Wordless Wednesday~Homecoming Oct 2011

Leftover Stromboli

I thought with the holiday season in full swing I would share a really easy recipe with you. I had seen this recipe on line before and a few weeks ago I decided to make it. My kids and Hubby loved it. I call it leftovers your family will actually eat. You can basically clean out your fridge with this one. I decided to make a pepperoni Stromboli. The first thing to do is put foil in a baking sheet and spray it with Pam or any non stick cooking spray.

I used French bread for my crust. It might be the one ingredient you will have to buy. We hardly ever have any of this left over. Take the French bread out of the tube and unroll it. Stretch the dough so it fits the whole pan.

Fill in any umm..holes. I confess I had a heck of a time not tearing the dough. HA! Next step fill it with whatever you want. Since I was doing a pepperoni Stromboli my next step was sauce. In our house we always have left over sauce in the fridge.

I then layered shredded cheese. We eat an insane amount of cheese.

I followed the cheese with Pepperoni. I grew up in an Italian family,can you tell? HA!

This is what it looks like put together.

Now start jelly rolling one end until it reaches other end and fold side ends under roll.

I brushed mine with melted butter and sprinkled it with this. Bake at 400. 20-25 minutes. I would check it after 20 minutes. That's it. I told you it was easy.  I made it a second time and omitted the sauce. Pepperoni bread. You could do lunch meat and cheese in one. Maybe a taco themed one. You are only limited by your imagination.
Enjoy......
P.S. Does anyone happen to have a really good Red Velvet cake recipe? I'm looking for a southern based one.

Day 28.....

My kids finally went back to school today after having 9 days off! I'm wondering why we get 9 days for Thanksgiving and only 3 days off for Easter break. It really doesn't make sense to me. I would think Easter would be the bigger holiday that people would travel on. We sent yesterday bringing down Christmas containers from the attic. Today we spent most of the day putting the stuff up. We put a Christmas tree in every room in the house. Our bathrooms get a small tabletop tree. We started doing that when our girls were little. I'm allergic to pine as well as Cinnamon and I wanted to make up for the fact we can't have a real one. This year I'm really rethinking all of those trees. My son can't wait for his tree in his room. I can't find the darn thing. He was almost in tears yesterday because I didn't know where it was. Today wasn't much better. When hubby brought down 3 of the trees he forgot things that go with them. The first tree we tried to put up was missing the pole that all the branches go in. I'm thinking that's kind of important to have. HA! The second tree was missing the tree stand. Ugh. I thought the little guy was going to break down crying AGAIN. I ended up putting the dining room tree up. I really didn't want to put that one up because that's where I have all the Christmas containers stored. I wasn't even half way done and Bubby decided he had enough of tree decorating. Sigh. They are calling for rain tomorrow so I'm hoping to get the rest of the stuff put up.

Oh,the starbucks ornament was a gift from my Mom. Think she knows me too well? I could have used the real drink(s) today. HA!

Letter to my Brother in Law~4 years

Dear Big guy,
It's been 4 years since we have seen your smile, heard your laugh, or felt one of your bear hugs. There are days when it seems like yesterday you were here and then there are days when it seems like an eternity since we last saw you. They are the harder days to deal with. The hole you left in the family is one that is not easily filled. Nor do we want it to be. The toughest thing for me to come to terms with is how I wasn't always the nicest person to you. Years ago we both said some hurtful things. Things that never should have been said. Unfortunately once words are spoken you can not take them back. You can pretend you never said them but they are still there. I wish now when I said I forgave you, I meant it. We have to learn and move on. I know in my heart that you had forgiven me because that was the kind of guy you were. I always considered you a throwback from an old generation. You would "sign" contracts with nothing more than a handshake. We were stunned when you did a handshake deal to buy the land to build your farmhouse on. You taught me how to not only trust but to have Faith in people. Who does that anymore? You could have your last 10 dollars in your wallet and still give it to someone who needs it. We watched as you drove truck to support your family and any spare time was spent building your farmhouse. We watched as your second wife divorced you and took everything you owned. You never complained. You just picked yourself up and started over. We all cried with joy when you married your 3rd wife and finally had the children you always dreamed of having. After all your hardships your dreams finally came true. That's what made your passing so hard to accept. Everything was finally falling into place for you when you left this earth. I know things happen for reasons and we may never know what they are. I trust that you are in a place where you are happy and not in any pain. That's what keeps us going.
Until we meet again......

