She is "never going to get over it"!

Today the dogs had their yearly vet trip for shots and such. 

Katie went with me...

It is always a fun time but today... nothing will ever top this trip...

It's a given that Elvis will drool on me and he sheds like he will loose all his hair upon entering the vet... I don't quite understand this response but I know that I will come out wearing as much of his hair as he is...

Ellie shakes and cries like she is going to be killed...

So you can see how much fun this might be...

Well, today after we got into the exam room the vet picked Elvis up, which is no easy task...

And as he lifted him I guess it was way to exciting for Elvis and something liquid came flying out of him and onto Katie...

Katie, the high maintenance girly one...

And I assumed Elvis just had a little tee tee incident, but no, the vet explained that it was his "anal glands"...I don't even like typing that word...

Apparently, when dogs get excited it can happen... oops.

So, the vet, apologizing profusely, showed Katie to the rest room... where she had to "wait forever to even get in there and wash it off... and it really stinks... and I'm never going to get over this... "

And I really think she might not...

Even after a very long shower she still can't see the humor in all of this and every time we laugh about it she yells " BUT HIS BUTT HOLE JUICE CAME ON TO ME"....... she may be frazzled about this for some time...

Anyone know a good therapist?

Vacation

We are home from vacation...

We had a great time!
minus the one boat repair incident...

The in-laws came and everyone behaved...

we celebrated Mike's mom's birthday while she was there!

We even stayed an extra day it was so relaxing!

We got to see good friends.

That is always my favorite part when we vacation there!

The weather was perfect.

 

The lake was fun

the girls really enjoyed taking their best friends

They all seemed to have a great time

We had great food!

But we're glad to be home. 

It could all be good or bad

We leave in the morning for a week at Lake Texoma. 

Which as a family vacation in not my first choice but since the girls and I have been to kamp and such Mike wanted to pick the vacation...
I don't love the lake vacations and don't love taking the boat that seems to always have an issue...

But, I've been praying for a very positive attitude!  For a couple of weeks now!

I know it will be fun. 
The lake will be great. 
The boat will run perfectly. 
Mike will catch lots of fish and I will lay in the pool with my sweet kids that aren't fighting...

Both girls are taking their best friends... I'm hoping since they each have a buddy they will have big fun without bothering each other... I can hope right???

Since it it close to Dallas we always get to have friends come up and stay with us.  Only one set are coming this year.   The friends who introduced Mike and I and their kids... our kids have grown up together so it is more like family.... That will be a fun couple of days...

But then, the in-laws are coming for two days. 

Let me explain that this is not just the in-laws. 
This is the divorced in-laws. 
Both coming. 
Together.  Even riding together...
For two days.

I'll let you know how that goes.  Feel free to pray for my attitude.  Oh, and the boat...

I'm really really grateful but I'm running out of ideas...

My sweet neighbor has brought more and more and more squash.  I am grateful but out of ideas on what to do with all of it now.

I'm feeling a little Bubba Gump-ish...
I've made squash casseroles from a couple of different recipes, sauteed squash, sliced breaded squash, squash bread, squash blueberry muffins, given away some of the squash, taken casseroles to two people and still have squash...I delivered a plate of warm muffins and a squash casserole to the sweet neighbors who probably did not want another thing made of squash!


I'll be excited when they start having some other vegetables coming in! 

My favorite of the day:

Squash Bread or Muffins

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups shredded yellow squash
3 cups self rising flour
2 tsp cinn.
2 tsp vanilla
nuts optional

Mix eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla with whisk.   Add other ingredients.  Mix with spoon.

Optional topping:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick softened butter
crumble together with fork and sprinkle over top of muffins before baking

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes for a loaf or 30 to 35 minutes for muffins.

I mixed fresh blueberries into the muffins and used the topping. YUM.  They are very good.  Mike decided he likes the squash bread better than zucchini bread...

And while we were playing games I ate a wonderful blueberry squash muffin my girls ate bagels... typical...

I'm really an Aunt Bea wanna be

I grew up with a huge family garden every summer...

There were miserable hours spent picking vegetables....

There were even more miserable hours spent shelling peas and butter beans....

I can remember all of us sitting around in my aunts living room with bushel baskets everywhere full of peas and beans and we were not allowed to go have any fun till we had shelled at least one big bowl full...

I can remember not going to the bathroom for fear that my cousins would steal out of my bowl making theirs fuller and mine empty...

I can remember the house smelling wonderful while fresh veg. cooked...

I can remember eating tomatoes off the vine and Aunt Gal's wonderful tomato sandwiches till I was sick...

When Aunt Effie's pear tree was full I remember eating pear preserves, pear salad, pear jello, pear cake, you get the idea...


I really wish I had that big garden in my back yard and my kids were tortured with picking and shelling peas.

I think learning from my mom and aunts made me love to cook and enjoy fresh food.

