Big Boy Slim Jim–DIY

It is safe to say that Ashley is a “foodie” just like her momma.  The girl might be picky, but she enjoys her food.  She knows what she likes, and she makes special requests all the time.

Recently she made the request for a Big Boy Slim Jim.  Since we try to limit the amount of take-out food we get, we decided to give it our best DIY try.

Ash picked out bread with sesame seeds, ham, swiss cheese, tomatoes and lettuce.

The difficult part was trying to figure out the Slim Jim Sauce.  So I looked online until I found one that sounded close to me. 

1-1/4 Cup Mayonnaise

3/4 Cup Miracle Whip

1 Tablespoon Dried Crushed Onion

1/4 Teaspoon TABASCO (I used Franks)

4 Teaspoons Finely Diced Pickles (I used Hamburger Dills)

2 Tablespoons of Pickle Juice

1/2 Teaspoon of Dijon Mustard

1 Teaspoon of Sugar

Mix all ingredients together. 

Refrigerate sauce in a covered container to use up within 2 weeks.
(makes 2 cups of Slim Jim sauce)

I took the bread sliced off a “portion” and cut that length-wise down the middle and buttered both sides.  I placed the bread buttered side down in a frying pan to toast it.  In another frying pan I took 3 slices of ham and warmed them up.  Once the bread was toasted, I placed the ham and one slice of cheese on the bun and put a lid over the frying pan to allow the cheese to melt.

I then plated the sandwich and put on our special Slim Jim Sauce, two tomato slices and lettuce.  To top it off, I placed 2 dill pickles on top (like Big Boy does).

You can see my girl LOVES the sauce – so it was oozing out the side of hers. LOL

How did she like it?

She gave it a Thumbs Up!  Another successful meal by this momma!  Woot Woot!

Campfire Memories

On Friday evening, we loaded up a Jeep Cherokee and a pick-up truck and headed for the woods.  The Huron National Forest to be exact. 

First stop, Halo Burger in Birch Run.  This was my first time at a Halo Burger.  I got a Q.P. with bacon and cheese and an order of chili cheese fries.  I actually thought it was better than a McDonald’s burger, but not as good as a Five Guys.  Decent.

Next, we had to make a stop at Northwood’s in Pinconning.  Let me just say WOW.  This store has EVERYTHING you can imagine – but primarily a outdoors person’s dream.  Fishing, camping supplies, food, guns, clothes, etc.  After a few purchases we were back on the road and arrived at our campsite around 10:30pm.

We immediately started setting up our tents, food area and around 11:30ish we were able to pull our chairs up to the fire and relax.

I made my “Girls Night in Drink” and it did not disappoint.  After three of them, I was ready for bed.

We woke up at 5:15am to head out to the river to get in some trout fishing.  Unfortunately we forgot to pack coffee, couldn’t find an open gas station, convenience store or restaurant.I thought I was going to die.  .

I had never trout fished before.  It was my first time in waders and I’ll tell you this, it is not easy standing, casting a line, all while you are trying to balance your body against the current.  We fished for a few hours and then around 9am I couldn’t hold out any longer and did the 15 mile drive back to town to buy a cup of coffee. It was the best/worst cup I’ve ever had. I also had my first nail casualty of the weekend.

Around 10:30am we packed up the car and headed to meet the rest of our group at the Alcona Canoe Rental shop.  We had a reservation for tubing at 11:30am.  We had the most perfect day for tubing.  It was blue skies, sunny and 85 degrees.  The river was full of tubers, canoes and  kayaks.  It took us about 4 hours to make our way to the end.  I LOVED it.  So relaxing.

We got back to the rental place about 5:00pm and decided to head to the public beach.  We made a quick stop at the Lumberman’s Monument to fill up our water jugs, and to purchase me a shirt I fell in love with on my last trip there. 

How freaking cute is that shirt?!?!  I LOVE IT.

After a short visit at the public beach, we headed back to camp.  Ben, our master camper, started a fire so we could cook up some dinner,  We had chili cheese brats, jalapeno brats, potato salad and chips.  We were starving, so it was extra tasty.

The boys messed around with some target practice – and Just Joe got to shoot a gun for the first time. 

We’ve camped in the same spot for the past two years.  Only once have we seen an animal, and it was a tiny bird.  This trip, we had a couple of visitors.

I was not happy to know there were snakes around – we saw 2!!!  The bugs were worse this summer too.  Lots of daddy long legs, grasshoppers and even stick bugs. EWWWWW

After cleaning up dinner, we were ready for Smores.  Jenny Jenny bought regular graham crackers, chocolate covered graham crackers, Hershey bars, Reeses Cups and marshmallows.  They were fantastic.

Everyone was exhausted so we ended up going to bed around 11:30pm. 

Sunday morning we got up around 9:00am and started setting up to make breakfast burritos.  Bacon, potato, eggs, salsa, cheese, hot sauce and guacamole all wrapped into a warm tortilla.  Top that with a coffee with French Vanilla Creamer.  Heavenly.

