Author: Diana

Yummy Biscuit and Gravy Bake

Yummy Biscuit and Gravy Bake

By Diana

This one is a great presentation for the good ole fashioned biscuits and gravy :)

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Prepare a 9×13 casserole dish with cooking spay.  Layer 1 can of biscuits on the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.
  2. Brown the sausage until no longer pink.  Sprinkle flour on sausage and cook for an additional 4 minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Add milk and continue to stir occasionally until the mixture comes to a slight boil.
  4. Pour gravy over cooked biscuits and add additional biscuits to the top by tearing them into small pieces.
  5. Bake for an addition 15 minutes, or until biscuits on top are golden brown.  Serve immediately.

Pictures

IMG_2665 IMG_2667

14. Compassion

By Diana

I recently have been chatting with a new friend and one thing that he does very well is show compassion.  That is sometimes a very hard thing to relay, especially if you are not in a place where you can be around that person.  I say something isn’t going great and I feel like he is genuinely caring about how it is having an impact on me.  I am not really the best at this one which is why it has made my list.  I care about people and I care if they have a good day or bad day, but I have a tendency to be very distracted in conversations if something else is going on.  I am very used to multi tasking at work, listening in on several conversations at the same time – and one sided at that.  So it is a little bit hard for me to focus on what a person is trying to relay to me and that makes it seem like I don’t care as much as I do.

I am not saying that it is OK to complain and keep on about something just to do it, but if you say something like I feel like crap today and they say, I hope you feel better instead of something like – keep that crap to yourself – that is compassion folks :)

I admit that I am a bit of a whiner, but it’s something that I will pay more attention to and I will also try very hard to make sure people know that when I ask them a question or they are telling me something that they have my attention and I do care to hear what they are saying – I will be picking up what they are putting down!!

 

The Day There Was So Much Chocolate :)

By Diana

So, tomorrow I am sending a friend of mine a bunch of chocolate for being such a great person.  What had happened was we were talking about bacon and I made the super bold statement that bacon does not belong on anything but rather should be eaten all by its self.  He, like most people I have this conversation strongly disagreed and proceeded to tell me how it pretty much belongs on everything – typical response :)

But I did have to give in on bacon and chocolate.  I do like bacon chocolate and it most certainly does belong as a thing, a thing I love.  He on the other hand, Mr. Bacon himself, had never had chocolate bacon!  Can you believe the ridiculousness of that?!

I called the local chocolatier, Peterbrooke and ordered 3 dozen chocolate covered bacon, half for him and half for everyone here.  I also grabbed up a bunch of small chocolate pieces because they have great chocolate in any form and also the two best things they have: mint Oreos covered in dark chocolate and chocolate bar with sea salt.   AMAZING!!!!

Like I said, I am mailing it tomorrow in hopes he gets it Christmas Eve and it isn’t all melted together.  I am not sure if sending to his house is even eligible for next day – I guess I will find out tomorrow.  If not I may have to just wait to send it and hope that he doesn’t read this or I don’t just blab :)

Alright, I am going to wrap this up because I really wanted to get started on the year review – or whatever I am going to end up calling it.

Some chocolate with sea salt from Peterbrooke Chocolatier :)
Some chocolate with sea salt from Peterbrooke Chocolatier :)

 

 

Eddie Izzard – How Could I Forget?!

By Diana

I can not believe I didn’t blog about this show!!  Paul and I went to see Eddie Izzard on December 3, 2015 at the Florida Theatre and it was AMAZING!!

We had a hell of a time getting in – the Ticketmaster app was not playing nice, but the show itself was great.  I was so worried because the last time I saw a comedian he wasn’t that funny, but not this time.  Some of the material was old, stuff I have seen on his specials, but for the most part it was all very typical Eddie.  We had great seats and could not have asked for anything more :)

On our way in we ran into Tom and Alexis and her bother and sister.  It was totally appropriate seeing him there and I really enjoyed the little bit of catching up we got to do.  I miss them a ton.

Eddie Izzard ticket stub
Eddie Izzard ticket stub

Happy Happy Times

By Diana

I wanted to follow up with the Beckley blogs because it was so much freaking fun!!!!  The first day riding around with my awesome friend had me a bit giggly because it was so windy and up and down and just crazy.  He assured me that he was taking it much easier then he normally would be :)

We went high railing a couple times, once was just a little but, but the second time was like 20 miles and it was so amazing.  I also got to go to like 6 different towns and saw all kinds of cool things in Thurmond and Hinton.

