Delicious Monkey Bread Recipe!

Here is the delicious Monkey Bread recipe that my family had for our Christmas breakfast. Everyone loved this!
We ended up only using 3 cans of biscuits and it was plenty for 5 adults and 2 children.

4 cans refrigerator biscuits (about 40)
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut, if desired

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.

Add biscuit pieces, several at a time; shake to coat well.

Place pieces in a Bundt pan until all are used.

Sprinkle layers with nuts, raisins or coconut.

Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in saucepan. Cool 10 minutes, then pour over top of biscuits.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.

Submitted by: Belle

Mr. Gingerbread Killed, 2 Suspects and No Motive

Mr. Gingerbread was killed while he was at work, hanging on his tree making the Lemke household smell all cinnamony! There are 2 suspects in this horrific death, but no real motive. Mr. Gingerbread was a well liked man, especially by all the little BOYS and girls. Finger(paw) prints are being taken and hopefully we'll have someone put away for this!
Here is what was found at the scene.


And this is what Mr. Gingerbread looked like.


If you have any leads as to who did this, please call 1-800-Stop-Crime

Venison Stew

I think Erin has abandoned the blog to devote time to saving the planet... one bottle at a time. It's been a while since it's been updated so I figured I'd step up to appease the throngs of devoted followers that live to read about or ultra-exciting lives.

I made venison stew yesterday and it was so good I thought I'd brag and post the recipe. If you don't have venison you could use beef.

You'll need the following:
Carrots
Celery
Mushrooms
Red Potatoes (they don't break down after cooking all day)
Black Pepper
Salt
Thyme
Paprika
Rosemary
Olive Oil
Flour
Meat
1 can of each of these soups, Beef Broth, Beef Consomme, Beefy Mushroom

First, I don't use recipes. I didn't measure or pay attention to how much I used. Use what suits you. Cut your meat into chunks. Heat a large skillet or stock pot. Coat the meat with flour. cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil and toss the meat in to sear it. Once all of the meat is browned and the oil and flour have thickened a bit, toss in all of your chopped veggies. When the celery and mushrooms soften pour your three cans of soup in and top off with two cans of water. Simmer for a while to deglaze the pan and transfer to a crock pot on low and cook for 4-6 hours. The flour and oil should have made a roux and along with the starch from the potatoes it should thicken the broth over time. If it seems too thin you can let the crock pot vent. This also doubles as an air freshener.

While it cooks enjoy the compliments of how good it smells. Revel in your awesomeness, or if you're not awesome like me then you can just enjoy breathing.

Erin the Crusader

In Texas it was cheaper to put trash in a landfill than to recycle. We didnt recycle because it was a pain in the ass. This is just to let everyone know that Erin has gone green. She's a one woman crusader to save the planet. She's singlehandedly going to reduce our "carbon footprint". I'm not complaining, I'm all for doing my part but it's quite comical at times. I told her today that I forgot to recycle a can and you should have seen the look she gave... She wanted me to dig under the old coffee grounds and bananna peels to get it. No way!

Feel free to make fun. She even recycled the plastic wrapping on the case of water that she just bought. While absurd, it's a good thing. We used to fill our can to the top twice a week in TX but here we didnt even fill the can once and we only have one trash pick up a week.

Maybe it's her destiny... Erin=Ireland=Green

The Jimmy Is SOLD... Almost

I had some people put a $240 deposit down on the Jimmy tonight. WOO-freakin'-HOO! They talked me down $200. HA! I was going to take less than they offered anyway. It's good to be free from it... almost. I'll believe it when the title is signed.

I failed to mention that I'm selling my beloved 1993 GMC Jimmy after over 4 years of ownership. I bought a 1997( HUGE upgrade in years) Expedition. It's WAY too damn big and I feel like a tank. I guess I need it to overcome my shortcomings... at least that's what all the jealous people will say.

You know what they say about guys with big...

