Is it Friday yet?

The last two weeks have felt like they have been a month long. Getting back into the real pattern of school, dance, work, etc. I'm already tired of driving to dance every night. Twice. So, I'm a little glad Katie didn't feel good and wanted to stay home tonight. Not glad she didn't feel good. Glad I don't have to go anywhere.

Speaking of not feeling good. I have seen way to many sick kids the last few days. I am praying our house can stay flu free!

Katie came home early with a cough and allergy issues. She told me she was in the nurses office with 4 other people who had fever and flu like symptoms. NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm really praying now! And Jennifer, you better quit talking about it our you'll have it too!

But for tonight we're all well, staying in, ordering pizza, and going to bed early.... I love it!

Edited to add, the pizza isn't even here yet and now Katie has fever, chills and body aches! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

A quiet Sunday

Today I spent a little time getting a few fall things out. I lit all the fall smelling candles, baked more zucchini bread, and spent some time enjoying just being at home. The laundry is almost done, a rare thing around here...I even cooked dinner...it's been a very productive day

I worked on the Halloween wreath...

I saw this idea on a blog recently (I wish I could remember were to give credit) and decided I needed to borrow the idea since I already had the glass things on my mantle....

I found just the little skeleton I needed for this at Target. I had decided I wanted to do lights but needed something else. I was planning on going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to look for a boa or something to add to it and today when I ran in Walgreen's they had this great black, feather boa on clearance for $1.75...bargin!

I couldn't get a good picture of the mantle as a whole... just know it's cute...

I love fall decor!

Squeezing in all the summer we can...

The weather has been wonderful and we knew that pretty quickly it would be too cool to get in the lake, so today we took the girls for a last taste of summer.

The weather was perfect. 78 degrees. not windy. perfect.

Since the weather was cooler we decided to take Elvis. He likes the boat but can't tolerate hot weather.

He had a great day. When Mike and girls were in the water he wanted to jump in with them. We were afraid of trying to get him back in the boat if he ever jumped!

The day was perfect. Today we were boat people.

A bit of attention

I took pictures of Elvis barking at the bulldog cake on Ace of Cakes. I decided to email it to them because we thought it was funny... I had to put the pic's on the blog and send the link in order to do it.
So, I sent the email never thinking I might hear back...Within a few hours, Mary Alice from Charm city cakes replied to my email and then commented about it on Twitter. Fun!
Tonight we looked at my blogstats and I've had hundreds of visits looking at the picture from the Twitter link. My daughter looked at the number of daily visits before this and her comment was, "so you're really just talking to yourself?"...

Elvis, I'm sure you'd like it if you tasted it

Elvis has some t.v. watching issues. He loves to sit and watch t.v.
He's a big fan of baseball.
He barks at EVERY animal he sees on t.v.
Dogs, cats, cartoons, cartoon animals, babies, the Pillsbury dough boy, the list goes on and on... Now we have to add cakes to the list. Tonight on Ace of Cakes there was a bulldog cake that looked just like Elvis. He really didn't like it.It's just a cake Elvis....

My favorite kind of Saturday

Today when we got up it was 60 degrees and overcast. My favorite weather! I opened the windows, fixed coffee and Kellie and I made a big breakfast.

We have no where we have to go and nothing we are committed to do today. What a treat.

I was informed it was too early to put out Halloween things when I put this out today. The weather made me do it

Someone gave me a HUGE zucchini from their garden. I searched Tastee Kitchen for a recipe and we whipped up some zucchini bread... It turned out yummy!!

We went and rented a few movies, made so me snacks and are in for the day.

I love fall...Even if today is just a preview!

It's Dip Season

Big Mama is doing a Dip Tacular.
I got this recipe from a friend years ago and it has continued to be a fall favorite at our house.

Creamy Taco's (from Lucinda)
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 can Rotel
1 Brick of Chili
1 lb Velveta Chopped
1 Cup Whipping Cream

Brown ground beef, drain. Add onion and peppers, tomatoes and chili and cook. stir in rest of ingredients.
Serve as dip or over chips with cheese, chopped tomotoes, olives, etc.

Yum

Funny what stirs a memory

When I was growing up we lived in Iran two differnt times. As crazy as it sounds, that time holds wonderful memories for me. My dad always worked for military contract companies that sent him to odd places where families usually couldn't go, so the time in Iran was one of the few times that we all lived together as a family.
My mother really didn't like living there. She had some health problems and I look back now and realize why she didn't want to go.
I however, loved every minute of it. I loved the adventure, the camels walking in the streets, the herds of sheep that came right through the city and would stop on a corner while their Shepard napped against a building, snowy winters, exotic food, and the bit of traveling we got to do while we were there. I hated when the country fell apart and we had to leave.

While we were there, the American Wives group took a trip to Russia. My mother wasn't about to go. We took a trip to the Caspian Sea and even that made her nervous "because Russia is just across that water"....
One of her friends brought her a ring back from that trip to Russia. She rarely wore it but she never got rid of it.
I ended up with most of her jewelry after she died and I have kept this ring in my jewelry box forever. I've never worn it but I never got rid of it.

Months ago Katie found it and asked if she could wear it. I worried about her loosing it almost didn't let her. Then I decided it had sat in jewelry boxes for 30 years now and it was OK to wear it.... She has worn this ring everyday since then.... She loves it.

For some reason tonight, while going over homework I looked at that ring on her finger and I was stuck with a sudden memory of where the ring came from and what a wonderful time it represents to me.

Just a trinket from Russia that my mother rarely wore. She would love that Katie is enjoying that ring.