What's next girls?

Let's catch up

2012-02-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well, the picture a day for Feb. didn't last long. Since I was sick the first week the only pictures were of the dogs...Maybe I'll try that again sometime...

but I have taken a few pictures that last couple of days....

Katie had her last basketball game Pom performance of the year...

Last night the Pom group did dinner and then came back to our house for dessert

We needed to try the chocolate fountain before they got home to make sure it was ok...

I never did get a good picture of all the cute pom girls, they were too busy eating chocolate to want to do pic's

As we were leaving for church this morning it started to snow. And snow and snow and snow....

a fun weekend but it sure went fast!!!

Can you hear me now?

2012-02-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

I tried blogging from the iPhone app again... I accidentally deleted my last post. Still can't post but delete works well.

Our big news of late is that Mike got hearing aids on Friday!

He has had a hearing loss since childhood. He once told me he threw away his hearing aids in middle school. This week he said he lost them in a football game...(I really think it was the first one) and he has compensated all these years without them...

He reluctantly agreed to get them again, finally!

He can hear the t.v. at a normal volume, he can hear us when we talk to him, he can even hear us when we are in the next room not talking to him...

He's going to have some adjusting to do...right now he thinks everything is too loud. I've been sick and sniffing a lot and I am "being very loud" and today he told me the little dog eating was like a light bulb shattering on the floor...he is really put out that he can hear birds outside and traffic now.

But, his biggest complaint is that his clothes rustle. I told him they always have and I've tried to get him to switch to light starch for that very reason...

I am so hoping he adjusts quickly.

And to add the pictures again since I've deleted the first ones...

My view today

since I didn't remember to take the picture till bedtime my view was a snuggly dog.

Words

Hands

I found Kellie napping and even then her phone was in her hand

A stranger

Since I've stayed home all day, I chose a picture from a stranger's food blog I spent some time on today... Check it out here - http://chaosinthekitchen.com/. Had to cheat on this one...

An evening of mystery and wonder?

2012-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

We have finally gotten the leak repairs finished!

I spent the a lot of the weekend moving things back down there and getting the Christmas stuff down to the closet. I was glad to get the trees out of the house before valentine's day.

After all the moving, cleaning, and fun I decided to enjoy the basement.

Who knew that the teens would want to hang out with me, watch "The Help" and ask to learn to crochet.

But, they did.

We were enjoying a cozy night in the basement when the younger one and her two friends come in and try the "proposal" idea again.

Here is the latest....

Was your weekend spent partying at the "I Hop"?
The girls did not get to party at the I Hop. I did agree to drive them to the donut store that stays open all night only to find out that they no longer stay open all night. When did that happen?
But you know who stays open all night? Walmart, they do and they have donuts... Not the "hot and fresh" donuts but the best I could do.
God did bless me with a house full of girls for the weekend.
I hope I didn't ruin their memory of MLK weekend forever denying them the mystery and wonder of pancakes.

It was just like I dreamed it would be

2012-01-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

The new year is starting off as fast as last year seemed to go! I kind of wish it would slow down just a bit...

On New Year's day I came home from a very good shopping trip to Dillard's extra 50% off sale to 6 girls waiting on me...
They had a "proposal" for me...
I was scared.

The sat me down and this is what I got... a slide show of sorts...

They had called a hotel to see how much it would be, pooled their money, thrown in a random gift card and had a very detailed plan which included the sisters "getting along" and the olders playing with the youngers, etc...

I had no plans and I think they were absolutely shocked when I agreed... who can refuse good hospitality?

But, I had a few conditions....

We were going that day, on the 1st rather than the 2nd.

I got to pick the hotel.

They HAD to get along.

They HAD to be quiet in their hotel room.

They had to actually give me the money they promised.

And basically had to agree to be my slave after we got home...

Let me tell you that I think we'll be doing this again...It was a fun treat for everyone.

The hotel had a very good happy hour and breakfast.

They are old enough I didn't have to be with them every minute.

They were very good.

They all got along.

I was in the room next door.

ALONE. (I've dreamed of this!!!)

With magazines.

And black out drapes.

This may be what the rooms and beds in heaven will be like...

I would get an occasional text that said something like "oh sorry, didn't mean to be loud, we'll be quieter"....

A friend of mine came for breakfast.

It was a good start to the new year!

But then I came home to the house that is under construction from the flood...and is still under construction but should be done soon. Maybe.

We are back in full swing with construction, school, church, and have added dieting and working out...

Hope your New Year is full of wonderful things!

If not, go to the hotel for a night. It will change your life.

I shouldn't have been throwing around the Christmas vacation quotes

2011-12-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

I've been missing for a bit....did you notice?
I wanted to fill you in on all the greatness you've missed...

Christmas was just around the corner, the shopping was done, school was out and life was good...
Good good good.
Until.
On Dec. 23rd I picked up my mother in law from the airport.
No, that's not the bad part....
She was excited to come....we were glad to have her....
Life was still good....
But shortly after I picked her Mike called to ask me for a favor... he sounded like he was upset... motioned how bad his day had just gotten, and then he asked me to go meet his dad a truck stop here in Lubbock cause he was lost...
His dad who lives 6 hours away.
His dad who has never visited us.
Who might "drinking" from Mike's impression...
Who probably couldn't tell my kids apart if he had to...
Who DID NOT call and let us know he was coming to visit two days before Christmas...
Who is divorced from the mother in law I just fetched at the airport...

We always quote Christmas Vacation this time of year but I never dreamed I would ever need the quote:
If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet in the morning I couldn't be more surprised"...
but yet, it was perfect for this situation...

I went and found him at the truck stop he was parked at...
He followed me home...
I realized then he wouldn't be staying long since he didn't have a suitcase...that was a bit of a relief...
Not that we don't want him here, but timing wasn't good and he NEVER visits...
He did bring gifts though. So I had to run into the crazy, crowded supercenter to buy him a last min. gift of PJ's (thought he might need those since there was no suitcase) and a gift card...
This all ends well. The divorced parents behaved, gifts were exchanged, and he was headed home by 9:00 the next morning...

Then, Christmas eve was nice, pleasant, and as we are about to leave for church water starts pouring into the kitchen, laundry room, pantry and basement from a broken water pipe...

Long story short, I'm glad it happened when we were home....
I'm oh so thankful for the company that came out to take care of the water and spent their Christmas eve and part of Christmas day with us!
and for homeowners insurance.

the plastic and cords did a lot for the Christmas decor...

We did make it to church. It was a nice time to reflect and remember this is all no big deal... I did tell God I'd had enough surprises for one week though.

God is good and Christmas day was wonderful...

We had just enough snow to make it a white Christmas. Jennifer flew in.

Santa was good to everyone!

Jennifer worked on making the girls Gator fans...

We had a prime rib dinner that was wonderful and made even better by the fact that with no hot water I couldn't do all the dishes till the next day...

I hope your Christmas was spent with people you expected to be there and was peaceful and dry!

If you scratch his belly, Clark, he will love you till the day you die

2011-12-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

Today I had a little Christmas cookie get together...

Elvis loves a party... He greeted everyone and watched closely to see if someone would drop something good....

Ellie even wore her new Christmas outfit Katie insisted she needed even though she tries to bite your fingers off when you put it on her... and Mrs. Claus/Ellie seems to need a medium in this dress, the small wouldn't close... Too many Christmas cookies maybe?

There was good food and good friends.

My favorite combination!

I knew all the food I made was good because people were asking for all the recipes before they left....

Katie's "wolf pack" as we call them must have smelled the food

They took care of the left overs...

The girls weren't really excited when I invited their friends and their mom's but they seemed to enjoy it after all..

After most everyone left and just the good friends were left, we looked in the dining room and Elvis was trying very hard to find a way to get those cookies...He guarded them for a long time before we gave in and let him have one...

Four years in Lubbock and this is my first cookie party like I did every year in Lewisville... guess I'm settled in...

The gift that keeps on giving

2011-12-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

Katie has had a bad cold for over a week...
I knew she had shared it with me a couple of days ago when I woke up with a sore throat... today however, I have the rest of the goodies she gave me... I'm enjoying the full package...
Luckily we have day/nighttime medicine left over from her...
And I'm having a little get together this afternoon...
hope they can all leave without this gift!

I had a birthday yesterday...
It took me awhile to decide how old I am when Katie asked me...
How the heck did I get to be the age I remember my mom from????
I am glad to be here, glad to be healthy minus the lovely cold symptoms Katie gave me for my birthday, and extremely blessed with family and good friends.
However, Katie did mention picking out my nursing home... I do remember thinking my mom was ancient at this age...
I hope all my friends will join me there! Think of the fun we can have...

So, come by for cookies this afternoon and if you leave with my cold, it's just a bonus!

Cookies and time, they both go fast...

2011-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the middle of Dec. and the shopping isn't close to being done and the crafty present projects I have started are also not close to being done...
The cake balls Katie offered to bring to a class party on Wed. aren't even started yet... guess I'll be fitting that in between hemming the choir dress and the choir concert tomorrow...
I need just a few more hours in the day... for several days...
But, I love this time of year.
I love the projects, the shopping the baking, the Christmas lights and all that goes along with it even though it means being a bit busier than usual...

I had friends over Sat. to make our second annual batch of snowman cookies for the staff at school.
What is better than time with friends, baking, Christmas music, good food and good conversation...

What you can't see good in this picture is the brown sugar sprinkled on the snowman... they are Lubbock snowmen after all...

we also started a little craft project before everyone had to go...

Elvis loves a crafty day...

This weekend I am having a little cookie party...

I need several extra hours this week...

If you find them let me know...

I don't know what to say, except it's Christmas and we're all in misery

2011-12-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

We headed to Dallas Sat. morning for the annual Christmas get together with Mike's family.
It was the longest 36 hours ever.
Not because of the family get together but because of my kids, 10 hours in the car, bad weather and the little old people from the wreck we stopped at.

