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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Oh So Sweet Green Beans...

I often get asked, "What do you put in your green beans?" People always tell me that they don't like green beans because they have no flavor or they can't season them right. So, the other day, I was making green beans for lunch and I thought "I should blog about this!" Here is my special "recipe" for my Sweet Green Beans. I know that all this stuff makes them not-so healthy, but at least my kids eat them! Here is what you will need... Cut up the smoked sausage...
Add the sausage, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and onion flakes to the beans...
Bring to a rapid boil for about 10 minutes (15 minutes if they are store bought)...
Then simmer until ready to serve(I like to let mine simmer for at least 20 minutes...I think it lets all that yummy seasoning soak into the beans)...

Feel free to add more brown sugar, salt, etc.



Oh So Sweet Green Beans




1 qt. green beans.

water

1/2 smoked sausage link

1/4 c. brown sugar

generous sprinkling of onion flakes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.



Bring to rapid boil for 10-15 minutes.

Simmer for about 20 minutes.



Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Whew! I can't believe it is Wednesday already. That means it is time for What I'm Loving Wednesday! I'm loving this recipe that I made today. It came from The Pioneer Woman. I left out the peppers though because B and Mel don't like spicy stuff and it was still yummy...

I'm loving this necklace for The Vintage Pearl...
I'm loving that I got to watch these two love drops yesterday...

I'm loving Redbook.

My friend gave me a gift subscription and I am really enjoying it!
Happy Wednesday everyone!




What are you loving today?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sweetness...

No time for blogging today. I have my sister's two kiddos today. I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday either. It was a crazy day. I hope to get back on the "blog wagon" tomorrow, but for now I will leave you with a little sweetness for your day. The calorie-free kind of sweetness!;0) After I put Mel down for her nap, I had to go into her room to get something and I found her like this...
She must have fallen asleep in the middle of her book! Happy Tuesday friends!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

MCP Project 52 Week 12...

The theme for week 12 was: From the Jewelry Box...

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Barn Demolition...

This is a super duper long post full of pictures.
Just warning ya.
As I have told you before, we are/were tearing down the old barn behind our house.


Several years ago, when the hub's grandparents lived in this house, they raised hogs in that barn.
It has since served as a cattle barn for us. Then a storage shed.
Brad has attempted to "fix it up" a time or two, but finally decided it was more work than it was worth.

So on Wednesday, I looked out my kitchen window and saw this...
Our local electrician/plumber/jack-of-all-trades standing on the edge of the backhoe bucket.
He sure has a lot of trust in my FIL, who I cut off in the pic....sorry Tom!


We wanted to save the beams because, apparently, there is a big market for old barn beams.
Brad stood on the edge of the backhoe bucket, once again, huge amounts of trust are placed in my FIL's hands, and sawed the beams....

Tearing down a barn takes a lot of brainstorming...


But don't worry, B has it all figured out. She is going to drive the tractor straight into the side of the barn and it will come crumbling to the ground....like magic!



OK, she decided the tractor wouldn't work so she is now going to use the skid loader....
"B, don't you dare run over your mother. I gave birth to you. Remember? 14 hours of labor. Remember that?"



I guess the skid loader won't work either.
Now she has decided the backhoe will work best!...





Whew I'm glad she forgot that altogether. She decided that Brad and Dillon have strategized and she handed it over to them.
First you hook the chain to the beam inside the barn.
Then hook the other end of the chain to the back of the tractor...






Then you pull forward and wait for the beam to fall and hope that the barn will follow...
No such luck!






Tuff can hardly handle the excitement...


















The barn didn't fall, but the beam that did is picked up by the skid loader and loaded on a wagon...
"Hey hubs, watch out for the Kubota! I love that thing like my left leg."
Just kidding, he was a mile from it.































































"Wow Dillon, you are so strong. You can pull a tractor!"...















"Oh never mind...it was in reverse. You had me convinced there for a minute!"...
















Another beam down and the old barn is still standing...

















The last beam that Brad was able to pull out and the barn was STILL standing...
I think they pulled 4 beams and it was still standing.

















The roof started to bow a little bit...



















Something exciting better happen or this little girl is going to explode.....




















Finally, Brad pushed on the side of the old barn with the backhoe...





















and it came crumbling down...






















"Whoo Hoo."

I was doing my little celebratory dance and then...





















the bat started chasing me!
Here it is...


Once the barn fell down Tom said, "Oh look, a bat."
It was injured so Brad started to step on it to take it out of its misery and Tom said, "No wait. B come here and look at this bat." She was very intrigued.
Then all of a sudden it came back to life and I started screaming.
Lesson learned...don't scream in a bat's presence. It will think you are one of them and start chasing you.
I was hysterical and ran around in circles...as B likes to tell everyone.
At some point, it fell to the ground and died. Poor bat!;0/























"Hey Mister, do you have a license to drive that thing?"...

























Burn baby burn....



















































































Some lady stopped on the road and got out of her car talking on her cell phone.
I thought she was calling the fire department, but they didn't show up so, maybe she was just being curious...




























































The next day the cleanup process continued.
Feed Man John stopped in(the guy in the red hat)...
He comes once a week to talk to the guys and see how the cattle are doing, if they have any questions and if they need to order any feed.






























He brought mints like he always does...
































and that makes for two happy campers...

































The next step was to dig a big hole to bury what did not burn...


































A Safety Manager paid us a visit...



































That is him in the black North Face vest...




































I think he might be lecturing Brad about this big hole and how he needs to put up caution tape and all that good jazz...
Just kidding. That is our friend Dylan. While we didn't get fined or anything, he did warn us that caution tape may be a wise thing to invest in.




































Most of the concrete was hauled away...






































The dirt was leveled...
And the Old Barn Project is now complete.






































Our view before...








































and after...
I've got wide open spaces!
Who sings that song?
A little trivia question for you!
Now I can see what goes on at the cattle barn and toolshed from my yard!
That makes me jump for joy! Hopefully there aren't any bats around!
Happy Friday friends!!









































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