42 Days Till Christmas and Counting...

My gosh is it that time of year again?  Where has the time gone?  For the past two years I have been out of commission by having total knee replacement surgery during the holidays.  But this year I am up and around and doing fine.  I get to decorate the house!  Wheeeee!  It's been a long time since I've decorated the house. But family is coming and I'm excited about it. 
I have most of my Christmas shopping done.  Nothing like planning ahead and getting it out of the way.  I still need to shop for Noah, but trying to find him something that he doesn't already have will be hard.  He's got so much stuff for his birthday that I don't think another toy will fit into his house.

With an 18 month old in the house and his being such a go-getter, constantly on the move, I want to spend lots of time with him. I don't get to see him all that often and when I do it's such fun because he's such a cute little guy. I think he will have fun at Christmas, but next year will be when he will really have fun because he will be more into it. We'll have to find a place to put the Christmas tree so it won't get toppled. A little one, four dogs and a small tree doesn't mix very well.
I have lots of baking to do over the next few weeks.  Christmas cookies and pies, make ahead casseroles.  I will be experimenting with making the cookies with Splenda instead of sugar this year. I don't want to spend my all time off from work (12 days) cooking.  My blood sugar is doing well and I have lost 16 lbs. thus far.  I have more to loose and I want to get the blood sugar down under 80.  If I can do that before the end of the year, I will be a very happy camper.

Dave has a birthday coming up this month.  He was lamenting the other day that he was going to be 69 in a few weeks.  I told him he had one more year to get his stuff pulled together as I'm trying to set a target date on getting out on the road. 

I looked at a Keystone Sydney 328FRK the other day.  I like the layout of the kitchen but Dave was concerned that there was not room for two reclining chairs.  I told him that we could do away with the couch...that went over like a lead balloon. There were a few other aminaties that I would like to have that were not offered.  I prefer a table and chairs for the dining area instead of booth seating and you have to have a seat it the shower. Small details like that. All in all it's not a bad looking trailer.  But my all time favorite is the Keystone Alpine 3600RS. The price is nice too.  :(   Will have to wait to see if any used ones come up for sale. There could be one drawback to a rig that size.  Getting it into the National Parks and National Forest areas.  

Yesterday I made a big pot of German Chicken Barley Soup.  It was good and hit the spot.  Today has been cool and overcast with a smattering of rain here and there. Hot soup always does the trick on a cool or cold day.  And there's nothing like walking into a house where soup is on the stove and the aroma hits you like a ton of bricks and makes the old mouth water.  Yep, good soup!

Well for now that's the news from here.

Happy trails...
  

The Doldrums.....German Chicken Barley Soup

A state of inactivity or stagnation. That is what I'm going through at the moment mentally, the calm before the storm. I'm trying to get everything squared away at work and here at home before my surgery. Other than that life plods on.

Our weather here at the moment reminds me of south Florida in December light, breezy with pretty sunsets, but there is a storm brewing on the horizon. Am I ready for cold weather? No! Do I wish we were on our way to someplace else...warmer perhaps? Yes! Two years from now is our target date to get out on the byways and highways of this great country. Am I looking forward to this? You bet, so much that I can taste it! But there is so much to do before we can get to that point. Follow me on The Countdown as we try to achieve our goal to fulltiming. We have a new follower on The Countdown, welcome Donna aka Froggie and Stu, hope to meet you one day.

Key West, Florida Picture taken by our daughter Christie, December, 2001.

We have never operated on a true budget so trying to create one and sticking to it will be something new for us. But I can see where in the future it will be a necessity. So there is no time like now to start one, therefore I have been looking at items that we seem to splurge on...like eating out, which we do way too much and shopping on a whim for stuff. Those habits will have to change if we want to achieve our goal of fulltiming. We have lived in the land of excess for a long time, now we are going to have to make a shift to living in the land of the lean if we wish to achieve our goal.

Today I am making a wonderful soup that is a main stay in our family. It's a hearty German Chicken Barley soup. The original recipe calls for chicken gizzards ground up but since I don't like gizzards I use a whole chicken instead. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

German Chicken Barley Soup

1 Whole Stewing Chicken

2 Large Yellow Onions chopped

4 Cloves Garlic Crushed

1 lb Carrots ground (I use my Kitchen Miracle Chopper)

1 Bunch Celery ground

1-1/2 Cup Pearled Barley (Quaker Oats)

4 whole Peppercorns

4 whole Cloves

3 Tbs. Osem Chicken Consume Crystals (Found in the Kosher Section of your grocery store)

Sea Salt

2 Bay Leaves

1 Loaf French Bread

Butter

Instructions:

In a large pot place chicken and cover with water. Add 2Tbs. of Sea Salt and 2 Bay Leaves. Place on simmer and let cook until done and bones start to remove easily. During the cooking process skim foam from top of water and discard.

Remove chicken from water when done and let cool. Once cooled remove skin and bones from chicken. Shred chicken and set aside.

In separate skillet add 2 cups of stock, onions and garlic. Let cook and start to to turn golden. Add more stock to pan and de-glaze, add all of mixture to the stock in the large pot. Add celery, carrots, peppercorns, whole cloves,barley and shredded chicken to stock pot. Cook on simmer, taste, add salt if necessary(This is personal choice). If you need more chicken flavor add in another Tbs. of chicken crystals.

Soup is done when barley is swollen and tender.

Serve with buttered slices of french bread and a side salad.

Makes 15 servings.

17 Days and counting until surgery day, 12 days until Thanksgiving. Time is flying by, before long we will be into a new year. I wonder what 2011 holds for us.

Happy Trails and be safe out there...