I know they had grown up during lean times and they loved to have a stock pile of anything they needed...
They canned and froze veggies, jelly, pears, figs and anything else they could put up.  They bought sides of beef and split it up between them.  In the summer since we were right on the coast, they bought hundreds of pounds of shrimp and put them in the freezer(that didn't make the house smell good...).

Last night my door bell rang and my sweet neighbor from next door was there with a HUGE bag of fresh squash from her parent's garden...

Oh, the happiness!  I spent a little time last evening looking at squash recipes and planning what I was going to do.

I spent the quite morning while kids were still sleeping "putting up" the squash...

I have three squash casseroles, two big bags of breaded to fry squash, and two bags of just sauteed squash
in the freezer!  I am a happy girl.

Just yesterday I added a camera app to my phone that makes the pic's look old and have been loving it!

I really think I should have lived in the Aunt Bea and Andy Giffith era.... I would be so happy to just be home all day in my apron, entering pickles in the county fair, making pies...


I would be in heaven except for the no air conditioning part....

Come on over for some squash...

Summer at it's finest...

This was my view at the pool today... I wish I could have captured the funniest part...

The toddler girl would run to the steps, bend over and grab her swimsuit bottoms and pull them out so all the water would run out...the little boy in front of her was usually behind her and would try to catch the water from her bottoms in his hands...They did this 100 times till I tried to get a picture of course...

After we got home the younger girls cooked up a plan...

they got out the matching piggly wiggly aprons, mixed up some lemonade, baked some cookies and proceeded to set up a lemonade stand...

my friend was one of the first customers... she forgot to pay though and they chased her down...

These two assisted by calling their friends trying to drum up business for them...

the final tally -- $9.25

and two VERY hot little girls...

and I found this in my camera...

Back in the swing of summer

I think we are getting back to normal...
Today is two weeks since the dreaded tonsil surgery...

Yesterday Kellie came to me in her still somewhat nasal voice and asked
do I sound almost normal?...
Yes, yes you do....
Well, then can I call favorite friend and ask her over?  Are you sure she'll be able to understand me? 
Sure, and since she's your BFF she won't make fun of your new speaking voice, don't worry...

So, there are now 4 girls sleeping somewhere in the house...The same group going with us on our little "Dad's Vacation" next week...
I over heard a discussion in the kitchen last night about who would sit where during the car ride...
the older girls were staking a claim to the captains seats...I heard Kellie's friend say "so we have to sit in the trunk?"
To bad that condo isn't big enough that I won't even know what room they slept in...


Today the forecast is "HOT and humid"... Not, rain.  For the first time in like 40 days...

One good thing about the rain ending is the trash issue we have going on...
We have dumpsters in our allies here rather than trash pick up.  Our dirt alley.  Wait, make that our mud alley.  So, for the 40 days of rain and flood we have been putting trash in the garage rather than trek through the knee deep mud...
Maybe after a day of sunshine we can move the dump to the dumpster...I'm getting a little worried we would attract vermin with all the trash in the garage.

And speaking of odd things in Lubbock... Two people I know have had tarantulas in their yard in the last few days...I really need to move back to Dallas!!!!!

I have had a lot of time to do things at home during the great rain...
I have cooked things to take on vacation
I have done a few crafty things that were on my list including making a new lamp shade I love
I have made the girls clean their rooms
I have changed a lot of light bulbs

I have done some digital scrapbooking

Today we are headed to the pool.  I hope all of Lubbock doesn't have the same idea since this is the first rain free day...
If it's too crowded I'm coming back home and pretending it's still raining...
Think how productive I could be if I lived in Seattle or somewhere rainy...

She's back....

After 8 days of not saying a word, I hear in a little nasal voice saying "I didn't do it" ...

All of us laughing kept her out of what ever trouble she was in with the sister

Kellie has turned the corner...

Looking  back at the last week,  it has been a week of rainy, restful days. 

I have gotten tons of things done at home...
I have caught up on some reading, woke up early every morning and enjoyed peaceful quite time, enjoyed friends, spent hours snuggling and holding my baby, playing games, cooked dinners, and planned our little family vacation...

All things that don't happen often around here....

I hate Kellie was so miserable but it was a wonderful family week.

They are better women than me...

The girl friends came over for a fun day of crafting, eating, talking and talking and talking... it was so fun to get to catch up! 

During all the visiting today, both of these woman proved to be way, way, way tougher than me!  And that does not bother me a bit...
We shared stories of what we had been doing since school got out, where we had been, the latest of Kim's crazy in-law stories, and then it all went down hill....

Kim told a story of having to drag a dead, rotting deer out from under their cabin in NM because her husband "couldn't" do it... I will spare you the details but just hearing about the smell that led them to find the deer made me sure I would have packed up, gone home and sold the cabin rather than pull the thing out!

