A New House...A New Chapter

OK I haven't been home and I certainly haven't had time to update everyone on the news...WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We both love it and are very happy. It is in the Wylie School district (for those that are familiar with Abilene). We are now closing on both houses on Nov. 10. When I have time to figure out getting pictures from the internet I will post pictures.

Pictures from our fun weekend watching the suspenseful Tech/Nebraska game will be coming soon.

Picture It Sold!

After 3 1/2 months of our house being on the market, we finally have a buyer. The contract was signed yesterday and we couldn't be happier. We have a November 24 closing date so that gives us time to packed all of our junk and find a new home. We stopped looking for other houses when it started taking longer to sell our house than we anticipated. So now we're back to square one. We know we will find something to make our new home so we're not too worried about that area. I'll keep you posted on the buying process.

We also have a new addition to our family. One of our cows had a calf last weekend. It is SO cute and mama is doing a great job of being extra protective. We hope to have another within the next few months.

I love birthdays!

Aaron and I went to Ackerly this weekend to celebrate my birthday with my parents. We had a great time. Aaron was able to go dove hunting a little while he was there and I was able to get my hair cut (which it desperately needed). I'm not even going to compete with Betsy on a lengthy blog about my hair cut. (Love you, B!) We ate good food, I got some shirts and money, and had a good time just hanging out and relaxing.

Pali went with us which is always an experience, but she did pretty good. As you can see from my pictures, I just LOVE my 55 lb. lap dog. She is spoiled rotten...she knows it and I know it.

Birthdays are just all-around good fun, no matter what age you are.

Kitchen Disasters

It took several months of getting used to this whole gluten-free thing, but I haven't had many problems lately. UNTIL TONIGHT! I really try to make our good ol' favorites and make them GF somehow. So as I was trying to figure out how to make our favorite chicken croissants GF the disaster began. Since the original recipe calls to open a can of crescent rolls, I knew it was not going to be a piece of cake (haha...not literally). I tried making a pizza crust from a GF mix I had, but that turns out kind of tough. Another mix required an hour to rise and then another 45 minutes to cook (not an option for an evening after school). So then it was on to another recipe that called for boiled chicken...since I had already started. So chicken enchiladas, nope didn't have enough cans of GF cream of chicken soup. Chicken and spaghetti, nope didn't have GF spaghetti. So we ended up throwing together things that we actually did have that included rotel, corn tortillas, velvetta, cream of chicken soup, and cream of celery soup. It turned out so-so...probably will be added to the already LONG list of GF recipes we will never have again.

I was really wanting to order a pizza or grab a burger, but those days are over. So just a small setback on our new diet journey...we'll get it ALL figured out soon enough I'm sure. Until then let the experimenting continue!

Cooking At Its Best

We just returned from Lubbock for the annual Chuckwagon Cook-off. This is certainly entertainment I married into and while we all enjoy it very much it is A LOT of work. Waking up at 5:30 in the morning, cooking until noon, and cleaning up until 9 makes for a long day. Aaron went on Thursday with Cody's dad and I came with Cody (his chuck wagon partner) and his mom on Friday after school. We got back into Abilene this morning and I was beat.

With 32 wagons there we were very pleased with our results from the cook-off. We got 3rd place with our dessert and 4th place in meats. Our dessert was apple cobbler and we were quite worried about it when they gave us the smallest fresh apples I've ever seen. (We usually get a huge can of peaches.) So we started the morning off by peeling apples for about an hour. Just what you want to do at 6:00 am by the light of a lantern. Our chicken fried steak was the best I've tasted in a while. I can say that because I had little part in that area. I try to get "jobs" doing something I can't really screwed up like peel potatoes or bread the chicken fries. I let the people that know what they are doing take on the breads and other things.

Here are some pictures of our fun!

Cody and Aaron getting out the cobbler.

Karen and I breading the chicken fried steaks.

What a Week

Every year I begin school with enthusiasm (well, sorta) and energy. Every year I forget how quickly that energy diminishes. This year has been particulary bad, or it might be that I'm going through it now. Week's starting off with Monday's like I have, I will probably stay tired until Christmas. I go straight from school to class at 4. I have one class from 4:00-6:45 and another class from 7:00-9:45. The reading class I am looking forward to and think I will get a lot out of, the research class...I'm not so sure of. Despite the professors desperate plea to not already have an opinion of the dreaded class, you could tell by the comments and sighs not many people are looking forward to spending a semester on research (especially at 7:00 in the evenings).

After I finally got through Monday I could continue with the rest of my week. Wednesday I taught my last one-year-old class at church. I have really enjoyed teaching that class and will really miss the little munchkins . I just felt I needed a break from teaching, especially since I was starting two classes instead of just one.

Tonight was our parent forum at school which is not all that painful, it just makes for a long day. I was really wanting to get a break later in the fall instead of one week after school started, but needless to say, I will take the break when I can get it.

An update on my Aunt Wendy, the doctors were able to remove 95% of the tumor and they will do radiation on the part that was too risky to remove. I have not heard the results of the removed portion, but according to the drs on Monday everything went as well as it could have. Thanks for all the prayers and concerns.

Prayer Request

It has been a very strange day in the Winter household. We met with our realtor about a house that we REALLY want and the stars are starting to align (according to my father) in our favor. We had a showing of our house and as we were walking out the door for my uncle's mother's funeral someone from our church called and wanted to see our house as well. We got a call from our realtor that the first couple is "very interested" so please keep your fingers crossed that everything will continue to work out. After many phone calls and calming our nerves, we spent the evening doing lawn work.

I also learned this evening from my mom that my Aunt Wendy, from El Paso, has a brain tumor and is going in for surgery on Monday. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. With news like that, it really puts things in perspective and you realize what is really important in your life. Kelly, Wendy, and Taylor you are in our thoughts and prayers and we know God's hand will be with you and the doctors on Monday. We love you!