Early Morning Walk

I decided to take Chandler for an early walk this morning. I went to bed last night thinking I'll never be able to pull myself out of bed early enough, but was pleasantly surprised to open my eyes at 4:45 AM ready to go.

It was so quiet and peaceful. The air was fresh and crisp and the temperature was near perfect! I had my headphones on and was listening to the Chris Tomlin station on Pandora. There's nothing like enjoying God's beauty early in the morning while listening to praise and worship. It was so nice to be quiet and listen to the words that were being sung in the background.

I really got to think this morning, let my mind go where it wanted to go. I didn't have to focus on anything, other than Chandler not going potty in people's yards. So many thoughts flooded my mind, am I happy, what am I doing with my life, am I where the Lord wants me to be, what will my life look like in 5 years, am I ever going to be satisfied, would I do it all over?

Lets just say, my walk wasn't long enough for me to figure everything out. Before I knew it the sun was starting to come over the horizon, the sound of cars driving down the road was drowning out the music, and the clock was telling me time to get home so I could get ready for work. My peaceful, quiet morning was soon engulfed by stress and noise.

Chan and I got home where he happily greeted Shy and went back to bed, must be nice to be a dog. I quickly got ready and jumped in my car to join the ratrace into work. What will the next 7 hours hold? I don't know, but I do know that my quiet peaceful morning has been replaced with people talking, phones ringing, elevators opening and closing, and the sound of people typing on their keyboards.

Ah, morning walk....I miss you! Until next time....

-AKL

Why

Why do people choose to sit in the stall next to you when there are 7 open stalls in the bathroom?

Why do people talk on their cell phones when in a public restroom?

Why do people get ready in their cars while driving to work?

Why are customer service people so rude when you call?

Do cooks really spit in your food when you return it because they didn't cook it right in the first place?

Why are the lights always green when you're early to an appointment, but when you're late you always get red lights?

Why is it so difficult for women to understand men and men understand women?

Why do people carry on a conversation with you while standing at your cubicle when you're on the phone already?

Why do computers crash or freeze so much when they're supposed to make our lives easier and faster?

Why when your a child you can't wait to be a grownup but when you're a grownup you wish you could go back to your childhood?

Why do some meals take hours to make but only minutes to eat?

Why are people so competitive?

Why do semi truck drivers (or any other large truck for that matter) think they can drive their trucks like a mini cooper?

Why do people hang the balls ornament from the back of their trucks?

Why is there so much backstabbing among friends, family, and co-workers?

Why can't you seem to style your hair like your hairstylist did when you first got it cut?

-AKL

Arizona and More

Wow it's almost been 2 months since I've updated this blog. Time sure does fly when you're working all the time. Here's what's been happening in the Leffler world.

Over Memorial Day weekend we took a road trip down to Arizona to spend some time with Jared's family and to enjoy the heat! This was the first road trip Jared and I have taken together! We were able to take Shy and Chan with us which was a nice change. Both dogs did extremely well in the car, no car sickness, just lots and lots of sleeping.

We rented a house with Jamie, Chelsey and Carter. It was so nice to have a place of our own and not have to stay in a hotel the entire time. We had our own private pool which was used every single day!

Jared was our dedicated pool boy during our stay. I must say he did a mighty fine job of keeping the pool bug free!

Chelsey and I did find some time to have some retail therapy! There's something about being on vacation that causes you to think you need to buy "vacation" stuff.

By mistake we happened upon an outdoor shopping mall that had great shops and wonderful restaurants. We enjoyed dining outside whenever we could.

We also had the opportunity to have lunch at In & Out Burger. I haven't had a burger from there for a good 15 to 16 years!! It was just as yummy as ever!

As always our visit was too short, but it was nice to be away from every day life even for a couple of days.

Both Jared and I have been working a lot! Jared has been busy in HR rolling out a new system to our field countries. It amazes me how technical his mind is. I've been busy in marketing gearing up for our festival season and helping my team with anything they need.

We just celebrated Jared's 29th birthday. We had a joint birthday party for Jared and his brother Jordan. We hosted a BBQ at our house and it was nice to spend time with the Leffler's. We were able to snag our nephew Jake so he could spend the night and play with Carter at the party. Those boys sure know how to have some fun!

The next night we hosted another BBQ for Jared's birthday with my family. We had a lot of fun just talking and laughing. You can't go wrong with good food, good dessert, good weather, and great family. I did bake 3 different desserts over the course of those two BBQ's and they all turned out wonderfully. What's not to like about chocolate, chocolate cake, strawberry and pineapple delight, and an apple crisp. YUM!

Jared and I have brought my mom into the 21st century with convincing her she needed to buy a laptop. I never thought I'd see the day that Jared, my mom, and myself would be sitting in our living room, each with our own laptop, surfing the web and emailing each other funny videos we found on YouTube!

I do have a confession to make. It's been haunting me since it's happened. I was unable to keep my new year's resolution of no Starbucks for a year! I did cave and have a Starbucks the day we left for Arizona. Something about road trip equaled the need for a coffee. Then once we got to Arizona and were enjoying the great weather, we all needed a cold frap to cool us down. I'm still struggling with the fact that I caved not once, but twice! I'm hoping I can get back on the path and refrain from any more Starbucks, but it is summer time and those skinny iced vanilla lattes are screaming drink me on those early Monday mornings.