I didn’t really do anything crazy like food wise, but we did manage to go to a place called Biscuit World.  It was good, had a shaved ham and cheese, but the biscuit was HUGE :)

One of the most memorable things about the trip was two things really, but very related :)  First my TomTom is set to avoid toll roads and when I was getting the rental car the lady asked me if I wanted the toll thing and I was like No, that’s crazy!  Um, I realized that I had made a huge mistake when TomTom had me turn down a single lane road…  When it was all done it was about 45 minutes longer than if I would have paid a whopping $4.00 in tolls :)  My friend found this hilarious.  The related item was when we were at a location he asked me before we got out of the truck if I had a jacket, um yes yes I do, that is a silly question sir.  Turns out it was freezing and I should have put that stinking jacket on silly, but no I walked all the way in and stood there freezing :)  But no real foul because I ended up not actually having my jacket – ha ha ha jokes on you :)

Another thing worth mentioning is the last nights dinner.  Not because it was good food, even though it was very delicious food, it was because of the awesome “show”.  It was called Fujiyama and was in Beckley.  It was a hibachi restaurant and the person who was doing the cooking was amazing.  He kept putting the sauce on the food, sorry, the sexy sauce :)  And he was squirting it in a very suggestive way :)  I wish I would have even thought to take video – PRICELESS!!!!!!

There were so many random times that I just could not stop laughing uncontrollably.  It was such a great time.  I have thanked my tour guide so many times, but he really did go above and beyond and it was GREAT!!

 

Silver Medallion – Finally!!!!

By Diana

While I was on this last trip I finally made silver medallion status again on Delta.  I feel like it took forever this time, I should have done a little bit more to not lose it last year and I would not have been suffering all year :) Actually it wasn’t that bad.  I got first class a ton the last couple months of my status.

I can’t believe that I forgot to blog about this when it happened, but I was still going a little bananas over how amazing a time I was having in WV.  I had to pay a ton to check my back on the first flight, but not the rest of the flights so that was nice.

Status – that’s what it’s all about!!!!

 

Waiting on Coffee, Hurry Up

By Diana

Today is the last day I am in Merrillville and I am sitting in the hotel waiting on Starbucks to open.  I am officially sick, my nose is stuffy and all kinds of snotty – YUCK!!

I have been up for a couple hours now because I am very happy to be going home today.  We have the two new puppies that I have not met yet and of course I do miss the little Penny Dog – oh and my human family :)

I think that in a couple days I will make a special blog to reflect back on this year.  I need to figure out how this website is going to be laid out, I am not sure that I have the travel blogs correct just yet.  I need to make sure to have them focused on the place I am and not just how I am feeling – that belongs in the normal blogs.

Anyway, Starbucks finally opened so I am going to get this coffee thing going and I will see about posting my 2015 Review on the site :)

Blogging is Hard :)

By Diana

So I am not good at blogging – I admit, but I am trying to get better.  I got all my travel ones done while I was on the trips which is nice.  I also seem to not want to blog when I am doing a specific page like that too.

I have been having a great time lately which is so much needed.  I am a little concerned about getting back to real life, but I have learned a lot about myself and about people and what I should accept from relationships – that includes friendships.

I have always really held back when it comes to meeting people, but I have decided to try not to do that anymore – again, this is friends probably more than romantic type relationships.  I have made a couple new friends recently through work and other places and I am experiencing all new things because of it.  I have a new friend who lives far away and it is just so free and fun.  There is no pressure because I am not able to hang out with them or anything.  I just want to get to know them.  I want to have more friends more people to share my life with.  There is a possibility that things will be hard for me in the future with relationships like this,  but I am never one to hold back on feelings and I am just happy to even be having this kind of feeling again.  I was really worried that I was going to be broken forever.

I just wanna feel like I am living :)

The Windy Rainy Scary City of Merrillville!

By Diana

So it has been very windy, rainy and scary in my current location!  I am happy to be here though got lots done with the group so far.  They did tell me scary stories of where the job actually is, which is Gary, IN.  I have been on the road for about 10 days now and am finally sick – not that I am happy to be sick, I just have come to expect it every time I travel on the planes :(

I am sitting in the hotel room now helping people in the field and on a conference call.  I was happy to not go out into the field today, it is just so different from the other two cut-ins.  I will have to be available to help them this afternoon so hopefully it won’t go too late.

I went out last night and grabbed me some Panda Express – because I am a sucker for that place!!  This morning was Panera – because I am a sucker for that place!!  I really wanted some pancakes, but didn’t feel like going to Cracker Barrel by myself, oh well maybe I can convince someone to go with me at home :)  There is a White Castle here, but I am not sure that I am down for that, might just be too bad.

I think I am going to have a pretty relaxed tomorrow, but it really depends on how much I get done with people today.  I am a little bummed that I don’t get to see the city, Chicago that is, but oh well :)

The Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

By Diana

For the last week I have been in West Virginia for another cut-over and just support / training.  It has been a while since I have been to a place and was just overwhelmed with how many sights to see.  I can only remember a couple that were even comparable – Chicago, the first time I ever went and Canada, specifically Revelstoke.

I am still processing everything – it really is a beautiful place.  I got several good pictures, but I was so focused on absorbing it all that I really didn’t take enough :)

As usual with my work experiences everyone I met and worked with was great.  In m y experience, the railroaders – the ones out there everyday – really look out for visitors.  They want to make sure that you see good stuff and are having a good time.  So polite, I have said this several times, I really do feel very lucky to have stumbled into this career and being able to experience what I have is a real privilege.  I get to associate with very smart, happy, and wonderful folks!!

Well, I am kinda tired so I will edit this later to add the link to pictures.