We are trading our Suburban in and while they are looking for me a new one they gave me a smaller SUV to drive. I really like it and tried to talk the family into moving down to something that size. As we packed up the car for our 1 night trip it was obvious that a Suburban is still in my future. Those girls like to have some distance between them. And we were looking a little like the Griswald's with the back so full...
But, this car has seat warmers which I have not had before and did not think I needed. However, I have discovered my inability to sleep in the car was simply a lack of a warm back side because I turned that baby on and had the best nap ever.
I woke up to see break lights in my face and a truck on it's side in the next lane.
I hopped out and ran to see if anyone needed any school nurse assistance. Band aid, ice pack?
Break that windshield out for you?
Pretty quickly, several strong men got the cutest little old people out of truck on it's side.
The hubby was smiling and seemed OK. But the wife was a little shook up. Not injured, but really shook up as I would imagine is the normal response to being pulled out of a vehicle on it's side.
We continued on our way but the rest of the weekend I worried about the people.
Where were they going?
She was dressed up. Had stockings on and open toe shoes in that cold weather. For some reason, while we were getting her out and wrapping her up in a blanket my first thought was "man, you should get those hammer toes looked at"....
They had luggage in the back of the truck, we sat her on a nice suitcase.
She had a sewing machine in a box...was that hers? Was that a gift that is prob. now broken?
What was in those big trash bags?
Where do they take you after you total your truck? Do you wait on the side of the highway for someone to come get you and your trash bags and sewing machine?
I need to know what happened to the old people....
I know I won't ever know, but I do know that I have prayed for them all weekend.

We finally made it to Dallas and joined the family fun!

Better know as 'guys - you watch football till we feed you'

We had fancy Panini fixings most of us enjoyed... I did hear the words "I'd rather have a bologna sandwich on white bread" at one point though...I won't tell you which mother in law said it...

Henry was a new addition to the cousin's house...

our kids are growing up

and one of the London crew had my name... The box this came in is a pretty as the bag.

and we started the trip home with the forecast of snow in Lubbock

But, as I guessed, not enough to cancel school.

Darn.

I hope when my girls are in college they will be this sweet

2011-11-28T16:16:00.001-08:00

We have a sweet college intern working with the youth at church that I just love. She is sweet, thoughtful and very, very good with the youth.
She asked me to take some pictures of her and her brother for her parents for Christmas. She also brought along a little girl who is her "sister" since she is in Big Brothers/Big Sisters... what a fun time.

She showed up with a sweet gift for me for doing this and it was then that I realized she was really supposed to be in my family...

It was beautifully wrapped box with this cross inside... and she wrote a sweet message on the back.

Of course before the day was over my friends at school and I were planning on when we would get together and copy the cross...

It took some twine, some hot glue and just a few burns.

See that center part, when you are pressing it into the right spot, that is when you'll get the burns...

I did this one for part of a wedding gift... see the little "cherish" tag?

Fun, easy craft...

Thanks Kelsey for such thoughtful gift, it made my day and provided a new crafty thing for me to copy!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T17:53:00.001-08:00

I am very thankful for a Thanksgiving week that was spent with some of my favorite people...

Jennifer came... Which made my sister a little mad... can't spell Thanksgiving without some family issues can you?

Jennifer and I spent Wed. running a few errands, cooking, eating, and cooking some more...

I invited a good friend and her family to join us for Thanksgiving.

We had a discussion about the dressing last week.

You know, the what do you put in your dressing kind of discussion you have before you commit to Thanksgiving at someone else's house. We saw eye to eye on the dressing luckily.

But.

Then I went to buy my cornbread mix. I usually use one brand and there was none to be found so I substituted another name brand. This is where the story goes horribly wrong. It made very, very sand like, dry cornbread. I did not realize this until I went to make the dressing. I used enough chicken broth for the whole neighborhood and still couldn't get moist dressing.

Now, to a southern woman having friends over, serving bad dressing is the kiss of death. We will be judged by our dressing on Thanksgiving after all....

I knew it was awful when Mike told me not to save any of the left overs. He will eat left over dressing for a week under good dressing conditions.

We had tons of other good food and more importantly a group of friends and family that I love.

We had football napping guys

and dogs tired from begging

shopping the ads

and we even fit in a quick Thanksgiving day shopping trip.

Today, there is a fresh pan of dressing so I can keep the hubby happy, drizzling rain outside and relaxed crafty time in new soft PJ's inside.

I am Thankful.

Pictures can be very, very painful

2011-11-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

My family came to town this weekend...
There is always some drama getting everyone here...
They don't travel easily...
There is always debate over how many cars they need to bring, etc...
But they all made it. Even the youngest niece....

I planned a family picture and that caused a bit of grumbling from the men and my sister. My sister who usually likes family pictures was not happy that I told everyone to wear black or black and jeans.... she only heard the black and jeans part and even when we told her to wear what ever she wanted she wore black and jeans "like she was told" and even sported some nice white tennis shoes....
I also wanted all the girls to wear different colored scarves. I had a picture in my mind, everyone liked the idea except the sister...

The guys got a little happier while we were taking pictures on the Tech campus and they visited with some guys who were still there tailgating.... I believe there might have been beer involved.

Part of the group went to the "worse Tech game ever played".... "during a dust storm" Jennifer thought... nope, just a breezy West Texas day...
The sister and I skipped out on the game...

We celebrated Mike's 49th birthday.
The brother in law assured him this is the last good birthday.
I'm a little concerned about him being 50 next year....I can't be married to someone who is 50 cause I think I'm only about 34...

Jennifer brought Mike's favorite dog in the whole world and it made Ellie very very jealous...

She just sat and pouted

In the end everyone was getting along and forgot what they had been grumpy about... We ate a lot of good food and fit a lot of good visiting into a few hours!

It's all Pumpkin

2011-10-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've been a little pumpkin obsessed lately.

Last week I made Pumpkin Granola, I almost burned it... I still ate it anyway....
Over vanilla yogurt for breakfast. Yummy....

So, today I made a new batch (and almost burned it) to take to my friend I'm going to visit today....
They eat very healthy at their house so it seemed the perfect thing.

This is what the pan looked like when I realized I wanted a picture...

Pumpkin Granola
3 cups rolled oats

3 cups rice crispy
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
¾ tsp. salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup or molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment

Combine the oats, nuts, salt and spices together and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugar, apple sauce, syrup and vanilla.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is evenly coated.
Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and give the mixture a bit of a toss around the pan before returning to bake for an additional 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
Toss the dried cranberries
Store in an airtight container

The left over pumpkin from the can couldn't go to waste so I made Pumpkin Flan to have after dinner tonight.

I had to come back and say, holy great pumpkin that flan was good!!!
You might need to try this...

Pumpkin Flan

1 can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cups milk (or cream if you want it really rich)

Place 3/4 cup sugar in heavy sauce pan over med. heat, stir constantly till sugar melted and caramel colored.
Pour melted sugar into 6 greased custard cups.
Mix pumpkin, eggs, 1 cup sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and milk till mixed well. Pour into the 6 custard cups. Place custard cups in a larger baking dish and add hot water 1/2 way up sides of cups. Bake at 325 for 50 minutes.
Place in refrigerator to cool. Before serving, run knife around edge of custard cup and unmold upside down on plate.

I might have licked the custard cup...

Off to see my friend's sweet little pumpkin...
and look how cute that pumpkin was...

Even Elvis enjoyed the weekend

2011-10-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

The girls went to a girls retreat at church this weekend...

Friday night we had no kids here.

Mike and I had a little dinner date...

I was all exited about sleeping in Saturday morning, coffee, quiet...

till I remembered the dog had an 8:00 groomer appointment.

darn.

I offered to help with the Sat. portion of the retreat....

I drove 6 girls from the fancy hotel they stayed at back to the church...

I had a 6th grade group and when I asked what they did the night before, "sleep" was all I got. Not sure they got a lot out of it...

They had someone come in and give make up lessons...

This is the youth ministers wife, she was in charge of the girl weekend...

she decided everyone wore the same shade of foundation...

she's easy going like that...

Katie was in high demand for curling other girl's hair.

It might be one of her spiritual gifts...

The cleaned up and went out for a nice dinner...

It was really fun to hang out with the girls and the sweet leaders. One of the leaders told me I was really a cool mom like her mom. That made me feel good, old, but good...

I really am so glad I get to do these things with my girls and that they actually want me there...

We followed up church today with a little pumpkin carving...

Mike thinks he has had a bad day because his laptop crashed but really that freed up his afternoon from working, so he spent it with the Cowboys and now Rangers and a bulldog in his lap, what could be better?

A good weekend was had by all...

It's just like in the great depression but the food is better

2011-10-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight I came in, unloaded a few groceries and left the garage door up with the back of the suburban up also so Mike could go get the water bottles out...
I promptly forgot to even ask him to do it...

Fast forward about 30 minutes and I am making dinner and talking on the phone when Katie comes running into the kitchen telling me I have to come here right now and see something with great concern in her voice... as I pass the front door I realize that it is dark and slightly orange glowing outside...

It go so dark the street lights came on... but you couldn't see them...and during all this I realized the back of the car was open...
I am pretty sure I don't even want to check that situation tonight...

And the funniest thing is that I finished the orange burlap wreath and hung it up last night...
Katie said "mom, what about your wreath?" but the wind and dirt was too bad to open the door...just thougth it was funny that she makes so much fun of me and my burlap addiction but she wanted to get my wreath for me...

This is the "wall of dirt" that started the whole plunge into darkness...

The news reporter said there has not been a dust storm like this since the 1930's when they had the last bad drought.....

"It's just like in great depression when my grandparents told stories of having to put towels around the doors and windows to keep the dirt out" the weatherman added...

Yep, just like the depression here tonight but instead of the cheap beans they were probably enjoying for dinner I was busy making a yummy but cheap chicken quesadilla...

Great, what other things are we going to have out here in the land of dirt???

Tell me one more time why I'm in Lubbock???

A few fall things...

2011-10-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

You know how much I love fall right?
I got out all the fall decorations yesterday.
Katie asked why I decorate, "no one comes to our house"... there were two extra kids in the room when she said that to me...
I had my favorite Pumpkin dump cake at a friends while we were out of town and I can't quit thinking about it. I'll be making it this weekend and eating it all. Just fyi...