We started tearing down camp and packing the vehicles.  We hit the road around 1:00pm.  One stop for ice cream at Tacey’s Twisty Freeze and we arrived home around 5:00pm. 

I was sad to see the weekend end but very happy to get home – to take a shower and use a real toilet! I already cannot wait for my next camping adventure.

[Gurlee]Girrl Friday

Here we are on the last Friday of JULY!  WOW – where is the summer going?  Please slow down!  Since it’s Friday, that means it is time to link up for:

I have done my nails 3 times this week, and this is my favorite color of the week:

Now on to some Friday randomness:

• It’s no secret that I love going on the Bingo Bus (to the casino) every so often, but I am beyond thrilled that come November, this GurleeGirrl is heading to LAS VEGAS!  It’s been way too long (like the late 90’s) since I’ve been, and I can not wait to take on Vegas!  You better believe I’ll be hunting down an Elvis impersonator while I’m there too!
• Most of you have no idea, but I am very habitual person.  I wear the same earrings and necklace every single day.  Today, I am wearing a “cheap” pair of earrings and necklace and it’s making me feel crazy.  I don’t know how women can change their accessories everyday. 
• I actually figured out what my “drink of the weekend” is going to be:

 

• The kids have been little troopers in staying on track with their GRASP homework.  Even Ash hasn’t been complaining lately!  I’m mailing in three envelopes FULL of completed assignments.  So proud of them.

• Song of the Week:  Jack White – Love is Blindness – from The Great Gatsby movie trailer.  Is it me or does this song actually make the movie look awesome???

SECOND SONG ON TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well I am off to enjoy the outdoors this weekend!  Trying trout fishing for the first time – wish me luck!

It’s Ok

ITS OK -

- That I’m super excited to go camping this weekend. Who knew this girly girl could survive a weekend in the woods?

- That my body is hating me today. I have worked out twice this week and like they say “No Pain, No Gain”.

- That I play so many phone games every day, and I don’t even care if I win or lose. I laugh when I hear how long people contemplate each move they make. Seriously? It’s a PHONE game. It can’t be that important.

- That since I signed up for emails from GroopDealz I have wanted to buy something every day! I haven’t yet – but oh my do I want too!

- That picking out the perfect drink for our camping trip is impossible. I wish sometimes I could just be a beer girl.

- That I have polished my nails 3 times this week. They are finally pretty and perfect.

- That my legs are white as ever. I will be putting on some self-tanner tonight.

- That I actually participated in 2 link-ups today! When you get the urge to blog, you should just go with it.

Eff, Marry, Kill

I was beyond excited when I seen that B.U.B. and The Vintage Apple were hosting another edition of:


I had participated in this a few months back and loved it.  Makes me feel like a high school girl again!

This time I have picked the men of TRUEBLOOD.



EFF – Jason Stackouse – I’m sure that boy aims to please.

MARRY – Eric Northman -  Besides being hot as hell, he is funny as hell too!  I could handle being in those arms FOREVER.

KILL – Bill Compton – and to think Bill, there was a time when I would have married you – now you only annoy the crap out of me.  You are just EWWW.

Do you agree? If not, what would you change?

My Little Man

Every so often I take a picture of me and Colton kissing each other. I mostly do it when we are on vacation, and I mostly do it because I want to cherish the moments where he is momma’s boy.

This past school year, he was instructed to bring in photos of his family, friends or pictures of things he likes. I went through some pictures on the computer and printed some off to show him what I found. One of the pictures I included in the lot is one where he and I are kissing each other, looking at the camera. He quietly went through the photos and put that on aside and said “all but this one are ok mom.” I said “why not this one?”, which he replied “I don’t know, just because.” Well my heart BROKE, but I knew this day was coming. 

The next day I show up at school, with his pictures in the envelope. We begin to decorate his writer’s journal and he sees that I’ve put the picture back in. He pulls it out so fast and crumples it up. I was laughing so hard asking him over and over, “why not that one?” I then took the crumpled photo, smoothed it out and told him I was going to tape it to my shirt. OMG – he was getting so mad at me. I couldn’t stop teasing him or laughing. Finally, I put the photo away and we finished his project. He had Billy the Exterminator, TJ Hooker, a family pic, pictures of his cousins, pictures of him with his friends, a picture of Malibu, but not one of he and his momma kissing.

I know that my boy is growing up. I know that it’s no longer cool to be seen kissing mom, or holding mom’s hand in public. That is why I treasure every single moment with him when he wants to cuddle on the couch at night, when he wants to watch a movie just with mom or when he asks me to play Star Wars Trouble with him. I know these days are numbered too. My little baby boy is no longer a baby. He is quickly becoming my little man – and I couldn’t be prouder of him.

Said Photo which I PROUDLY display on my wall at work.

I still tease him about not using the picture.  He knows I still love it and so this past vacation, he even gave me a new one for the wall.  After I took it he said “Mom, don’t show that to anyone.  That’s just for you.”   I love that boy.

Around Here

I haven’t been around the blog much this past week.  I have been trying to read and keep up with you all, but have been failing at getting any posts written. 

