TORTILLAS AND QUESADILLA...

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Hi, sorry its again been a while... been sick etc, etc, etc...


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Every year my high school girlfriends and I all get together for a "girlfriends week end" -Sometimes not just a weekend though.
Anyway on these fun get together and one of the highlights of our time together is having Erma make us homemade tortillas and each year she tries to teach us how... somehow they're never quite like hers but with practice we finally get them to looking and tasting quite yummy.


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This was too good to wait for a picture...

Here are the recipes:

Tortilla

5 or 6 Cups flour

1 & 1/2 tsp Salt

3 tsp Baking Powder

MIX WELL

Add 1/2 Cup Shortening and cut up or mix with pastry blender or hands until it is all mixed well.

Add very warm water 1 cup at a time until dough is soft, not sticky (approx 2 cups, but you may need more). If dough is too dry add a little water at at time. If dough is too sticky add a little flour. Kneed about 5-7 minutes. Then cover and let rest for 5-8 minutes.

Roll out a small ball at a time using a little flour on the table. Turn the tortilla around counter-clockwise every time you roll it out bigger. Cook on moderate heated grille or heavy frying pan. Turn almost right away then cook until bubbles appear or is evenly brown; then turn over to other side and finish cooking. Reserve in covered pan to keep warm while cooking filling.

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Chipolte Steak Quesadilla Filling:

Loin tip steak - cut in thin strips (Or Chicken strips)

Light Olive Oil

{Salt; Garlic with Parsley; Pepper; Montreal steak seasoning; Tabasco-Chipotle Sauce.

Onion - sliced in thin circles

Yellow or red sweet peppers - sliced in thin strips (I can't eat Green Peppers because they give me heartburn but the yellow and red ones don't do that and still give you nice flavor.)

{For even more flavor you may also use 1 small can diced Green Chilies & abt 1 TBS Pace Picante Sauce.}

Sour Cream

Tomato - diced

Cheddar/Jack Cheese - grated

Flour Tortillas

Cook meat in frying pan with light Olive Oil. Add {listed seasonings - to taste. When almost done add sliced onion & peppers; saute' until soft and meat is done.

Serve on your homemade tortilla with sour cream; cheese; tomato and more Tabasco or Pace if desired. I like to serve with corn. If corn is out of season then I use canned corn on top of the Quesadilla; more cheese & eat it with a fork. YUMMY!

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I hope you try these and enjoy!

~Joyce

TEXAS TRIP

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As some of you know I've been gone for two weeks to Texas and just got home on Wednesday afternoon. I thought I would share with you some of the highlights of said trip.

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This is Kevin & Logan just before Logan's baptism. Notice the halo around Logan's head... pretty cool.

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The Family: Donelle, Kevin, Logan, Tessa, Kinsey

All dressed in whites ready to go.

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Me fixing computer for slide show of Logan.

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Day trip we took...

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Kinsey & Logan -


"Oh come & try to get us - I have my stick!"





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The Alligators won't get us here!

Maybe here though...

Look, here's a place we can get away from the Alligator's...

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Won't get Logan here...

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Or Tess either...
Not Kinsey...






And they won't even get Mommy...



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Oh look, a Turtle, but NO Alligator...

Yikes! There's an Alligator!!!

"Stay back Grandma, I'll protect you!"

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Aren't Grandkids great!?!?!?!!!!

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I Shoulda Named this Smith's Life & Trials...

As you can see I've given myself a new face lift (well I have enough wrinkles I could actually use a physical face lift) but I'm talking about this blog. I felt like it was time to turn over a new leaf, so to speak, and the first order of business was working on this blog and hopefully posting more often too.
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For three & a half years when we lived in Torrejon Spain, I wrote family newsletters back home titled: "The Life and Trials of the Smith's in Spain" detailing the many amazing things that happened to myself, my husband and our seven children while living there and the awesome life the Spaniards lived; how we adjusted to living in "their world" etc. But when I got home all such writings ceased. Now I'm thinking its about time to start recording events in my life a little more regularly. What better place to record it than here! :O)
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I thought I shoulda named this blog something like "The Smith's Life & Trials" or "Joyce's Life and Trials" but I just like the sound of Zany G's World much better, so there you have it...
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REORGANIZING...

This has been a busy time for me - going here, going there, back home again, and off once more! Gee I'm starting to forget what home looks and feels like. But I think I'm home again for a while this time... can't swear to it though.
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Early this morning I started doing some much needed vacuuming, and as I vacuumed nooks and crannies I moved this and I moved that - the result being that all of a sudden I was reorganizing too. I reorganized the living room and dining room. I kind of like the change... hope hubby does too when he notices what I've done. It made me think how our routines are constantly being up-heaved and reorganized do to circumstances in our daily lives.
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Yesterday my husband and I were set apart as the Maricopa Stake 2010 Trek Boss and Mom... this means we are the ones that are doing all the planning, putting together, and seeing that the 2010 Youth Pioneer trek for Maricopa Stake is a success... wow tall order! We're in the process of deciding when and where it will be held, we'll have to go to some sights to check them out for feasibility. We gave out some assignments yesterday at the Stake meeting.
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You may ask what does this have to do with vacuuming? Well indirectly a lot I suppose, I'm having to vacuum out my life and get things reorganized in order to put the time needed into the trek. So far I've created a letterhead for our correspondence and I've created an e-mail addy for all trek e-mails. This also means getting up early enough to do my household things so I can still put time into my writing and painting ventures. It likewise means getting enough sleep so I can continue working at the Temple two days a week. It means that I need to spend less time dinking around and actually accomplish something. It means setting aside the proper amount of time for exercise - do you think I can walk the pioneer trek in the condition I'm in right now... I think not! I would be like one of those pioneers that died right in the first few days of the trek due to physical health... now I'm thinking that would NOT do for the Trek Mom... so more committed exercising and healthy eating. You get the picture... vacuuming out my life... ho hum
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INVISIBLENESS...