I bought goodies to "Boo" a couple of people at school and wanted to make some treats to go with them...

Luckily I decided to taste one because the white chocolate tasted weird... wonder how long that has been in my pantry... I want to make them again though... very quick and easy

I added some sprinkles to a cute jar... it is only a matter of time till Kellie shakes up the candy corn colors...It's killing her...

Katie hates my new twigs with old scary bird pictures... Personally I like the random branches...
I've started a cute wreath fall wreath... everything in the house is covered in orange burlap fibers but it will be cute...pictures to come...

This picture doesn't go with the others but Elvis loves his bed. Last night he moved it right into my path and I almost fell over him in the dark this morning.... I think he might be trying to kill me...

It's becoming a super power...

2011-10-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

A while back when Mike got a little bonus (that could have been better spent on a lot of things) he bought tickets for the girls to see Taylor Swift...
they were thrilled...
and the weekend finally arrived....

We let them take Friday off from school even...
We headed to the Big D...
Where I crammed in as much family and friend time as I possibly could. I'm getting really good at it...
let me schedule your visit, I'll show you how it's done...

We visited the grandma...
We visited friends...
I did some engagement pics for my friend's son...(I'll post more of these later cause they are so cute!)

My friend and her husband were the best helpers ever... I wanted to take them and the couch home! I've never had so much fun taking pictures!!!

We ate at my favorite place...
We saw another set of friends for a very quick visit...
We headed to my sisters to deliver the girls to Jennifer for the concert...

The girls were a little surprised that the Aunt had a new iPhone 4...
And when she mentioned that on the "bird game" all her birds had turned into "fish" we all laughed at her...
Katie helped her with her angry birds game and showed her the fish were just small birds and taught her all about all the birds powers....

Guess if she is going to be all high tech she needs some angry bird skills...

And of course, since I was with my sister the shopping queen, we had to hit a couple of stores where I did score a couple of good bargains...
My brother in law made me his new drink of choice and that led to a very relaxing evening! I'll be buying some spiced rum this week I do believe...

The girls left way early to get to the concert since there was also a ballgame next door which doubled the traffic to the area...

they made it after much waiting in traffic...

and Katie is a little type A about time, being late, worrying about where to park etc so by the time they got there I received a text from Jennifer saying that Katie was being a little neurotic...

I don't believe she meant for the picture to say it all about Katie an her "neurosis" but it sure was funny to get this! She explained this morning that she was just freaked out about "the drunk lady in front of us"...
Abbi doesn't seem at all disturbed by her...

They settled in and had a great time and survived the drunk lady...
Had I known who the opening act was, Jennifer would not have been the adult to accompany them...

We hit a favorite restaurant (Babe's Chicken house) on the way out of town today...

The food and company was a great end to a wonderful weekend....
and I may have eaten more sorghum and biscuits than chicken...

I think I was probably just low on iron and feeding a medical need. I'm pretty sure I'll need some of this on a regular basis to maintain my iron.

It was a fast, fun filled weekend but I'm always glad to get home to my boy....

Parenting, it's hard on the marriage

2011-10-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

We have had two days in a row of parenting disagreements.
This is the first time this has happened.
We're usually on the same page.
But not this time...
The first problem was between Mike and Katie and he is convinced she is lying about why she said something.
I think she's telling the truth.
Cause that kid can't lie!
She's tried.
It never works.
(The other kid is a whole different story)
So I talked to him about his choice of punishment and tried to point out that I think she was not lying and he basically said "fine, my opinion doesn't count"...
What do you do? I don't want to undermine his parenting but I really think he overreacted...Did I mention the kid can't lie?

Now, the second incident is completely crazy in my head but not in his...

I came home yesterday and Katie asks me to come to her room to tell me that "dad has gone crazy".
When he picked her and a friend up yesterday and found out that they weren't going to the homecoming football game he was so mad he told her she was grounded.
When I tried to discuss this with him he decided he would just quit parenting. I could do it all....
Really? Over a football game?
Apparently, the once high school football player finds it a horrible thing for anyone to skip homecoming.
From me, the once high school student who did skip a couple of homecomings due to lack of a date, I completely understood.
I explained the no date, no game theory to him but he wouldn't even budge on his opinion...

Mike took the middle school girl and friends to the game. They had tickets he didn't. It sold out to the guy in front of him buying tickets. This didn't help the mood.
Kellie and friends came home early because it was "boring" and couldn't even tell him what the score had been. That made him mad all over again.

He seems back to normal this morning.

Who knew our first big parenting divide would be over a football game. I guess I should have known given the importance of any sporting game to him I guess...

Lets all pray she makes varsity Pom next year so she will have to go to every game!!!

I think he really needed a boy....

I don't believe I heard you right

2011-09-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much going on here to blog about...

A lot of the usual. Which is always good.

I did the annual trip to the girl Dr. and he might have used the word "pre-menopause" and I'm still recovering from that...I'm not completely sure he knows what he's talking about...

When I told Mike about it he said "why did he think that, because of your mood swings"

I almost killed two men that day.

Oh wait, make it three...

There was a young couple in the waiting room at the Dr's office and the man was playing Johnny Cash out loud on his Ipod... I almost killed him too.... But that had something to do with the two hour wait and the fact that I was starving and NOT a mood issue I feel certain...

Sitting there with all the pregnant woman made me have to go get my neighbor and take her pregnant belly out for pictures...

The should have that baby any day now...

He was a little grumpy due to the Aggies loosing the ballgame but he's still pretty cute...

they are too cute and her daddy grew her that pumpkin. lucky.

I can't wait to hold that baby. But until then, I have my own big kids that need a ride somewhere right now.

I think it's time for pumpkins!

2011-09-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

We had a little cool spell last week...

And it even rained...
We're up to like 2" for the whole year now!

The cool weather was wonderful...
It has turned a little warmer this weekend but I still had to pull out some fall decor and make pumpkin bread...

I had a birthday gift I needed to do something for and I found a recipe on Pintrest that sounded like just the thing to me...

Pumpkin Latte Syrup

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups of water

4 Cinnamon Sticks

1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

3 Tbsp Pumpkin puree

Dissolve sugar in water. Add in remaining ingredients and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Strain with fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.

Put in jars and refrigerate.

Use 1/2 cup very strong coffee (or 1 shot of espresso), 2 tbsp of the syrup and 1 cup of milk. Warm milk and syrup before adding to coffee.

I also made some caramel coffee syrup, it was even easier...

Caramel syrup

3 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 jar caramel ice cream topping

Cook over medium heat till all sugar dissolved. Con't simmering about 4 minutes. Pour into jars and refrigerate.

Both of those plus some cake balls and pumpkin candle went into the birthday gift I needed..

All my spare time this weekend has been spend taking pictures of the girls and friends...

They decided this good weather was a great time for pictures...

There was way more crazy pictures like this one than good ones...
Man the weekend went fast!!!
But I'll have good Pumpkin spice Lattes every morning this week...

A word to I needed to hear...

2011-09-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening I was just out of sorts... Grumpy at kids and hubby... no one was doing what I thought they should be doing. (they really weren't... it surely wasn't just me...)
Later when I was on FB, I clicked on a video a friend had posted...
a little 3 minute video on FB that I am sure was meant just for me...
one of those where you have to say "ok God, I get it..."

Yesterday I got to spend the day with 2 close friends and 9,000 others at a Beth Moore event...

What a treat. I always think how wonderful it is to see that many women in one place who love the Lord...
And as was the case Thursday, God again had words that I think were just for me.

I'm working with the youth again this year and tonight there was a youth worship service that was so good... what a treat to get to be in the "youth" with my kids and they even like me being there...

I got to see Katie win "minute to win it" tonight...She'll be using that gift card to Sonic before the day is over tomorrow I would imagine...

I wish every week had this much worship...

I am feeling very blessed today.

A cool weekend

2011-09-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

Katie's BFF lives with her grandparents who are young fun grandparents...
They have a house in Ruidoso, NM and have been inviting us to come for a weekend and this weekend we finally made it!
Thursday night while I was with her making the large amounts of spices that I'm excited about, I left my car at her house... I came home to some lovely decorations on my car

I then kidnapped the culprit and brought her home with me so her friend wouldn't have to clean it up alone...

It was a real treat driving home with toilet paper smearing the shaving cream around....

There was some quick cleaning when I got home and a car wash at 7 a.m. where I learned that you get a discount at that hour!

We got there Friday night, spent some time on the balcony and enjoyed the cool crisp night.
What a treat...sleeping with windows open, nothing we had to do... mountains, rain, cool weather, good company and other than major allergy problem I had while we were there it was wonderful!

We sat out and watched blue birds come up to get peanuts from us, watched for deer and had a leisurely morning!

Sleepy girls eventually got us up and moving towards a little shopping in the old down town area...

They seemed to enjoy the antique store we took them in....

They begged to go to the Old Time photo place

This one is really funny to me since Katie has such a fear of jail...

gun tote'n saloon girls, it makes a mama proud!

Kellie stayed with a friend while we were gone and from the pics she texted me, I believe she had fun too!

We even came home to cooler weather. Is this just fall teasing me? I hope it's beginning of my favorite time of year! As soon as we got home, I opened windows, lit candles, and really wanted to get out the fall decor but held off on that! There is a pot of potato soup in my future today though.

Can a full moon last 2 weeks?

2011-09-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

After all these years of working in a school I am still surprised by a few things...

How crazy the first week or two is... and not only in a busy way but in a "is it a full moon" kind of way...
How many parents want you to do more than whats expected for their child but they won't get the papers, shots, dr's orders etc. that we need at the school...
How many parents get a new cell phone number almost weekly
How little the new Kindergarteners are.
How many kids can share their germs the first week of school.
How many kids can share their germs with my own kids the first week of school...
That my kid can still get strep the first week of school even after having the tonsils out a year or two ago...
That I can get pink eye if a kid in a 10 mile radius has it...
That now 2 weeks into it I have the sore throat...we will be keeping the clinic in business this year it seems...
Did I mention how "full moon-ish" it has been???

That's just a few of the observations two weeks into the year...

