Happy New Year's Eve

I hope everyone had a wonderful and merry Christmas. The kids enjoyed theirs and have been enjoying the break from school too. They each got one big present and then 3 small presents so they really enjoyed it. We had Christmas morning on Christmas eve morning so we could have breakfast with my Mom and siblings. I made an egg casserole bake that was really good and a different take on fruit salad too. I got the recipes from Northpole.com. I'll post the recipes at the end of this blog. We also had monkey bread but it was frozen not homemade. We exchanged gifts with them. Jessie got one of the Glee soundtracks and a Bruno Mars CD. Nicky got a $25 gift card from Game Stop and so did Chris. They gave me a $25 Amazon card. I finally got to spend it last night. I got a book in the Remy Chandler series by Thomas E. Sniegoski that both Chris and I like, a movie called Gabriel that stars Andy Whitfield of Spartacus fame (he passed away much too young) and a cookbook I've been wanting forever called What Can I Bring? written by the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook lady. I just had to put about $5 with it to cover it all so that wasn't too bad. We headed to Mother in Law's house after breakfast and got to Marshall around 3 p.m. We had a really good visit with her and for the first time ever got to have Christmas dinner with her and Brother in Law and his family on Christmas day. It wasn't a long visit with him because he had to go back to Oklahoma where he's working temporarily while waiting for a job to come open at Eastman Kodak in Marshall. I hope that job comes through soon. I can't stand the idea that they might move to Oklahoma and we won't get to see them anymore. But anyway, that's not my business. We went to his house on Monday and hooked up on wifi there. Jessie got a tablet and Mother in Law got a Kindle (from us) so she was downloading free books through Amazon. Chris and Nicky went to Game Stop to spend their Christmas gift cards and cash while we played online. After that we went to McDonalds and treated everybody. They have the free wifi there so Mom kept downloading books there too. LOL. She loves her Kindle. My Mom got a Kindle from my sister and them and she loves it too. I just don't know if I'm ready to give up my real books yet. We left on Tuesday and got home around 1 p.m. It was a nice trip and good to see family but it seemed really fast. We're celebrating New Year's with my Mom and them tomorrow. We're grilling steaks and my sister Cheryl is making the sides (mashed potatoes, cabbage and black eyed peas). It should be a really good and tasty dinner. I hope everyone has a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Christmas Morning Casserole

From the kitchen of The Huthers

Ingredients
2 pounds hot bulk sausage (mild can be used) (I used Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat and didn't need to drain it)
8 slices bread, crusts removed (Left the crusts on)
3/4 pound grated sharp cheddar cheese
8 large eggs, beaten (I used the equivalent amount of egg beaters)
3 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard (Just used the jarred)

Directions
1.In a large skillet, brown sausage, crumble and drain.
2.Butter a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
3.Place bread (torn into bite-sized pieces) in bottom of dish.
4.Place sausage on top of bread. Sprinkle cheese over top.
5.In a large bowl, mix beaten eggs, milk, salt and dry mustard. Blend well.
6.Pour over other ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
7.The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes uncovered.
8.Slice into squares.
Copyright 2011 Northpole.com, LLC

1-2-3 Fruit Salad

Makes 1 huge bowl •

From the kitchen of Veronica Spears

Ingredients
1 can Comstock peach pie filling
1 can pineapples, chunks, drained
1 large can sliced peaches, drained
2 cans tropical fruit salad (Del Monte), drained
1 large tub frozen sliced strawberries, thawed
1 small can mandarin oranges (optional), drained
1/2 cup - 1 sliced bananas (optional)

Directions
1.Mix all ingredients together. Chill

Broken

Today should be a joyous day. My sister Kelly is having her baby boy Andrew today. Because of a family dispute she's disowned me and the rest of us. I wish she'd just disown me and still be in the good graces of my Mom and them. My heart is broken. I'm giving up on her ever being back in the family with us. I never thought I'd feel like I wasn't good enough for family but that's how I'm feeling. She's an orphan now with only her husband and children and her husband's family. Grudges aren't worth broken hearts that's for sure.

Monday

I took my Mom and sister Cheryl to see my Dad yesterday. All he could do was sleep while we were there. Looks like it'll be another long winter for him. He mostly slept through last winter too. We stayed almost an hour. They probably gave him a pain pill. I know he has more pain in the winter than in the warm months. It was a short visit but we went at least. Hopefully he'll be "there" the next visit I get to make with Mom and them.