but at my meeting yesterday I was so impressed at how everyone had their planners out and had everything so organized. Between my day job and Jamberry, I decided it was time to get organized. I looked at a lot of planners, and found the Erin Condren planners best fit my needs. They come in such CUTE styles and I like the way they are set up. My sister said they are planners on steroids!! I ordered mine today!! I can’t WAIT to get it in the mail!!! If you are interested in getting organized, you can get $10 off the planner if you follow my link!! https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/courtneythomas1027
Boot season, Tory, and Ebates!
I declared that it was boot season way back in September. I think since that day, I’ve worn boots every day. I went to work one day and found that my heel had a crack in them, so I, sadly, HAD to go buy some new boots. I don’t like to spend a lot of money on clothes because I like a LOT of clothes. I always bargain shop! I went to DSW and found some very similar to the ones I had. They’re Unisa, so they are really comfortable. They also have a pretty wide leg, which is great since I have big legs!
I am also in LOVE with Tory Burch. I got this Tory Burch purse and some Tory Burch earrings for Christmas. (You can’t see the earrings in the picture, but they are SUPER cute. I’ll have to remember to take a picture of them some day.) We got a really good deal on them because we got them online through Ebates and Nordstrom.
If you haven’t heard of Ebates, you need to sign up NOW. It will change your online shopping habits forever. All you have to do is sign up. You’ll get a free gift card right away just for signing up. Then ANY time you want to buy online, just go to Ebates first, find out if the store you want to buy from has an agreement with them, click on the store, then shop normally. Ebates tracks the sale and then you get some money back!!! So for my Tory Burch purse and earrings, I get back $21.60 because Nordstroms was doing 6% back. Nordstroms has free shipping, so it was cheaper than buying in the store!! YEA me!! Another good deal!
Rustic
We went to a celebratory lunch at the Rustic today. I had what might possibly be the best hamburger I’ve ever had in my life. They also have bands that play there at night. I can’t wait to go there on a Friday or Saturday night! I highly recommend going there!
Campout Chicken Taco Soup
Instead of dealing with all the drunks out on the road for New Year’s Eve, I decided to head out to Lake Tawakoni and go camping. I guess I should use the word “camping” lightly, because going in a travel trailer isn’t exactly roughing it! In fact, a lot of people actually LIVE in their travel trailers. I stayed at the Sunset Resort; I think 99% of the people who were there actually live there. My two favorite parts of the trip were starting a campfire each day and cooking out, not that I cooked over the campfire or anything.
One of the best things I cooked was a Chicken Taco Soup. I’m not sure why, but everything tastes better when it’s cooked outside, even if you use regular kitchen utensils like I did. This crockpot soup was made ALMOST entirely from cans so it was really EASY!! Not only that, I bought all generic cans, so it was really cheap!
- 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 (15.25 oz.) can sweet corn, drained
- 1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
- 1 (10 oz.) can green enchilada sauce
- 1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1 Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Pour all of the ingredients in the crockpot, cook on high for as long as you want. I think I had it on for a couple hours. Stir it occasionally.
Garnish it with chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, or anything else you can come up with! This was delicious!!! I will probably even make this for dinner at home!!
Storybook Character Parade
My favorite holiday is Halloween! There is nothing more fun than coming up with what you want to be and then going out on the search to find whatever it takes to become that person/thing. It’s really rewarding when it all comes together! This year instead of a normal costume parade, we did a Storybook Character Parade! The office staff dressed up as Disney Fairies. I was impressed that people really committed to their characters! Big fun was had by all! I’m so lucky to work with such wonderful people in such a wonderful place!!
Dallas ISD Chess Pie
Dallas ISD had the best cafeteria food in the 80’s. Almost everything was made from scratch. Even with the good food, I used to get a chocolate bar from Mr. Lancaster’s class and get two $.10 rolls with butter for lunch. Some of my favorite school cafeteria food, (when I ventured off from my lunch of champions), were Fiesta Salad, Rectangular Pizza, and Chicken Fried Steak!!! I even liked those fried fish squares with tartar sauce.
I think DISD was most famous for Chess Pie, but when everyone started to worry about childhood obesity, pies were off the menu. My friend, Flo, has been trying to recreate the recipe, and he thinks he has it!! Since this is a little more than my skills will allow, someone has to try to make this and let me know how it turns out!!!
Photo by The Merry Gourmet!
DISD Chess Pie
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons Cornmeal
1/2 Cup Melted Margarine
3 Whole Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Cup of Milk
Mix sugar and cornmeal. Add melted margarine and mix thoroughly. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each. Add liquids and mix well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.
Trader Joe’s
There is nothing I hate more than grocery shopping. I try to avoid it at all costs. That’s a little impossible since I like to eat, but I try to only have to go once a week. Oddly, though, I LOVE to go to new grocery stores to check them out. I’ve been hearing about Trader Joe’s for years. Apparently, it’s all the rage in California, but now we have our very own here in Dallas at 2001 Greenville Avenue. To kill some time, I made my mom take me there while we were waiting for my car to get an oil change. It’s a pretty cool little specialty grocery store. They had really pretty flowers as you walk in. They had the cutest little shopping carts for little kids that had a sign that said “Customer in Training”. From there it looks like a mini Whole Foods. I don’t really shop organic, so I probably won’t be back, but I’m glad I went.
Sprinkler Party
My niece is TWO!! My sister had a great party for her. She always has really creative birthday parties for the babies. I’m always so proud when she can pull it off. My favorite part of the parties is when I get to baby sit them so she can get it ready. This time we went to Monster Yogurt in Casa Linda where they get to eat yogurt and play on the indoor playground. They were crying that they didn’t want to go home when it was time to go, and then didn’t want me to leave to go home myself once we were home!! My niece and nephew rock and I’m glad their parents plan special days for them everyday and not just on their birthdays!! 
Flip Flop Birthday Cake
Use sand buckets for the party favors
2 year old birthday shirts can be bought from H&B Promotions!
Nutter butter flip flops: icing and mini m&ms
Backyard Set up
Fabulous after FIFTY 