Another observation (that I should probably not be saying out loud yet) of the last few weeks is that my girls seem to treating each other a little better... not as much fighting... more talking to each other, watching t.v. together, tolerating each other just a little more, less hitting, less screaming, wanting to be with each others friends when they are over. As we speak they are in the kitchen talking about school and teachers...see even at home it's freakishly full moonish!
I pray this is a trend of things to come and not just a quiet spell!

Well, I'm off to make a year's worth of spices with a friend's ladies group from her church...
Call me if you need taco seasoning or season salt and other assorted spices or have any explanation for the crazy at my house or school...

Friday, I love you...

2011-08-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

The first week of school is done. The rest of my week was busy but nothing like the first day! Thank goodness.... I can't say the same for a lot of the teachers at my school though... it will be a different year...
I ran all my weekend errands this afternoon so that I can have the weekend free of those...
The rest of the family headed out to the first Friday night football game tonight...

I decided I could wait till it was less than 100 degrees to enjoy football...

Katie had her first pep rally last night! She thought they spent too much time introducing the football players...I reminded her it really is all about the football and there wouldn't be a pom squad without the football players...( and she's not performing tonight... I would go even in the heat if she was, didn't want you to think I was a bad mother, at least not for skipping a game)

After much fast food the last couple of weeks I finally made it grocery shopping tonight. I even came home and put up some meals in the freezer...
I used my quiet time while the fam is gone to enjoy a margarita out of a box (that I discovered tonight), an episode of Dateline that has me a little scared to be home alone, and a couple hours of cooking...
a good night!

And for those couple of hours I have:

Golden Pork Chops with Cinn. Apples
Honey Sauced Chicken
Slow Cooker San Francisco chops
Spicy Egg Casserole
Brie and cranberry stuffed chicken breasts
Mini Meat loafs
2 Creamy Chicken Casserole

It all started with needing to make a dinner to take to a friend tomorrow when I go see her tiny new baby... I decided if I was cooking her a meal I might as well put a few up for us...
Seven meals in less than 2 hours isn't bad... I'm excited to have crock pot meals ready in the freezer...

I'm taking my friend Creamy Chicken Casserole, my families favorite...

Creamy Chicken Casserole

4 chicken breasts cut into bite sized chunks
2 cans fat free Cream of Mushroom soup
1 pt. sour cream
Mix and place in 8x8 baking dish. Crush 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers and sprinkle on top. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and drizzle over top. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serve over rice or noodles.

Happy weekend...

Day one... how many more?

2011-08-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

The first day of school...
One 7th grader and one 10th grader... and the first thing I noticed is that they seem to get harder to wake up every year!
I left before everyone else and asked Mike to take a picture...

I meant with the camera but the picture off his phone is all I got...

I loved looking at facebook this afternoon at all the back to school pics of friends kids.

It seems that my school year may look a little a diffent this year... it started off crazy...
I won't go into details but by 9 I felt like I had done a weeks worth of nursing!
I'm praying it calms down for day #2...

How many school open houses should I have to go to?

2011-08-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

I still am wondering where the summer went...

I am back at work and it seems that first week back is always crazy...

Three open houses, school clothes and supplies shopping, church meetings, a lot of fast food meals later....I'm ready for all of us to get back in the routine on Monday...

But today, I'm just glad it's Friday! Katie is at her musical, Mike and I went to dinner and I'm spending some quality time with a magazine, the dog beside me and the t.v. for the first time in ages!

Here is the one creative change I've done at my school office...

The banner says 'blessed'... it didn't show up good in the picture.

As busy as we've been and as crazy as life has seemed the last few weeks, I am constantly reminded of how blessed I am...

tired... but very blessed!

Birthdays and musicals

2011-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a bit late getting to this post but life has been crazy busy.

Katie is in a local production of The King and I...

She doesn't even look like my child when they put her hair up and spray it black!

Mike loves musicals, can you tell???

Jennifer came for a visit to see the play

and for Kellie's birthday

We spent an afternoon shopping for the nicest hamster in Lubbock for Jennifer to get her for her birthday..I didnt' realize it would take so long...
Kellie is in love with her new furry friend, Pepper... she lost some of the love today when there was some hamster bathroom accident issues on her hand...

and as usual, Kellie really likes to celebrate her birthday for a few days...

so one dinner while Jennifer was here

and on the real birthday night I took the ninjas out for a birthday dinner...

there was some guitar shopping and I'm ~~sad~~ happy to say she is now playing a pink electric guitar

Katie inherited the other guitar...and I was relieved she has "no interest" in the elec. guitar!!!

We had cake...

Look at all those candles...

Look at that face... the day she turned 12 I get this face? I was just trying to love on my baby...

Whatever...

That was one of the pictures I found that Katie had taken when I wasn't aware she had my camera...

this is my favorite though...

Happy 12th Birthday Kellie! You are precious and I couldn't love you more! Please don't loose the hamster or turn up that guitar too loud!!!

A little Vacation

2011-08-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

We took a short vacation...
We took ~~a dozen~~ six kids...actually only 5 on the car trip and one met us there...
Jennifer met us there for a couple of days...

They were really good and the car ride was actually WAY better than I expected...
There was also less drama than I expected with 6 girls...

It seems we had 'Charlies Angels' with us...

And some girl ninjas

The ninjas did not have near as many pictures for some reason...

One of my BFF's joined us for a day...

we posed like the girls...

we showed them our crazy piano skills (which are none...)

We sent the husbands off with a fishing guide...

We read bridal magazines with my bff since she has a son getting married...

played some games...

found an empty restaurant while they were dragging us around to take pictures of them...

and we may or may not have let them dance in there...

and finally, the picture they had planned all day...

The best part of the vacation to the lake this year is that we didn't have the boat to worry about... The lake was much more enjoyable while I was spending time in the pool...

and I found this photo taken from the backseat on facebook that Katie's bff posted...

a good time was had by all...

What a Treat!

2011-07-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Three of my best friends came to visit for a couple of days...
It was the best treat ever...
I didn't take many pictures like I meant to...I never even got all of us in one picture...
We stayed up all night and talked...
We ate a lot of good food...

We dug through a box of random items Mike brought back from a trade show...

He had some bras we needed to try on...

And the last day we never took off our pj's...
That was my favorite day...

Tomorrow we are leaving on a short vacation... both girls are bringing two friends... wish me luck...
I may need another vacation when I get back...

Good neighbors...

2011-07-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have talked before about how much I love my neighbors...
He is cute and sweet and does the chemicals on our yard...
She is beautiful and fun and has a family that has a garden...
I couldn't have chosen better neighbors...
And now she is having a baby for me to hold!
We went out and did some pictures of her last week...

Yesterday they shared some garden goodies with me...

I made my favorite pickles with the fresh cucumbers to share with my friends that are coming on Wed...
Three of my best friends are coming for a couple of days of just girl fun...I can hardly wait!

Refrigerator Pickles

7 Cups Sliced, Unpeeled Cucumbers

1 cup Sliced Onion
1 cup Cider or White Vinegar (2 cups if you are using several small jars)
2 cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Celery Seed
1 Tablespoon Salt

Slice cucumbers very thin, pack large jar or several small jars with sliced cucumbers and onions. Heat vinegar in microwave about 1 min. just to warm so sugar will dissolve. Add in sugar, celery seed and salt. Pour over cucumbers and try to let sit at least 24 hrs

Sorry about your pants but could you bring us a t shirt?

2011-07-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Mike left today for a business trip...
He makes me help him pack cause he swears he doesn't know how to fold anything...I wasn't happy to help this time because I am a little mad about him going without us...
He insisted I iron a new pair of pants he bought...(he also says he doesn't know how to iron) so you know I was thrilled to drop what I was doing and iron something that didn't need ironing...
They were dress slacks instead of the usual khaki pants and as I put the iron to them I wondered if I should be doing that and what temp would be best...
as I'm thinking this I was touching them with the iron and watching them melt...
I won't tell you what I said...
Then he needed a ride to the airport at 4:30 this morning...
and the main reason I'm angry about this trip is that his meeting is at Disney World.
Who plans a business trip at Disney when families aren't invited???
Let me assure you I'm not nearly as mad about this as Kellie...
At 4:30 this morning she comes out wearing PJ's, socks and slippers and carrying an overnight bag and told him she was ready to go with him...

To add to all the fun I've been having, tonight Katie's pom squad is spending the night here... 13 of them...
Of course I used that excuse to bake a couple of things for them...

I made the usual(cause they make a huge batch) Dish Pan Cookies and I also tried Better than Crack Brownies... a recipe I had saved and been meaning to try... They are good... Very sweet... surely teenage girls will approve...

Better than Crack Brownies (adapted from Howsweeteats)

1 batch brownies (box mix)

1 cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Mix brownies according to directions, and bake for about 20 minutes in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Remove and top with chopped peanut butter cups, and bake for additional 5 minutes.

While they are baking, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Stir in cereal. Remove brownies from oven and spread chocolate mixture over top.
Refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting and serving.

My mother's cookbook

2011-07-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

I have my mother's old old Betty Crocker cookbook...I love it.
It is falling apart and I had put it in away for safekeeping.

While getting things out for the china cabinet I ran across it again. I taped the spine back together and put it on top so I can see it.
I remember using it as a kid just learning that I loved to cook...

and I didn't know you don't check of the ingredients in ink as you used them

I don't remember seeing my mom use it..she just cooked what she knew most of the time...

I had to steal it back from my step mother many years ago....she claimed she thought it was hers...

I promptly showed her my mother's hand writing in it and went and hid it in my suitcase.

Anyway, getting it out again and thumbing through it was a treat...

I found the recipe for my sister's favorite Strawberry Cake

I guess this wrapper must have a good recipe on it to save it... Wish we could still get chocolate for 32 cents...

I found a white fruit cake and a chopped date cake recipe - Mother seemed to like dried fruit...

Why doesn't anyone make Baked Alaska anymore?

I loved this picture of a party table...

Mother had added this little booklet about cuts of meat...

Found this article about Carrot Pie

It must be a really "rare treat"...