-AKL

Tater Tot Casserole

Tonight I made my dad's tater tot casserole. I don't know as I'll ever be able to make it as good as he did, but I'm trying. He used to make it for our family and the firehouse guys all the time. I'll give you my dad's version and then I'll give you my "healthy" version.

What you'll need for dad's firehouse version:

1lb ground hamburger meat

1 can mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 bag (9oz) frozen tater tots

1 small white onion

What you'll need for Abby's "healthy" version:

1lb lean ground turkey

1 can cream of mushroom soup OR 1 can cream of chicken soup

1 bag (9oz) frozen tater tots

1 small white onion

Cooking dad's firehouse version:

*Preheat the oven to 350

*Place the ground hamburger in the bottom of a casserole dish (if you opt to not brown up the meat before hand you're casserole will come out VERY greasy...totally not healthy, but that's how the guys liked it back in the day)

*Slice up the onion and lay on top of hamburger meat

*Spread mushrooms and cream of mushroom soup on top of meat and onion

*Top meat with frozen tater tots (make sure you do NOT thaw the tater tots)

*Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours

*Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Abby's "healthy" version

*Preheat the oven to 350

*Brown lean ground turkey and drain off the drippings

*Spread turkey on bottom of casserole dish

*Slice up onion and place on top of turkey

*Spread cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken soup) on top of meat and onion

*Cover meat with tater tots (make sure you do NOT thaw the tater tots)

*Bake for 1 hour

*Salt and pepper to taste

Sure wish you were here to try my healthy version, dad! Miss you!!

Enjoy!

-AKL

Updated Tuna

Do you ever have a hankering for tuna? I'm talking bumble bee tuna in water from a can hankering? Last night I was trying to figure out what I wanted to make for my Monday lunch....and I wanted tuna. Not plain tuna, but an updated version of tuna. Hear me out....

Updated Tuna:

1 can bumble bee tuna (in water)

1 1/2 T mayo (more or less depending on how you like your tuna)

2 spears of dill pickles

1 small gala apple

Cut up your spears of dill pickles into bite size pieces. Then cut up your small gala apple into bite size pieces. Drain your tuna, add mayo, pickles, and apples and then mix! If you're really adventurous try adding just a little fresh white onion as well.

Personally I like to let mine chill overnight in the fridge, but if you want to eat it right away by all means do!

Great atop Ritz crackers!! There's just something about tuna, pickles and apples that are extra yummy!

Can think of a better way to enjoy Monday lunch at the office.

Enjoy!

-AKL

Taco Meets Pasta

Last night I tried something new, tacos meets pasta. The jury is still out on if I'll make it again. It wasn't bad, it was good, but I don't know...I think tacos are supposed to be on tortilla's not pasta. Anyway, if you want to try it:

Things you'll need:
1 box of Pasta (any kind you want....we switched to whole wheat and really like it)
1 lb of meat (any kind you want...I made it with stew meat, it's what we had on hand)
1 T of olive oil
1 T ground Coriander
1 1/2 T of ground Cumin
1 packet taco seasoning (if you want lots of taco flavor)
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of beer

Here's what you'll do:
Boil 4 qts of water in pot for pasta
Warm 1 T of olive oil in large skillet on medium high heat
Brown up your meat
Add garlic and onion - let onions get a little soft
Add coriander, cumin, and taco seasoning
Add beer and tomato paste

Let ingredients come together and when meat has been thoroughly cooked and pasta is done, mix together.

Wow! That was so easy!

In other news, I'm still going strong with no Starbucks! To be honest I don't even crave it anymore. I can only imagine how much $$ it's saving as well. Jared and I continue to get up, go to work, come home, hang with the dogs, go to bed, and then do it all over again!

I didn't take photos of dinner last night so I'll leave you with a photo of our clean dogs! And yes, that is them sitting in our nephew's car seat. Thank goodness Jake wasn't in it.

Enjoy!
-AKL

Vegetable Stir Fry with Scallops

Jared was on dinner duty tonight! He made vegetable stir fry with scallops. It was pretty yummy.

We're new to scallops, I actually googled scallops just to know what I was really eating. Basically they taste like clam chowder without the chowder. If you're interested here is what you'll need to do.

What you'll need:
Broccoli
Carrots
Snap peas
Garlic
Onion
Scallops
Olive Oil
Butter
Dry white cooking wine
Flour

What you do:
Place scallops in a bowl and soak in dry white cooking wine, don't fully cover, for about 10 min
In a large skillet warm olive oil
In a medium skillet melt 3 tbls butter
Place cut up vegetables in large skillet and cook until tender
Drudge scallops in flour and place in melted butter - about 2-3 min per side (you want them a nice shade of golden brown)

Once everything is cooked plate your vegetables and top with scallops

Easy breezy and the best part.....NO FISHY SMELL!!

Enjoy!
-AKL