To catch you up let’s review:

Elvisfest 2012 – Saturday, July 14th.  As you can see – we had a great time hanging out, meeting the Tribute Artists and eating BBQ pork.  All us girls got Elvis tattoos (fake of course!).

I also attempted my first no-sew DIY tank top, copying my shirt from the Toby Keith concert. I found a clearance top at Old navy ($4) and grabbed my scissors.  I cut off the arms, neckline, bottom hem and trimmed the back to form the right “Y” in the back.  I think it turned out pretty good.

The week also held Colton’s final week of Little League.  I am extremely proud that Colton was 1 of 3 (plus we had 1 alternate) on his team (the Giants) appointed to the All-Star Team.  Although we lost the All-Star Game (it was at least close), we had a great day to end the season.  The game started at noon and ended around 2pm.  I totally forgot to put on sunscreen – and am not happy to report I have the worst farmer’s tan on my arms, and a line on my legs where my capris ended!  I have to give props to my girl Ashley – she happened to wear her sun visor from her softball outfit.  I had to beg her to give it up, as I was facing the sun the entire time and couldn’t see a thing.  Thankfully, the visor shielded my face and that remained burn-free.  I owe her – big time. 

Ash and I played around with my new nail stamper this week. She loved just having a little design done.  I tried a few of the larger designs on my own nails, but I will have to practice quite a bit more to be good at it.  I can’t imagine doing all 10 nails either.  WAY too time consuming and frustrating. 

The kids kept me busy playing Uno and Trouble – 2 of their favorite games.  Of course they love to antagonize each other, which sometimes leads to us having to stop playing, but overall we’ve had fun. 

And of course I’m still addicted to Dice with Buddies and Jewels with Buddies – you can invite me to play – GurleeGirrl:

Well, I guess that catches us up on my doings lately. Now it’s your turn, fill me in on what you’ve been doing!

Titanic Kind of Day

This past Friday, I threw together a little field trip to The Henry Ford Museum with my sister, three of her kids, my mom, my kids and me.  I’ve been dying to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibition which has been there since March 31st.  Both kids have been asking about going and also wanted to see the Titanica movie showing at the IMAX theater too. 

So we headed out at 10am (no sleeping in on my day off!!) and arrived at the Museum at 10:30ish.  Since my mom is a member, she was able to purchase both tickets at a discounted rate.  We purchased our IMAX tickets for 11:05am.

We bought some popcorn and pops and waited in line.

The movie is a documentary and lasts just under an hour.  It showed many still photos of the building of the boat, pictures of the completed boat and interviews with Eva Hart (a survivor) and the crew who made the dives.  It wasn’t too long and the kids seemed to enjoy it.  I found it very informative and when the discovery crew actually finds the ship, it was amazing!  

After the movie we had just enough time to make it to the next line for our 12:15pm Tour.

Upon entering the line, you are given a “Boarding Pass” with the name and information of a real passenger from the ship. 

In the Exhibit itself you are not allowed to take photographs. They have an array of artifacts found at the wreckage and had information on passengers, crew, accommodations, differences between 1st, 2nd & 3rd class rooms/food/price/etc. They have example of a 1st class room and also of one of the crew quarters.  Similar to the “ice wall” at the Detroit Zoo, they had an iceberg to show just how cold the water was when the boat sank. It is a self guided tour, so you can take as long as you want to stroll through the rooms.

Upon entering there is a photo opportunity which we could not pass up ($8 for a 4x6 photo).

And another a little further in:

At the end of the exhibit, you can take your “Boarding Pass” to see if you are among the 700 of the 2200 passengers/crew which were survivors.

I would recommend a trip to see this exhibit if you are in the area.  We had kids ages 5 – 10 and they all enjoyed it.  My sister and her kids had seen a similar exhibit in Pigeon Forge, but she was impressed with this one, as all the artifacts are real, not replicas.

[Gurlee]Girrl Friday

After being in love with last week’s nails, this week they seemed rather boring.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the color, but there just was no sassiness to them!  It’s The Color of Minnie.

Now on to some Friday randomness:

• My little slugger got a haircut this week.  He went from looking 7 to 12!  He loves it, I’m getting used to it.

• Had a nice dessert this week – from PF Changs – The Great Wall of Chocolate.  It was heaven.  I didn’t care for the raspberry sauce – but luckily it wasn’t on the cake, so I was able to eat around it.  Yummy.

• Very excited that I had today off of work.  Spent it with my kids, my momma and my sister and her kids at The Henry Ford Museum.  We had a great day.

• I’m addicted to a new phone game – Dice with Buddies.  It’s basically Yahtzee.  If you play, find me – GurleeGirrl.  As you can see – I’m not great – but it’s fun!! Trying to figure out a strategy – haven’t been that successful yet.

• Looking forward to Elvisfest tomorrow!!  BBQ, Funnel Cakes & Elvis.  Nothing better.

Well I’m off to my son’s third baseball game this week!  Just one more week left!  Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!