I even found this picture of my mother pushing me in the grocery basket

it made me think of time that she left me sitting in the basket on one isle and when she walked away a person in a Mr. Peanut costume walked past me...I might have screamed and cried...

I loved looking back at the pictures and the recipes and all the things my mother had written in the cookbook...

I don't think I'll try the carrot pie though...

I finished the dining room...now I wish the walls were painted a different color but I'm tired of painting...

I texted a picture to my sister...

Her reply was "are you happy with that look?"

I'm guessing she's not...

But I am.

She better be nice or I won't make her the Strawberry Cake...

Banana Ice Cream

2011-07-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

I read about one ingredient Banana Ice Cream and couldn't believe it...
Till I tried it...
I didn't have time for a picture...
There were begging children all around me...
They licked the bowl...
Read about it here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/stepbystep-instructions-for-oneingredient-ice-cream-097170
They managed to get photos...

I did add a little to mine... It was good with no other ingredients but even better with sweetened cond. milk!
But what isn't???

Banana Ice Cream

6 Bananas, sliced and frozen
1/2 cup milk (or more if needed)
1/2 can Sweetened cond. Milk

Place bananas in the food processor and process for approx. 3-5 minutes till creamy. Add milk till desired consistency and add sweetened cond. milk, process till well mixed. Serve to begging children...
I saved about a cup and added strawberries for one kid and it great also!

It's been a while

2011-07-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

It has been a while... I've been busy and then my computer cord quit working and kept me from the internets for several days... This is my 3rd computer cord by the way... not sure what we do them...

I've been working on the summer 'to do list' and ~~being at the girls beck and call~~ having fun!

Elvis has been having some hip issues and he can't jump up on our bed anymore...
this is not a bad thing! He is a bed hog...

He has a bed but likes the chair better...

Mike thought he needed a new bed... he loves his new bed but still moves to the chair before we get up in the mornings...

I painted the side board in the dining room...

then I painted the table (even though I really want a new table)

Then I found a china cabinet on Craig's List for a bargain and they even delivered it...and of course then I had to paint it...

Katie's BFF's grandmother brougth this over with pound cake on it and told me she that she knew I had a new china cabinet and wanted to give me this china platter...

it coordinates well with some mismatched pieces that I have of my aunt's...

and I was excited to line the shelves and drawers with a beautiful, smell good paper a friend gave me...
I've wanted a china cabinet for years and years... I'm pretty excited about my little antique one!
Now I just need to get the chairs painted...

I painted the girl's bathroom

and did one little wall chalk board paint! I'm loving it!

There is already a "call for a good time..." message posted on it...

There has been a lot hot weather...

A little picture taking...

Tons of friend time...

Some donkey visiting time...

And random other fun...

What have you been doing?

A few projects

2011-07-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

The last week has been busy but I'm not sure what with... it feels like we always have something...You know if I'm off I have a big list of things I want to do or work on, I didn't get much checked off but it's a start...

I did make time to work on a baby gift (copied my sweet neighbor's idea) for a friends shower this weekend....

I'm also smocked a sweet baby gown to go with it...

I started sanding and painting my dining furniture...
yesterday I had a crafty day with the work girl friends and we made our new calenders for the year...

Kim had her house all fixed up for us, it was like being at the scrapbook store... there were tables with all the fancy equipment laying out, even trash cans by our chairs... It was great!

I brought lunch but the hit was the dessert...

Peach Blueberry pie in mason jars.

Here is the finished calendar for the next school year...

and this isn't really much of an accomplishment but it sure makes me happy (copied from Pintrest)

Peach Blueberry pies in Mason Jars

1 bag frozen peaches
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Almond extract
1 pie crust dough

Tear off small pieces of dough and press into jar to cover bottom and about 3/4 up the side of the jars.
Place peaches in skillet, add brown sugar and almond extract and simmer approx. 10 min. stirring freq. till sauce thickens. Stir in blueberries.
Spoon into jars with crust in them. Place jars on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for approx15- 20 min. till crusts brown and filling bubbly.
Optional - roll out dough and cut circles to fit in jar. Bake on cookie sheet till brown. Top pie in jar with them after removing from oven.
Serve warm topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

Remembering Ronnie

2011-07-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

In June, we lost one of the best men I've ever know, not to mention, one of my favorite family members. He was sweet, kind, gentle, and loving. He was very soft spoken and if he ever said something about someone, you should pay attention - he rarely said anything negative about anyone. He loved my children and was a favorite "uncle"... He and Kellie shared a special bond...when she was little he would sit with her in his lap for hours and read books or watch t.v., take naps with her, and smoke a ham for them to share anytime we came to visit...he jumped in the pool fully clothed once when she fell in... He was a precious man and gone way to soon.
He was also the Police and Fire Chief in a East Texas town. I had never seen a funeral like this...It was held at the college auditorium to accommodate everyone. Emergency vehicles from every surrounding town were in the procession. Below are pictures from the procession, the funeral and graveside. The procession was amazing watching people come out of businesses and stop and get out of cars to pay respect.
It was a beautiful tribute to an wonderful man.

He will be so missed by in our family.

A new addiction

2011-07-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours catching up on the favorite blogs a couple of days ago and I ran across a recipe for Iced Coffee on Pioneer Woman's blog...
Yesterday while I was making my batch of it I got a text from my friend Jennifer asking me if I had tried that same recipe and proclaiming her love for it.... I told her mine would be ready to try soon...

I only made half a batch and realized after trying it I should have gone ahead with the whole big batch...
and see that squirt bottle, it may or may not be filled with sweetened condensed milk for the ice coffee...
I think I could blend it right up for a frappuccino too... Starbucks doesn't have anything on me...
I'm having trouble not drinking it all day long since it's there and so yummy...the iced coffee I mean, not just the sweetened cond. milk...
You need to try it, you'll be needing an intervention soon right along with me...

Glad to be home but could we get the heat turned down?

2011-06-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

I am so glad to be home... two weeks away seems like forever...

But we left 85 degree weather in Missouri to come home to this

(that was just as we came back into Texas, I think it might have been 185degrees by the time we got home)

We left two weeks ago for a family funeral in East Tx ( that will be a separate post), then on to Kamp Kanakuk for the favorite week of summer.
This summer it was only Kellie and I on the road trip. Katie had to stay behind for rehearsals for a musical she is going to be in. I think the two weeks really felt like forever to Mike who was left alone with the teenager!

We stopped in Ark. to see my Aunt Effie

We headed to Branson from there and the GPS took us on the most remote route possible! We went through Ozark National Forrest and went about an hour without even seeing another car...

We spent the next day doing the tourist type things we usually don't take the time time to do... I let Kellie pick the activities so we ended up at the wax museum

rode the Ducks

had lunch at her favorite place, the Singing Diner

and we finally caught the "Cirque" show we have talked about seeing for the last few years... it was very fun!
Then it was on to Kamp...

Here is my clean child at one of the "wipe out" stations...

this blurry picture is her getting thrown into the mud pit

Yuck. That's all I have to say. Every kid who came to the nurse for the rest of the week had dried dirt in their ears!
Kamp was great as usual. I sure missed Katie being there with us. I would love to have seen her reaction to wipe out!
I came home just in time... doesn't look like anyone remembered to turn the sprinklers on while I was gone and they only checked the mail twice in those two weeks... Today I got to hand them the cards I mailed them over a week ago...
I'm glad to be home!

but I don't love days I can't even account for

2011-06-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

My few days of productivity came to halt...
I have sweet sweet family member who went to meet Jesus and I went from productive to how can I get all of this done in a day or two...
Kellie and I have to be at Kamp Kanakuk in a week and now we are throwing in an extra trip to pack for on the way....
It has been a packing frenzy, at least for me...
My poky girl has done a lot of other things in between the serious packing I was trying to lead her to do...
I have washed everything we own, ironed a lot, done the last minute shopping for kamp (because we can't seem to ever have a summer that we still have everything from last year)
and last night at midnight, Kellie came in wearing what used to be a dress but is more of shirt fit now...
she was excited she had grown, I just saw the need to go last min. dress shopping or my kid will be the one at the funeral in jeans...
good times.
So, all that to say, I'll be m.i.a for a couple of weeks...
I'm sure the family portion of the trip will be worth several stories upon my return....

I love to be productive

2011-06-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

I forgot how much I enjoy being home for a few days with no schedule!
I get so much done...
the little dog had an 8:00 groomer appointment and as much as I was a little sad to have to be somewhere that early it made for some good early morning, beat the heat,chores I had been putting off time...
Since the 'runner' dog was getting a new hair do I decided to use that time to paint the front door...

I bought the paint about two years ago... wish I had done it sooner!
In between coats of paint I cleaned out the junk drawers...
Did a million loads of laundry
I have cleaned, and cleaned and still have so much more to do... I see cobwebs way up high I need to tackle this week!
Having spent a little time on Pintrest this week, I found several crafty things I wanted to copy...

I had seen this saying on there and it was in a craft room...I decided I needed it in my kitchen since I am always wanting to cook things no one else in the family likes and thought it looked good on one of the Italy food photos...

I copied this idea, adding some of my own words... Fun Have was the mistake I found after I was completely done! Oh, well...
I'm working on my list of the rest of things I want to do this summer... I need some drop cloths and a sander... want to come play???

Summer is here

2011-06-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

School got out for the kids over a week ago but I had to work a few extra days to finish up since the trip was right in the middle of school ending...
Since the kids have been out it has been the usual beginning of summer fun...
Anytime Katie is home there seems to be extra teens here... and they eat A LOT....
She did go out of town with her bestie and Kellie was thrilled to be an only child for a week... the house was much more peaceful that week I have to say...

I may have a sligth addiction to Bahama Bucks snow cones... Where can I get the ice shaver they use???

I may also be developing a little Lemoncello addiction... I brought a bottle back from Italy and have sipped it, poured it in and over things and looked up recipes with it...

I saw a cute flip flop idea on Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures and decided we needed to make them...
We went to Hobby Lobby for the trim and then went and got the flip flops themselves...

A little E6000 and it was all done

cute, cute...
I need a new project now...
And speaking of addictions and new projects...
have you found Pintrest.com? I did this week and love it!