That reminded Joshlyn of her massive spider she had killed this morning, all by her self... turns out it wasn't just a spider but a tarantula  At her house.  Again, I'd be putting the for sale sign in the yard...
She was telling the story to her husband on the phone who checked the trash and assured her that yes, that was a tarantula....I told her the least he could do is take her out to dinner tonight to reward her bravery...

Luckily I had no horror stories to share. 

I simply offered up more fresh lemonade and wonderful blueberry muffins...

Tomato sandwiches and pink strawberry salad

Caramel Peach parfaits

Deviled eggs and homemade pickles

I love having girls over so I can serve things I love but my family wouldn't eat....

We didn't even start our new projects so they are coming back Thursday...

They both told me that I didn't have to cook but that if I wanted to it would be ok...

My cousin I was at kamp with had asked me for a few of my favorite recipes so while the friends were making their new calendars for this coming school year, I made a quick little book to send to Janet...

I used a picture of us a kids on the front and on the back a picture of my mother, her grandmother and the other sisters... I am also going to include the family recipes that I have from our aunts...

Kellie is getting a little better... she's added mashed potatoes to her Dr. Pepper diet and has wanted to play poker that last couple of nights...
as my friend Jennifer said, ' you know what they say about poker being good for the soul and all...'

A fun suprise

My two crafting friends are coming over tomorrow for a bit of fun! 
I have nothing on my list of things I needed to craft and wondered what I would do...
Then a knock at the door and

One of those crafty girls stopped by and had bought one of these for all of us!

Oh, the joy.  What shall I do with it?  Should there be a theme?  Should it be a fancy new Rolodex on my desk?  Should it just be pictures?  Oh, how will I decide....

And not only did she buy us all one of theses, she has bought a TON of new paper packs and all the accessories for us to use on them.  She is the best!

She does have one quirk though... She came by to drop all of her crafting stuff off today so that tomorrow she can run over here and back home.  Like really run.  Like not in the car like when I say "I'll run right over..."

It made me so very aware of a huge difference in us. 

You see, I've known for days they are coming.  You know how I love to have people over. 

So, you know what I've been doing..

Thinking about the menu for this girly time.  Shopping for the groceries.  Getting things ready. 

Not running....

I'm not going to tell her how much sugar is in the fabulous salad dressing I am serving her...

She might take my prize back and run home with it....

The summer of bracelets

While we were at Kamp Katie and I both learned a new bracelet making skill...
Let me tell you about my new bracelet skill -

Our wonderful nurse helper Emily had learned to make "Survivor Bracelets" the week before from one of the previous nurses and shared her new talent with us...

The story is that they are made out of parachute cord which is very strong and if made correctly and if you were out in the wild or in some sort of survival emergency, you could simply un-braid your bracelet and have a long piece of rope to save yourself with.

I really don't foresee any emergency where a piece of parachute cord may be necessary for my rescue or survival.
And, it's a good thing since Emily taught me to make them using 2 pieces of cord rather than one really long one....

So, if I find myself in a dreaded predicament, I would only be able to use my bracelet as shoe laces or maybe to tie a pretty bow on a present at the last minute...

It's a very technical process of macrame knots I learned in the 70's

burning the rope is a little scary though

Katie learned some new braiding trick to turn basic DMC floss into a cute braided strand... she has been making them non stop since she came home...

they are the ones below the peace sign and above the Silly bands... covering most of her arm seems to be the goal this summer...

Note the bracelet Elvis is sporting... no one is going to miss out on the trend...

On a more important note, Kellie seems to be close to turning the corner...

The tonsillectomy has been really tough... today is the first day she has been up for any length of time and actually asked for soup. 

She has yet to try a Popsicle or ice cream. 

She will only drink Dr Pepper or Mt Dew...

The great flood we've been experiencing seems to have stopped...

Mike grilled out and we may be eating burgers and hot dogs for a week.  If you're hungry come on by....

Have a happy 4th!!

This could be bad

I am home bound with Kellie for a few days...
I am not really good at staying home with no plans...
I have a couple of big projects but I don't want to start them till she is feeling better and doesn't need my attention as often...
So, I've been looking for little things...
I've finished the million loads of camp laundry...
I've spiffed up two lamp shades and managed to only get two hot glue burns...
I've cleaned....
I've wrestled the swiffer away from Elvis who hates it for some reason...
I've sorted all the mail and caught up on the little things...
And I've cooked dinner every night...
And then today I had time to look at magazines with recipes and then that made me want to cook. 
Cook things we don't need to eat. 
But when I have extra time that's what I love to do.... Cook bad things...
So, tonight for dinner I tried a great new Tomato Gratin recipe. 
But, the bad part, I made a Peach Upside Down Cake.  It is heavenly!  Like I may have to eat it all tonight.

I've got to find other things to do or people to send food to...