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Okay, is it just me or what? There have been many times in my life that I've felt like I must be invisible...
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When I'm sitting at church all by myself and people come in and sit by other people all around me and leave the chairs next to me empty. I must stink or be invisible, I'm not sure which... Nope, I know I took a bath and used deodorant, so I don't stink!
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Then there have been times when I'm sitting at church and everyone around me are welcomed, EXCEPT ME... what am I invisible?
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When I've written and made a comment to a group of people, and don't get a response... am I invisible?
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When I've been talking to family members and no one hears me... now I'm really starting to feel invisible. I pinch myself to see if I am there, all I get is a bruise. So, I go to the mirror and look in to see if I can see myself... yes I can see a reflection... humm? I wonder, can invisible people see themselves in a mirror?
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Well this week it has been confirmed - I AM INVISIBLE! Not invincible, but surely invisible. This is what happened...
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Remember I live about eight miles west of town out in the country. I take my dogs out and put them in their penned dog house each night so they won't run the neighborhood and cause trouble. The dogs pen is around the corner and behind the barn, so it gets very pitch black out there. I told my husband that I would like a motion light out there so I can see where I'm going. He complied and put a motion light on the front porch, he put a motion light on the back porch, he put a motion light above the shop on the front of the barn, he put a motion light at the end on the back of the barn.
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So with all those lights I've been able to go out there and have lights going on every step of the way keeping me from stumbling on a pebble or ant hole and falling or breaking my leg on a tumbleweed, you know I'm accident prone in the funniest ways... anyway that's another story...
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Well, when I got home from my camping trip and went out there to put the dogs up and NONE of the lights came on I thought my hubby had turned them off while I was gone and hadn't turned them back on. Three nights in a row I had no lights coming on. I finally remembered to mention this to said hubby. He said they worked for him. I said they don't come on even when I walk around in circles trying to trip them.
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So the other night when we came home from swimming at our daughter's house, he drove the car all around out there and every light came on. See they work. I said thank you for fixing them, he said he didn't do anything. I said yeah right. Later when I went to put the dogs up not one light came on. I went in and told him. He shook his head. Okay see, now its official - I AM INVISIBLE even my motion lights can't detect me!
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Last night... still not a light came on for me even when I walked around trying to get it to trip... yup I'M INVISIBLE.... Grrrr - this explains a lot - here I thought it was because I'm shy, nope its cause NO ONE SEES ME!!! I'm INVISIBLE... hey maybe I could use this to my advantage...
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Home again, jiggity jig...

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Wow it seems like 4EVER since I've been on here.

Well, I guess it has been.

I've been a busy gal ya know,

I was busy with family reunions...

Motorcycle riding, Golfing, & homemade Ice Cream...










and Swimming...

Were just a few of our activities.

Then family pictures & the baptism of our grandson were also among our activities.

I then went to my ANWA writers Retreat...

This is the group of us:

Then off Camping...

Yes, I set up this tent and hammock and campsite by myself... Ha, I'm so efficient!

This little Chipmunk my sister, Shirley, and I named Tubby, because he was so fat and chased all the other Chipmunks away when he was there filling his cheeks with our peanuts. He was sure fun to watch.

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This is just a few of my last two months activities... So rounds out my fun. Next it will be back to work on my novel, Today, Tomorrow, and Forever. Actually I've been working on it all day until now. So there you have it - a few things in the life of me, Zany G....

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Habits...

The other day I was driving up to the mountains for a fun camp out, when my glance set upon my hands on the steering wheel. More directly I noticed my fingernails... nope those aren't Mommas fingernails, they're mine! (Momma loved to care for her nails and did it faithfully, keeping them filed into beautiful shape and polished - always stylishly long.) But this day, as I gazed upon my own nails which were filed and shaped much like my mother's with polish on them too - I had to smile.
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You see for as long as I can remember I've been a nail biter. Chew, chew, chew... never being able to attain nails like my mother's, no matter how hard I tried - I would eventually start biting them again. I just couldn't seem to stop biting them, even when I didn't know I was doing it. I smile now because after all these years it's taken me until I'm officially a "senior citizen" to overcome that nasty habit! How funny is that!?!?!
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It goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks - you can overcome lifelong nasty habits if you persevere. Even now that I'm home from camping and I've broken a couple of my fingernails - I went and got a file and fixed them shorter and didn't bite... yippee!
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