Rome, the rest of the story

2011-06-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

I was thinking I would spare you some of the Rome story... except that I have two things I want to share and then there are others along the way, so you might want to get a drink or snack for this....

Remember, I won this trip? Well we did go and meet and the sweetest lady with Susan G. Komen Roma and she showed us all around, got us tickets to the VIP tent and then had a photographer take a picture of us with her... The problem with this is that we had been sight seeing and I don't feel we looked that part of the very grateful winners that we are. We might have looked a little hot and sweaty instead...
She promised to share that picture when she gets it... I can hardly wait...

Speaking of that, I told Jennifer tonight that I took about a million great pictures of her but I must have been on a different trip because I don't think any of the pictures of me were good at all...
I believe that is directly related to the humid hair issues I was having...

But, back to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure...

This is crowds pouring out of the Metro stop going to the race...It was very impressive...

maybe it wasn't the hair but the cross body purse in every picture that made me look bad...

We wrote the names of our survivor friends on the wall

This is Barbara, the local Komen person...we were just hunting a bottle of water when we decided to check out the VIP tent...little did we know that there was champagne, fancy food, pastries, and even a famous Italian actress in there...
It was a huge crowd, the walk was all through downtown Rome... pretty amazing...

We then hopped on the Metro and a trip through the burbs later we arrived at the Mediterranean Sea...

Jennifer just wanted to put her feet in the water...

We took the train back, where we learned dogs can also take the train... just FYI

A tour of a church decorated with Monk's bones, getting caught in the rain, a little wine and cheese,

a great dessert

and soaking my feet in a bidet brought a close to day three...

Our last day, we headed to Orvieto...

Jennifer needed something a little more than the croissant that morning and found some chicken nuggets for the ride

the view is amazing and this is the most picture perfect town I have ever seen

And the whole town revolves around the Duomo... it is said that this church is so beautiful it will be part of rapture too...

This is the best roasted pork in the world along with a wonderful wine

that we ate at this little cafe... do you see our waitress heading inside?

If I'm ever missing, try here...I've read that no outsiders move to this town other than for short stays... that it is a very closed community... but I'm pretty sure I could worm my way in...maybe I could be the town nurse or something...everyone could visit me under that umbrella...

We grabbed a couple of pastries and left my new favorite town where I want to move and headed back...

I was very sad but we had to do it...

We went to St Peter's Basilica in the late afternoon...

there was a Mass going on back there

We stopped for dinner where I'm pretty sure Franck from 'Father of the Bride' was our waiter...it was the most fun meal we had on the trip!

He offered to take our picture but didn't give me time to change the setting for him so we're a little out of focus...

It was the perfect final meal in Rome...

The whole trip just flew by...

I'm ready to go back...

Come see me in Orvieto when I move...

P.S.

I found out today that Ask.com was the sponser who made our trip possible...

I am very very grateful to them!

I interrupt this story...

2011-05-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Let me interrupt the Rome story to share my usual day to day things you probably don't care to hear about....
And by day to day things I really mean food...

Katie has had a big group of teenagers over two days in a row...
I love nothing better than being the house where they want to hang out but since they are older and the group includes boys it is getting more expensive to be that house. I walked in with groceries and it was like vultures surrounding me...
I served up some hot dogs and potato salad for dinner and the boys acted like I was the best mother they had ever met! One of the boys had never had potato salad and was pretty sure I was fancy cook!

On a not so fun note, we have a family member in ICU and doing very very poorly...he is truly one of the best, sweetest, and loving men I have ever known. We are sad and praying constantly for him.

I realized mid way through a baking spell this afternoon that worry was directly tied to my cooking...
I thought back and even as a kid and teen I can remember wanting to cook when I was stressed or worried about anything....

Today I saw the recipe for Milky Way cake on Pioneer Woman's web site.
I am cursing her for it.
I went to the store, gathered the ingredients and made a cake that has enough fat and calories to kill us all.
She said it was an old recipe from an aunt...and I am assuming it was one of those recipes from back in the day when no one asked how many calories something might have and also when Milky Way's probably cost 10 cents a piece...
I baked it in 3 small pans rather than the jelly roll pan so that I can share it...I haven't cut it yet but I can assure you from just licking the bowl that the cake and the icing are unbelievable!

Milky Way Cake (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

11 whole Milky Way Bars (regular Size),
Divided Use ( I only used 8 because at the store I couldn't remember how many I needed)

3 sticks Margarine, Divided Use
2-½ cupsAll-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ cups Buttermilk
3 teaspoonsVanilla Extract, Divided
2 cups Sugar
4 whole Eggs
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 dashSalt
½ cups Milk (more If Needed)
1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

In a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat, melt 8 Milky Way bars together ( I used 5) with 1 stick margarine, stirring to combine. Once melted, remove from heat and set aside.

Sift flour and salt together and set aside.

Mix baking soda with buttermilk, then add 2 teaspoons vanilla and set aside.

Cream 1 stick of margarine with the 2 cups of granulated sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition. Add melted candy bar mixture and mix to combine.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan or 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake is done in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To make the icing, melt the remaining 3 Milky Way bars with remaining 1 stick margarine (in a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat). Add powdered sugar, dash of salt, milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and chopped pecans and stir over low heat. Add more milk if needed. ( I used about 1/3 of cup milk and added another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar trying to stretch it for three small cakes)
Pour over the cooled cake and allow to set.
Cake will be sticky!
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream

I also made a big batch of cookies to send with Katie on a little trip she is taking and to freeze some for the next time I attacked by all the teenagers...

I also have PW's Dr Pepper Pork in the crock pot...

It will be a good night.

Rome - day 2

2011-05-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a little more about my trip to Rome...

When I was talking with the man from Susan G. Komen in Dallas he said that he found out that another woman from Lubbock was also going to walk in the Race for the Cure....
I contacted her and met her for coffee before the trip.
Linda is a breast cancer survivor who loves Rome and has been several times. She is active with the Komen Race here in Lubbock. She decided she wanted to go to the walk there and was taking her Aunt with her...

We planned to meet Linda on Sat. morning at her hotel and go from there...
I printed out the map showing the short walk from our hotel to hers.
It looked easy but due to the lack of street signs and such we never found it...
she called me and met us at a corner near the bus stop since we couldn't seem to get there...
as Jennifer said "if I can't read a map at home I'm not sure what made me think I could here..."

We took the bus to the Campo de fiori market and took in all the beautiful fruit, flowers and a few other random things for sale...

I could not believe the fruit and vegetable selection. There was anything you could think of and more...

they had grapes that were as big as plumbs and one vendor had the cutest tiny strawberries, I had never seen anything like them...

I could only think how wonderful it would be to cook with this selection! I wish I could take all of it home!

I had read about the zucchini flowers and how they stuff stuff them with cheese and deep fry...I wish I could have found them on a menu somewhere...

I hated to leave this market but we headed to Piazza Navona...

I'm not sure what all the police were doing there...

We left there and headed for the Pantheon....

We sat right in front of the Pantheon for a little snack and coffee... it was just perfect...

The Pantheon was amazing...
amazing that is almost 2,000 years old and still standing...
amazing that they knew how to make the dome so perfect and without supports that long ago...
amazing they are still using it as church...

We headed to another church near by...

Santa Maria Sopha Minerva was a beautiful church with a lot of art and history...

the first thing you notice when you go in is the statue of Our lady of the the Rosary....

It was so beautiful it prompted me to buy a rosary from the little man selling them there...

and also there is Michelangelo's statue of Christ with the cross

did I mention that this is a real Michelangelo?

We headed out for the Metro and went to see the Protestant Cemetery which is behind the

Pyramid of Cestius

Poets Shelly and Keats are buried here....

I love cemeteries... not sure why but I always have...

this crying angel was beautiful... I'd like this on my grave one day please...

Loved this.

We left the very hot cemetery and headed to the Race for the Cure Village to meet Barbara from Komen Italia and pick up our shirts, etc..

Did I mention it was VERY hot... I had heard the high would be 79 but it felt like 99 with 300% humidity... or at least my hair looked like the humidity was that high the whole time we were there...that heat promted us to enjoy many $4 cokes, water bottles and one afternoon when we found a "slushy" thing I thought we had found the best spot in Rome!

Are you tired of this day yet? This was the day that seemed to go on forever...and I'm leaving a lot of sights out for you...

We took all our goodies from the race area and dropped them off at the hotel and went to check out the hop on hop off bus and all the sights it had to offer...
We got off at the Spanish steps stop

headed to Trevi Fountain

where we each threw in coins to insure our return to Rome...

and after the best pizza ever we headed home, fell into the hard bed and dreamed of my cappuccino that would be delivered at 7 a.m.....

The rose's Sunday morning were just a beautiful bonus!

Rome- I didn't want to come home....

2011-05-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking about what I want to write about the trip to Rome and I still don't know!
It still seems a little unreal.
Does that sound crazy?
I know I was there
I know I enjoyed every minute of it
I know I came back with the pictures
but yet, it still seems a little like a dream..

Let me tell you all about it...or at least the first day or so...

I flew Lubbock to Dallas Tuesday morning...
Jennifer picked me up at the airport and took me to a favorite restaurant for lunch (Blue Mesa!)
We ran a couple of errands and then my sister took us to the airport.
We flew for a verrrrrry long time to Madrid. I could not sleep on the plane. I tried but just couldn't....
I watched a lot of other people sleep well...
Navigated a very confusing Madrid airport, changed planes and were soon in Rome...

We were greeted by a driver holding up a sign for us...

He took our luggage and walked VERY fast even with our bags...

That was just a preview for the really fast driving he was about to do...

He drove us to the perfect little hotel... Komen had made our reservation at Roma Boutique Hotel.

It was absolutely perfect for our stay... it was in an old building where they changed a floor into a small hotel with only 7 rooms....

It was right across from the American embassy also which made us feel safe.

Except for the very first day when we left the hotel and blaring from loud speakers inside the gates of the embassy was the message "Take cover. This is an emergency.... Take cover"

We looked at each other, debated if we should be concerned and kept on going... hopefully it was just a drill or a mistake cause if it was a real emergency, we missed it...