I had to edit this to say that tomorrow is my FIRST official day at work here. I'm excited... pause... NOT!

Unpacking BLOWS

Enough said.

Beyond that, we didn't do any unpacking today. We took Ian to the Science Center in St. Louis. He had what appeared to be fun, between me dragging him to pee and his random mumblings about the eleva-gator. As much of a pain as he can be sometimes, I wouldn't trade him for anything. He saw the dinosaurs and figured out that the T-Rex was eating the Triceratops. He said that the Triceratops needed a band aid.

We drove home, watched some TV on someone Else's Internet connection and now Erin's been sleeping for over an hour. Ian just fell out of his bed so I put him back and gave him his bunny.

Tomorrow Erin wants me to take Ian to Lowe's or Home Depot to get things to secure our yard. Our dogs have pulled two escape jobs already so it's going to take $50 to keep them in. Beyond that, I'm bored. My wife is a premature old lady and I have nothing to do but browse craigslist... on someone Else's network.

Good night.

We're Here

So far we have nothing bad to say. Our Temporary Lodging is a 3 BR house and they allow dogs. We signed the papers for our house on base today and the movers drop off our household goods tomorrow. Our house is more than I expected. There are 2.5 baths and 4 total bedrooms. One bedroom is "too small" to classify as a bed room according to the housing people.

Anyway, it's great to be here. Work is 100 times more calm than being an MTL but I have forgotten everything about Air Transportation. People here are nice and it's great to see the leaves change color. Erin is always telling me how much better it is already. Wish us luck in keeping our sanity while unpacking with Ian...

Oh, I passed Algebra. I'm not math retarded. Much.

Happy Halloween!

Ian was such a great pirate this year! He even had the "Argh" down. He had so much fun at the Halloween party I took him to at my friend Kimberley's house. Then Kelly, Ian and I met up with Brooke and her family and Kimberley and her family and went to the Halloween Carnival in Burkburnett. Ian went trick or treating with his dad on Friday and I'm sure he had fun then too.

So you actually can fall through the attic!!

Last night I had a pretty traumatic experience at the house. Ian was over at the neighbors and Kelly was in class and the mover asked if I could get the lid for Ian's outdoor toy box. It was in the attic and I had been up there a couple of times so I thought I'd go up there and get it down. Well, while I'm up there I figured I'd grab the last few things up there and when I went to reach for the wrapping paper I lost my balance and stepped on the drywall...well, everything went black for a split second. When I realized what happened I was hanging on by my right arm and my left leg. I had now idea how I was going to get out of that. The movers asked if I was ok, but didn't help me. I don't know what they would have done to help me though. I guess my adrenaline was pumping because I pulled myself out of the hole and just sat there to catch my breathe! When I finally climbed down from the attic I realized that if I had fallen all the way down I would have been on my way to the ER. I'm not seriously hurt, just really sore. Kelly said he can fix the hole with no problems...thank God!

The Movers Are Here

The house is basically packed and ready to be loaded except the garage. Erin says I need to be neater in there, and I agree... but it's too late now. I feel bad for the guys, but they're getting paid pretty well. We're only going to have a one car garage at the new house so there wont be room for clutter. Maybe I'll let Erin help organize it. I hate organization though.

Anyway, my algebra final is tonight. I'm not as worried now because I need a 68% to get a C and if I get a D I dont have to re-pay the tuition assistance. Next time I take it I'll have to pay out of pocket though.

That's enough rambling. I have to get back to work... doing nothing. Hopefully the final goes well. If I pass, it could prove that I'm not Math Retarded!

So we aren't moving ourselves.

We've decided that moving ourselves was becoming a real PITA (pain in the butt)!! Sure we would have made money, but I think we would have lost our sanity! The 'pack' day is October 28th and 'pick up' day is October 29th. Then the 30th and 31st will be our cleaning days. It should only take us one day to clean the house, but just in case we're allowing ourselves and extra day. Kelly got an email from our landlord and he wants us to take down the wallpaper border! Not looking forward to that, but atleast it's just border and not a whole wall.
Alright, I'm taking Ian to the park today to play with some friends. I better start getting ready.

