After the long cold winter we could finally????

This weekend was the first weekend it was warm enough to swim. Our pool area is screened in and I planted so many plants in there that we have some living creatures that like to take refuge in the rocks and plants. They are safe from their natural predators. We had the screen put around the pool because I am not a fan of flying bugs and creepy crawly things. Yes!!! I live in Florida and that is what Florida is about, but I do everything I could to stay away from them.

Saturday morning the Chief and the Cisco Kid got in the pool and as they were playing the Chief was taking baby frogs out of the pool. I don't know how these frogs live in this chlorine water!!! After all the little frogs were out he saw this great big reptile sitting on top of my rock like he owned the place. The Chief tried to catch it and it took refuge behind one of the rocks. a few minutes later it came back out and took its place back on the rock. This type of lizard was not afraid. It's called a Skink and they are aggressive. Now I like lizards only because they eat spiders and I hate spiders worse than lizards. In all the years I have lived here I have never seen a skink that was this big. It was a good 8 to 10 inches long. The Chief finally got rid of it and no more than five minutes later we saw another one. Now I was freaking out. How many of these big aggressive things are in my screen!!! I told the Chief if he can’t get these out, I am going to get a big bird and let it loose. The Chief got both of them and they were happily swimming.

 

Home Depot Class Field Trip

This is our second class trip this year. The first class trip was an IMAX movie The Polar Express back in December. We were unable to go because The Cisco Kid got sick. He has seen that movie many times but what he missed most was riding in the bus. Needless to say he was very excited to go on this class trip so he could hop aboard the bus. This was also the first time Chaperones were allowed to ride with the class. Usually we had to have our own transportation. I could defiantly say, I will never ride the bus again. It had to be 90 degrees and sitting there with 40 over excited loud seven year olds was not the way to go.

At first I thought, Home Depot for a Class Trip. Not very exciting! We go to Home Depot all the time, so we know that store like to back of our hands. Home Depot did a very cute job keeping the children entertained. The theme was all about gardening and they were very generous with making sure all the children went home with a bag full of garden goodies.

They let all the children pick what flower or vegetables seeds they liked. The Cisco Kid loves great BIG sun flowers.

All the children's names went in the flower pot and since The Cisco Kid was the teachers assistant yesterday he picked the winning names. The winners won tomato plants with pots, garden tools and flowers. 

Home Depot also gave Mrs. S a very large assortment of flowers. 

Then we all went on a tour of the garden department and he explained the difference between annuals and perennials.

Next Field Trip..... Alligator Farm.  Now that should be fun!!!

Ten more new pages from my blog book.

Here are some more of my pages that I have created out of my 2009 blog. Blurb is a company that offers many different size books. It was so easy to download my blog into their Free Blurb book smart program so this book can be created. I have completed 200 pages and I have approximately sixty more pages to go.

Hot Corn Dip with home made Torillas

This hot corn dip is more than just a dip, it could also be a side dish or you could do like I do and eat it as your main meal. I make full of flavor , home made seasoned crispy totilla chips to serve with the dip.

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning

2 cans of 11 oz. sweet yellow corn, water drained

1 can of sweet cream corn

1 can of diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained and diced smaller

2-1/2 cup shredded Mexican style four cheese

1/8 cup of olive oil

 

Mix all ingredients together except for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and olive oil. 

In a 5x7 baking dish add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the baking dish.  Add the dip mixture and put the remaining cheese on top.  Bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I like a less chucky tomato in my dip so I chopped them up.  

Home made Seasoned Crispy Tortilla Chips

1/4 cup Olive oil and 1 tablespoon of Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning mixed together

1 package of Carb Balance Medium soft flower tortillas cut into 8th's.

Brush each side of the tortilla slices with the olive oil mixture. Salt to tast.

Bake at 350 until golden brown.