We stopped for a snack on the way to our Vatican after hours tour....

I can't even begin to tell you how good that cheese was...

We made it to the Vatican, took the tour and learned more than any Baptist girl ever needed to know about the Vatican and all of it's Pope's...

Our tour guide had more knowledge of the vast amount of art there than we could have ever absorbed.

(I don't recall what this was but I believe she looked like the witch from Snow White to me...)

Our two hour tour turned to three and half and ended in with Jennifer possibly being in a little trouble for sitting on the steps of the Sistine chapel...and they don't let you take pictures in there...

We found a taxi after a bit of a search and soon fell into (a very hard) bed unconscious...

My favorite thing about the hotel was that they brought you a tray every morning.

I'm still having withdrawals from the cappucinno and pastries being delivered every morning....

Tomorrow I will tell you about day 2...

School nurse....the best job ever

2011-05-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

A hundred years ago when I graduated from nursing school, I never pictured myself as ever going into school nursing... I had always done adult nursing and loved it. But, after having kids and wanting to be off when they were it seemed a perfect fit in terms of schedule.
God placed a job I didn't really know I wanted right in my lap at just the right time!
I have been doing this for years now and now can't imagine ever doing anything else.

When we had to move to Lubbock I was sick about leaving my school but again, God put me in a great school a lot like the one I had been in before. My office even looks the same!
Every year since I've been there, the staff has worn scrubs on Nurse's day in honor of me...

I don't have any scrubs anymore but I am sporting a lovely nurse's hat a student made for me...

The best part about Nurse's day every year is the cards I get from the kids

This one is pretty self explanatory - I safe lifes...

and as you can see from this one where it spells out "nurse Cara rocks" that I am really healthy and the king of nurses....

This is a kid I see all the time but, he simply thinks the Texas Rangers rock...

and as you can see it's time to party for nurse's week

This might be my favorite this year...I was a little relieved that he doesn't love me in a bad way, no crushes here!!!

This is a little hard to read but he said "if it wasn't for you I would be sick"... his teacher pointed out the erased area because he first said he would be "screwed" without me...

I love my job!

7 days, but who's counting?

2011-05-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

Life is just busy the last couple of weeks.
There are many dance rehearsals, many choir rehearsals, all x 2 since both girls have them and never at the same time.
This tends to make tired cranky girls.
It keeps me from playing as much as I'd like. And by playing I mean taking walks, reading magazines, folding laundry, etc..I have things I need to do.

But yet, tonight when I did sit down, I somehow ran across a baking blog and spent a good chunk of time and now I would really like to go bake a few things...
If my friend Deana was here I would make this pie tonight...

Instead, I need to make a list of things I need to get/do before going to Rome one week from tomorrow.
In case you were wondering, the forecast for the day we get there is 'partly cloudy' with a high of 72 degrees. Sounds perfect to me.

I've read this book cover to cover instead of going to sleep when I should the last few days...

Mike thinks I should be reading about the history instead...

I also read more about our hotel today and was glad to hear it is right around the corner from the American Embassy and there is a police station a couple of buildings down...
Funny that when I was a teenager in a foreign country I couldn't understand why it made my mom nervous or why she was so worried she wore one of the under the clothes pouches for our money and passports...
Jennifer is wearing it on this trip...
My Mississippi cousin called to tell me my trip was in danger... I googled it and sure enough, someone many years ago predicted that today Rome would have the big earthquake...
I sure am glad his prediction was off...But I feel a little safer knowing that if we do have a disaster we'll be by the Embassy...

Securing my position

2011-05-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

My long term goal is to one day be the leader of all things crafty at a lovely assisted living center...
I feel like I have to continue to broaden my crafting horizons to be properly trained...

I have a sweet neighbor having a baby in October and we were talking about all the cute little crocheted hats out now for babies...
So, I googled it, watched some you tube videos and made her a sweet little pumpkin hat...Of course I failed to save a picture of it...

Needing a mother's day gift for the mother in law, I decided to do an Afghan...I quickly learned that you can buy a nice blanket cheaper than you can buy the yarn for one...
But, it turned out cute as crocheted Afghans go...

Lucky for me she's cold natured so maybe a blanket in May won't seem so crazy...

Cheese Enchiladas

2011-05-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places to eat in the Dallas area was El Fenix...
Not because it was the best Mexican or Tex-Mex food. It is good. And fast. You order and it's out before you can put your menu down...
The reason I love it so is that we got used to eating it almost every Fri. night. For years!
The original old El Fenix is in down town Dallas and our good friends and family who live south of Dallas were regulars there and since it was half way between us it was a good meeting spot.
It was the only place a party of 20ish could go and be seated right away. We had our own waiter...
He knew our orders...
He saw of our kids grow up and we tipped him well since cleaning up behind the high chair crowd isn't easy...
When we were in Dallas a few weekends ago for a dance competition it's where Katie wanted to eat for her birthday. Mike and I managed to eat there a second time for a quick lunch...

I scoured the Internet looking for a recipe for the cheese enchilada gravy since that is about the only cheese enchilada I like... and I found it. It's not quite as good but I think that is because I had to cook it and didn't have chips and hot sauce with it...

Cheese Enchiladas (El Fenix style) adapted from the homesicktexan

Chili Gravy

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp powdered garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 T chili powder

2 cups chicken broth
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 4-5 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.

Add all the spices and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients.

Add chicken broth, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens.
Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add extra water to get to adjust thickness.

To assemble enchiladas:
8-10 corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar
Chopped onion optional

Microwave tortillas wrapped in damp paper towels for 30 sec. ( I did this in small batches)
Place shredded cheese (and onion if using) in center of tortilla and roll up, place seam down in greased pan.

Con't till all are rolled up. Pour gravy over top, sprinkle with extra cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees till bubbly.

Yum...

Birthday fun

2011-05-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

We were all in the kitchen and heard Elvis going crazy...

Add birthday balloons to long list of random items he hates...

Since Katie doesn't care a thing about sweets (she didn't get that from me), I decided to try a new little cupcake bakery near by so we could try different flavors...

The Pina Colada was unbelievable!

But I have a confession to make.

When I was cleaning up, one of the kids had scrapped all the icing off of his strawberry cupcake

and I needed to taste the strawberry so I had to eat a bite.

I feel like I might have reached a new low.

Eating discarded icing off of another persons plate.

Don't judge me....please...

We went out for a fun scavenger hunt.

My team won by the way

This picture made me a little sad.

This year they were just sitting there like they were going to drive somewhere

Next year they really can...

what a fun little group

Katie asked "how many candles did you put on there?"

guess 15 made her feel old

I had bought bubbles, hula hoops, frisbees, etc for them to play with outside because we were going to grill hot dogs. After seeing one of the wild fires up close yesterday I remembered the burn ban we are under...
I had also bought stuff for smores...
instead of smores, they had a contest to see who could put the most marshmallows in their mouth.
I'll spare you the pictures of that and the aftermath....

Abbi's grandmother and I are already planning a combined party for them next year...
It's going to be fun!

15, it just can't be....

2011-04-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

My first baby is 15 today.

Do you understand me?

She is fifteen years old.

old.

Old enough for drivers ed
So old she doesn't want to spend much time with me anymore
Old enough to be a little moody most of the time
So old that she knows more than me
Old enough to think surely I will embarrass her at any time
Old enough to be quite bossy
Old enough to want to tell me what to do all the time (that's the same as bossy I guess but it deserved to be mentioned again...)

But you know what else she is?

A beautiful young woman
A Christ follower
A good, kind friend
Polite to others even if it's hard to see at home sometimes
A great student
A great dancer
A wonderful daughter

Happy Birthday my sweet one.

She made it

2011-04-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

The big girl tried out for the Pom squad last week...
and she made JV...YAY!
She was a little disappointed she didn't make varsity but there is time for that.
So, add more practices to my schedule and more expenses.
But, I'm thrilled she made it.
I heard rumor of much crying from the girls who did not.
Bless their mothers.

Tonight was the first parent meeting to let us know what all ~~we will be paying for~~ our daughters will be doing.
There was a mom there that I have seen at other meetings.
She's the mom that can do, get, or make anything or in general take over. Even the teacher/sponsor asked her if she wanted to "just be the sponsor?". That was pretty funny but even funnier was she didn't catch the sarcasm and just said, "oh, no..."
Is there one in every crowd?

And on another note, my mom jobs are keeping me from reading up on Rome...

It is real

2011-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

The trip to Rome is becoming more real to me.
Still unbelievable but more real.
I still cannot believe I won this....and how perfectly everything about it has fallen into place...
I have spoken in depth now with two people from Susan G. Komen who have been wonderful and arranged the trip for us.
The tickets are booked, leaving May 19th.

The only downside I have found is that we did not get seats beside each other...fine for Jennifer but I'm not a good sleeper and I wouldn't mind keeping her awake but hate to bother a stranger...I just hope the stranger knows something about Rome to tell me all about...

Jennifer has already checked out the movies being shown on the flights... Now I'm not complaining but lets just say that I've seen Shrek several times...

I may take a couple of Benadryl and try to be a sleeper...

We are staying at a small boutique hotel in the heart of Rome. It's on the 4th floor of an old building and only has 8 rooms. All the reviews are glowing with the exception of the fact that the beds seem to be very very hard...all the reviews said it's more like staying at a B&B and aparently if you stay out till all hours of the night you have to ring up and wake some man up who will get up from his slumber and let you in wearing his PJ's... too bad we're such light weights that we will probably not experience this late night issue!
The only downside I found was that there is no pool...I had big plans for spending the 'siesta' hours reading by the pool... oh well...

looks ok to me!

so in less than a month we'll be right there...(that's a map of Rome by the way)

What's more fun than lots of dancing and little sleep?

2011-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

The girls had a dance competition this weekend in Dallas.
Now, I am usually all for a trip home but when the dance is the reason it's not the same...

We spend the majority of the weekend dropping off, bringing lunch, bringing dinner, watching dancing that they are in and this year that was even more special than usual because Katie's dance was at 11:38 P.M....
And they were back at it by 7:30 the next morning...
So, it basically was a weekend of two very ~~cranky~~ tired dancers who ate more fast food than should be legal in one weekend...