The Move Is Coming Together

Erin's at the vet right now with the dogs. She's getting them ready for the move. They need to have microchips and all current shots when we get there because they have to be registered with the base. We were offered base housing and after some minor negotiations, I secured a 3 br/2.5 bath house that was newly renovated. It's pretty similar to our current house, except it has a one car garage. There's a fenced yard and a shed though, so that makes up for it.

My final out processing appointment is 3 November and then we're headed up to Scott AFB. I have about two weeks left at work but there's not a lot for me to do since anything I start now will be passed on. I'm pretty excited.

anyway, I just had a minute so I updated the blog.

Kelly's First Blog

Erin wanted me to contribute to this, so I guess I'll start today.

It was a hell of a Monday. I had to train people on the parade for POW/MIA day, that was fun and I'll miss it. I wish I was marching in it since it'll be my last, but someone has to show the others how to do it. I also learned today that a new list of reenlistment bonuses was released. My career field is on the list... but... I already extended last month so I'm 99.9% sure I missed out on over $17K. That sucks, but you have to take the good with the bad. I extended to take the orders to Scott AFB, and we'll be WAY closer to family so it's a blessing. I just wish I could have the blessing AND the money. I'll find out more tomorrow, but I don't hold much hope.

Erin's kicking butt on packing... look, hummingbirds... anyway, she's got a lot of boxes packed. We're going to move ourselves. We got a good deal on a truck and trailer so we should make some money and have more control. We'll probably never do this again because it's nice to have someone else do all the work, but it's worth a shot at least once.

Ian's getting smarter by the day. I cant believe he's potty training. He gets so proud of himself when he goes. He's progressing WAY faster than we expected. I know it's a long process but we were putting it off out of fear, but it worked to our advantage. I took him out for about 3 hours on Saturday and he didn't have an accident.

Ok, I'm starting to think about losing that money again, so I need to go practice with my bow or something to take my mind off of it. At least bow season is only two weeks away!

Ian vs. Baby Powder

Today Ian was alone for maybe 5 minutes and he decided to sprinkle baby powder all over his room. It was on his cars, guitar, sit-n-spin and all over the window sill! At the end of the day when it was all cleaned up...his room smelled of sweet baby powder!

Day 3 of Rain!

This will be Day 3 of rain and no end in sight. Hurricane Ike could be bringing more rain next week too. Ian and I are really starting to get cabin fever and it's really taking a toll on us. Have you ever been stuck inside for 3 days with a 2 year old boy?? If you have, you haven't spent those 3 days with 'MY' 2 year old boy! Today we are going to Mc Donald's to play with some friends in the Playplace. Should be fun! Can you hear the sarcasm??
I'll post some pictures of Ian and his friends later.

We're moving!!

So we're moving at the end of October! We've been here (Sheppard AFB, TX) for 4 years and we are so ready to check out our new base, which is Scott AFB, IL. I'm excited to be going back to the real Air Force....the one where you can go anywhere and not worry that the airmen will ruin it for you. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of nice airmen, BUT the bad ones ruin it for the rest of them. We aren't the only ones who have a bad taste in our mouths from them. Just think if you were stuck in a town of 100,000 and 10,000 were 18-19 year old airmen!!
Anyway, our new base is a lot closer to all of our family. Kelly's aunt and uncle (Chris & Rich) live 4 hours from Scott and my parents live 8 hours from Scott. Even my sister, Emily and Kelly's mom, Cindy will be a little bit closer. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing a new town. Plus, St. Louis is 20 minutes from the base....so there's plenty to do there and most of it's free (thanks Anheiser Busch!)
I'm going to leave it at that for now. Sooo....
Have a great day!