Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday....and since there are only 45 minutes left, I just got this posted in time. (Didn't want to leave her out...but I will leave out her age....let's just say she is older than 23.)

Here she is holding her first little grandbaby back in April. Aunt Kristen is a little sad she won't get to join Grammie and Uncle Kelsey this weekend when they go visit little Madelyn!

Love you, Mom...hope you had a great day!

Happy Birthday, Kelsey!

My little brother is 23 today! Happy Birthday!

Deas Vail video

My little brother's band, Deas Vail, is currently out touring and trying to "make it big". They have been together for a few years and things are really going well for them. We've enjoyed having them stay with us on two occasions already as they were passing through on the way to a show. Kelsey is the drummer.

Check out their video for "Life in These Little Boats". Just click on the post title. We actually got to see some of this being shot just north of Russellville in a junk yard one night we were home last fall. The part we saw (about 6 or 7 times) was Wes falling on his knees toward the end.

rotting our brains

We all love TV, but there aren't that many shows that you absolutely can't miss. However, there are those few that people fall in love with and MUST watch every week. With our summer schedule being so flexible we have found more opportunities to watch TV than throughout the school year, especially during the day and later at night. (And by late at night, I mean later than 9:00!)

So two new shows we can't miss are Mad Men on AMC Thursday nights at 9:00 and Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel Sunday nights at 9:00. If you haven't heard of either of these, go check them out...

media.amctv.com/originals/madmen/?s_cid=google1

www.history.com/minisites/iceroadtruckers

We're already also glued to the second season of Design Star on HGTV, which comes on Sunday nights at 8:00. They've only had the first episode (Making the Cut), so they have chosen their eleven new contestants and tomorrow night will be the first "real" episode. Other than these three, a must watch for us is The Office on NBC Thursday nights. (even the reruns are hysterical) We can't wait for this season!

If you're not busy this weekend turn on AMC and you can catch Mad Men along with the complete Godfather series. They are playing 'round the clock all weekend long. And there have only been two Mad Men episodes, so if you missed them, you can catch up pretty quickly. (One great thing about MM is their lack of commercials...twenty solid minutes of show before breaking, so only two breaks within the hour!)

If you ever find yourself visiting Greater Ada, a must-watch local show is Advantage Auctions (formerly known as Bargain World). Thrifty, Smelly, Sometimes profitable, always entertaining!

Please share any of your favorite shows with us. Everyone loves great TV!

A Tale of Two Dips

One of my summer projects for this year has been to get even MORE organized than ever before.....a task that is becoming easier and easier as we purge unnecessary things from our lives. (Ex: notes from college Biology and Physical Science classes and my 11th grade History project on the Netherlands ---we've kept just about everything!)

One such project has been sorting recipes, which is always fun. I've even made new notebooks and recipe boxes to help me find what I'm looking for even faster. There are so many great recipes out there and not enough time to try them all. You find your favorites and think, "I have a great recipe for this...how can I waste my good hungry on a new one that might not taste as good?" But you just have to look at all the ingredients and make a decision....if you like all the ingredients, it's probably going to turn out OK.

So here are two of my favorite spinach dip recipes (one cold, one hot). Both are great with tortilla chips and with toasted baguette bread slices. I may try a new one I came across yesterday, but these are my favorites!

Knorr Spinach Dip

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 container (16 oz) sour cream
1 cup mayo
1 pkg Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix
1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional)
5-6 green onions, chopped

In a medium bowl stir all ingredients until well mixed. Cover and chill 2 hours to blend flavors. Stir well before serving. If desired, spoon into a round bread bowl. Serve with cut up veggies, chips, or bread slices.


Delia's Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
1 jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 white onion, finely chopped
garlic cloves finley chopped (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1 container (16 oz) sour cream
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups (2 pkgs) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the onion and garlic in a deep pot about five minutes on medium heat. Add the spinach, artichokes, salt & pepper and saute the mixtures a few more minutes. Add the sour cream and cream cheese and stir until blended. Finally add mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and continue stirring until well blended.

Pour mixure into prepared 13 x 9 pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the top looks slightly firm and cheese is bubbly and browning around edges.