P.S. Your hat is still in the same place it was 4 years ago.

The rainy day DMV blues......

Have you ever had a day you wish you could start over? That was my day on Tuesday. Hubby left for work at 5:30 am. 5:32 My dogs started wining to go out. Why they didn't need to go out 5 minutes before is beyond me. You know when my Hubby was still home. My little dog can't just go out, do his job and come right back. It takes him forever to go. 20 minutes later I get the dogs back in and settled down. I climb back in bed. And wait. For sleep to happen. Nope. After an hour I realize I am not going to fall back asleep. I get up and get some coffee. I thought I would just work on my blog while Bubby was still sleeping. 10 minutes later I hear the patter of little feet. So much for working on my blog. We eat breakfast while waiting for the other two teens to wake up. Today was the day Foo was going for her permit.

I finished her paper work and wrote the check for the permit and off we were. 30 minutes later we arrive at a packed DMV. I'm already thinking great. It's poring outside and I'm stuck in the DMV with a four year old. Heaven help us. HA! After 20 minutes they call her number as we are walking up to the desk I hear a little voice "mommy,I have to pee". My son is the kind of kid who holds his bladder forever so when he says he has to go,he means it. I luck out the bathroom is near the desk my daughter has to go to. I hand her the paper work and run Bubby to the bathroom. Bubby reaches the bathroom before I do and can't open the door. That's when I realize it's LOCKED and it's the only bathroom in the building. UGH. He's jumping up and down yelling he has to pee. Meanwhile my daughter is yelling they need my license. I'm running back and forth in this little hallway handing her stuff and watching my little guy. Finally the door opens and we run in. The little guy goes and I realize I have to pee too. I'm yelling at him to wash his hands while I pee. I knew my daughter can't take the test without the paperwork done. We finish up and get her paperwork done. She takes the test and passes. (Yea. Another teenage driver. So excited!) Anyhoo as we are getting her permit,the worker notices that our doctor's office never put down their state license number. What?! You didn't notice that before she took the test? Really? They won't give her the permit without that number. I call our Dr office. They are out of the office until 1:30. It's 12:00 now. There is no way to leave a message either. We decided to go out to the car(in the rain) and think what we were going to do. That's when Foo had a meltdown. In typical teen fashion I got blamed for not checking the paperwork. Teens. Gotta love them. Luckly there was a pizza shop near by and we eat lunch there to pass time. Bubby has to pee again. Find another awful bathroom. Finished Eating and went back to the car(still Raining) and waited until it was time to call. I called got the state number and Foo ran the number back in. She wasn't gone 5 minutes when Bubby says he has to pee again. What? The boy never goes that much. As we are running back in Foo comes running over. She wants the check. Umm. I gave that to the guy. You know how our luck as been so far. We checked everywhere for it. I dumped out my purse and Foo searched the car. I just didn't have it. The guy who originally helped us is on lunch break. The new guy can't find our check anywhere. We would just have to wait for the other guy to get back from lunch. I can't write a new one because I never carry a checkbook. I can't make this stuff up if I tried. My daughter and I just sat down. I honestly didn't know if I should laugh or cry at this point. 15 minutes later our guy walks back in. I'm not sure if he felt sorry for us or just wanted to get rid of us but he took us right away. Turns out the check was on his desk the WHOLE time. The new guy looks over at me and says "It was on the desk and I didn't see it". Not once did he say he was sorry. WTheck?!

Four hours after we left home we finally arrive home. Thank goodness I don't have to go back there for a permit again for 12 years!

Aloha Friday.....

It's Friday so it can only mean one thing. It's time for an Island life Aloha Friday. My question to you is this:

Email or Snail mail? Which one do you find yourself doing more of when communicating with your family and friends?

I hate to admit this but I email more than I should. I am so bad at remembering birthdays. Let me rephrase that. I do remember birthdays. On their actual birthday. Way too late to send a card then. Ha! I'm going to try next year to send more snail mail than emails.

Please visit An Island Life and answer her question of the day

Thankful.....

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I hope you have a great day of Family,Football,and Food.

Wordless Wednesday.....Oldest and youngest