***Note: I've adapted this recipe a bit from Delia's version, which had a little less cheese and even less directions! But it's been a hit every time I've made it!

A must try....it will change your life!

Bluebell Anniversary Cake Ice Cream...You know those really delicious wedding cakes with almond flavoring? Well, throw a few pieces of that into your favorite vanilla ice cream. Pure, unadulterated evil! Thank goodness it's only for a limited time or we may very well not survive. Save us from ourselves!

Hallelujah!

Today is Myrtle's first day without her diapers! She is still wearing the Hawaiian print bloomers to keep her "safe", but we don't have to mess with diapers anymore! She has been a trooper during her second heat....but ya know, Winston barely made it! He stopped eating and was nervous all the time, so we were relieved when a couple of days ago he started eating again and calmed down........... a little bit!

Carter Stephen Finley

The other newest addition to our family! Baby Carter was born just nine days after Baby Madelyn! We love getting updated pictures of him! The few times we have seen him, he's been so happy and fun to be around...the perfect little nephew!

"....they pulled me back in!"

Just when I thought I had grown out of my love for marching percussion ("drum line" for the layperson), it creeps back into my life. While teaching and coordinating a drum line is part of my job, I certainly don't devote the time and energy to the activity that I once did. This weekend, however, was an exception.

Saturday was spent running our second summer percussion workshop at ECU. The student turnout was great -- about 90% -- and we made significant progress in our preparations for the 2007 season. The overall talent level is the best I've had in my two years here, and we should be able to tackle even more challenging music. Now we just need new drums!

The next day, on a whim, I decided to drive to Dallas with a friend and colleague here in Ada for the Red River Thunder drum and bugle corps show. We had a great time talking shop, watching drum lines, and being general percussion geeks. Since I barely make it to even one show a year these days, I tend to forget how much I enjoy them. I also ran into a couple of friends from graduate school, and was able to do a little (very little) catching up. The only thing I don't miss about drum corps shows is the crowd. Strange, though. You'd think spending three hours with 15,000 band nerds (many of whom are in high school) would be a textbook recipe for a great time. Who knew?

Ben

Madelyn Anne Elliott

The first weekend in July, Madelyn made the longest road trip of her young life! She made the journey from Van Buren, AR, her hometown, to Ada, OK to visit her Uncle Ben and favorite Aunt Kristen! (She actually made the trip once before, but she was still inside her Mommy's tummy.)

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits

Tried a new recipe this morning....turned out pretty good.

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits

2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 C vegetable oil
3/4 C buttermilk
5 T of melted butter
cinnamon-sugar
1 C milk

1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in vegetable oil. Add buttermilk and stir just until blended.

2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll dough into a 15 x 8 in rectangle.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 in round baking pan.

4. Spread butter over the dough, then the cinnamon-sugar. Roll up rectangle, jelly roll fashion, starting from one long side. Pinch seam to seal.

5. Cut the roll into 1 1/2 in slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in the prepared baking pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Pour milk over the top.(The milk gets totally absorbed in the rolls.) Serve hot.



***A few suggestions from Kristen:
1. If you don't have buttermilk, use one tsp. of lemon juice for each cup of milk. After adding the lemon juice, let the milk set for 5 minutes. I found this tip on www.ocook.com.

2. I ended up cooking them longer....maybe 25 minutes total. Some of the inside rolls were still a little doughy.

3. I also added some icing leftover from some Toaster Streudels (sometimes Ben likes them plain). This made them look "finished". (There's just something about icing on a cinnamon roll!)

***And don't expect a cinnamon roll kind of taste. It was more like a biscuit with some cinnamon sugar and icing. Very good, but not what I expected at first!

Kristen

Welcome to FinleyTales!

As many of you may have learned, when you move away from home, the longer you are away, the harder it becomes to stay in touch with your families and friends. Weekly phone calls, a few emails here and there, and the usual treks across the country at holiday times just aren't enough to really let those you care about know what's going on with you.

In answer to our longing to stay in touch, we've decided to try out this whole "blogging" scene. We love to email and send photos on various websites, but what better way to tell the whole story than through photos AND mini-novels?

So here goes our attempt at trying to continue, and really enhance, our communication with those of you who have been special parts of our lives!

-Ben & Kristen