But, there were some perks...

dinner with the family at a favorite restaurant
a little pre-Rome surprise shopping with Jennifer...

another dinner with the family
breakfast with a sweet friend who loves me enough to come meet me at 7:30 on a Sunday morning
getting to visit a favorite family member in the hospital and happening to be there when the dr came in and offered up good news...

And we came back to just hit the ground running for the week... Katie is trying out for Pom this week so there are some nightly dance things and a little worry on her part... I'm hoping this ends well!

Not getting home till 10:00 last night is not listed in the perk section you'll notice...but, these girls are worth it...

Race for the Cure, in Rome?

2011-04-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

This morning my cell phone rang right after I got to school... a number I didn't know...
I answered to have a woman ask for me and me quickly assume she wanted to sell me some something...
She went on to tell me that she was with such and such and calling to let me know I won the "I am the Cure Sweepstakes"... uh, ok...
I'm sure she thought I was the most ungrateful winner ever cause I really didn't act like I belived her...

I called the Susan G. Komen office in Dallas and verified that it was real...

Really. I won a trip to Italy... Rome. Five days in Rome to walk in the Race for the cure...

Mike can't take that week off and someone has to keep the those girls and go to their dance recital...( Missing that has me feeling like Mom of the year)
So, he called the neice Jennifer and told her she could go... She's a little bit excited too.

I still really can't belive it's real!

We're going to Rome in about 6 weeks!

On an angle

2011-04-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

I love looking at the different photo examples for the parties at Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures...

The latest party is for angles...

Going through my pictures I have discovered that a large number of my pictures are taken on an angle...

I love this picture of Katie... love the angle, love the light, love the sweet girl...

Not the best picture, but the angle served to get Elvis and the ballgame he was watching!

Worship in the garage, bring your saw

2011-04-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

I want to be handy....
I want to have saws and tools and know how to use them...(I really want to be her http://manditremayne.blogspot.com)
I am teaching my girls that "handy" should be on the top of the list in things to look for in a husband...
I didn't question Mike thoroughly enough on that before the wedding!

Today is a good example of how I wish I was handy and had tools....and how things seem to be just a little crazy on our weekends lately...

I get a call first thing this morning from Katie's BFF's family... she knows I am a fan of anything old and I had mentioned to her I was looking for a set of old theater seats...
She asks me if I would like an old church pew and a set of theater seats in perfect condition.
YES.... Yes, I would...
She tells me to get on over to her church...

So, I throw on some clothes, try to make my hair not look like I haven't showered yet but it didn't work, grab my cup of coffee and open the garage door to see that someone has left us some nice, soft toilet paper on the driveway as well as some friendly messages on both of our cars...
And I felt like "sexy driver" and "yo my lov*r" were maybe not the message I wanted on my car when I drove up to a church...

So, I did a little window cleaning and picking up of the TP...there wasn't much toilet paper to clean up seeing that we have no trees....

I did leave the roll inside the door handle for embarrassment purpose of the girls...it worked well...

Katie had been at the BFF's house last night and I felt sure that they were the culprits... they were fast to explain to me that no looser would TP their own house...

She also explained that they did not have any fruity cereal to leave on the grass...

I think some of her dance friends may have been the culprit...

But, back to the church...
I get there to find Marci with my pew and theater seats already loaded into their truck bed. And hanging out about 6 feet because she found me the longest church pew ever made as well as 6 theater seats that don't come apart.
Katie was appalled that we might drive with this hanging out of the truck and a pair red shorts tied on for a flag...
She wanted to document the crazy...

I ended up not taking the seats since they were so big...
But if you care to worship with me, I have a very long pew waiting to be cut down in the garage...
If you are handy or have tools call me. Please. I can trade you a nice pair of red shorts....

Good friends

2011-04-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of friend time this weekend...

It really does take a while to grow old friends...

This good friend is actually living at my house I believe. She may not have all her clothes here but it's just a matter of time I'm pretty sure...

You know the friend is part of the family when Katie goes to dance and instead of friend going and watching she chooses to run errands with me...

This friend is on the way to taking up residence with us also...She's a weekend resident at the moment....
She's already a little too comfortable here...

Then there are my friends...

I've got a good friend who got a new camera when I did... we've spent a lot of time out looking for the ~~frightening gang areas~~ fun places to take pictures...

another friend who will meet you for happy hour at the last minute and go sit through a painful benefit dance program

and a couple of friends who fill all the other needs...

One of them came over with her family for dinner tonight... our husbands hadn't met before but some trash talking domino games soon unfolded...

and my favorite friends right now are a little grumpy at times but still worth hanging out with...
Only one let me get a picture with her this weekend though...

Now if Mike can just find a friend to go to the ZZ Top concert with so I don't have to go, all will be well...

This and that

2011-03-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

My new photographer friend showed me an old abandoned hotel where she takes some pictures... a friend wanted to see it so we took Katie and her BFF along for models.

I had ordered the new lens I have been wanting...

Tracking was showing that it was on the truck for delivery...

We were meeting at 6:30.....

The lens still wasn't here....It came right after we left I heard...Darn.

But we still had fun and took a few pics

It was a pretty scary place....Katie went back to the car, the BFF was brave and let us get a few pics... this is one of the first ones where she is still debating how safe we are...

Then she loosened up....

We moved on pretty quickly... We discovered this little strip of trees, a meadow and a little creek... Here in West Texas where there aren't many trees this is like a little oasis...I was amazed today when we went by there and there were several photographers there... Trees are really special here I guess.

I loved the light coming through the little trees... We were there at the perfect time...

I'm not quite sure what they are doing but I liked the picture...

But then it appears the BFF was turning on here and trying to stab her with a branch...

She might be going through the terrible teens but she's still a keeper...

I copied this idea from somewhere in blog land... loved the peeps in the jar.

I'm having trouble not eating the "Hawaiian punch" jelly beans. They are really good...The edible grass on the other hand, isn't very flavorful...

Speaking of peeps... I love this little peep show... I need to do it at my house..

Ellie was in terrible need of a new spring hair cut...the only appointment I could get was at 7a.m. today. On Saturday.

after...

Elvis was a little jealous

I'm not sure why there was tiara wearing going on but I think she was more surprised I was standing there with a camera when she walked out than I was that she was wearing it...

I think the attention she got at dinner last night has gone to her head...

We were waiting on a table at a restaurant and a little boy, maybe 6 or 7 kept winking at her and then told his mom "she's pretty"...mom was a little embarressed but dad, not so much... he was very proud of his son...

Never a dull moment with girls, friends and dogs... I love it all...

Lobster is my love language

2011-03-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have a good friend who is a food rep.
I've decided I may need to change professions....
She brings me wonderful things to try. She not only brings me wonderful food but always shows up with wine when she comes over... Everyone needs friends like this.

But you can't have her. She's mine.

This week we fed her kitty while she was out of town and my thank you prize was a bag of lobster meat and a box of coconut shrimp.

She handed me that lobster and it was like Christmas!

I immediately started thinking on what all I could do with the lobster meat.

We had some extended family in town for the weekend and had them over to dinner last night...

I decided to thaw the lobster and use if for the dinner...

I still have half of it left and will be eating lobster salad for lunch, looking for more recipes and eating it till I have used every bit of it.

It was certainly the best "feed my kitty" gift I have ever gotten. Did I mention it was lobster?

We would have done it for shrimp.

For dinner I decided on Seafood Enchiladas and adapted a recipe I found....They were wonderful.
Not low fat. But it's lobster, it deserved rich and creamy...

Yesterday was also our anniversary. If I had to cook for my anniversary, lobster was a perfect choice...
of course if we had eaten out it wouldn't have been lobster...

Seafood Enchiladas

Filling:
4 oz Cream cheese softened
1 C Sour Cream
1 lb seafood of choice (lobster, crab, shrimp chopped, etc)
1 C grated Fontina Cheese
1 C grated Cheddar
1/2 Onion very finely chopped
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried Dill weed
1/2 tsp Cumin
juice of half a lemon

Sauce:
1 Cup Half and Half
4 oz Cream Cheese
1 C sour cream
dash of red pepper (optional)

Topping:
1/2 Onion finely chopped
2 Tomatoes chopped well
1 tbsp chopped Cilantro (optional)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
Grated Fontina and Cheddar

Grate cheeses

For filling, mix all ingredients together well. Place large spoonful of filling on tortilla and roll up. Place in baking dish seam side down. Fills about 12-15 tortillas.

For sauce, place cream cheese and half & half in sauce pan and heat on low heat stirring frequently till melted and mixed well. Remove from heat and fold in sour cream

Pour white sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle shredded fontina and/or cheddar cheese over the top.

Mix tomato, onion, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper and sprinkle over the top. You can also top with small amount of your favorite salsa instead if you prefer.

Bake at 350 till hot and bubbly, appox. 15-30 min.

A few more pictures

2011-03-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a couple of more pics from earlier in the week...

I loved this picture of Jennifer sharing a special moment with the sweet donkey

Luckily, Jennifer likes a good barefoot picture as much as I do...

And I can always count on several self portraits when we have the camera with us...

Now, I must brag for a moment....

It is obvious which daughter would rather hang out with me, likes to cook, and will even antique shop with me and not complain.

As a matter of fact, she has started asking to go to antique stores and she can spot some cool stuff...But this week when we were in an antique store she showed me how much like me she is. We came around a corner and she saw an old punch bowl (that wasn't even that pretty) with the punch cups hanging off of the bowl and said "oooh, this is cool".

My heart swelled with pride and I hugged her and told her she had a wonderful future of party throwing and shower giving to look forward to.

I've never been so proud!!!!

I wish I had gotten a picture of us with the punch bowl to remember that moment.

Photo tips and donkeys

2011-03-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across the website for a photographer here in town. I had to look at every picture on her site because she is a pet photographer...

Much to the embarrassment of my kids, I emailed her and asked her about a couple of places in her pictures and she was so sweet to email me back and several emails later, we met for coffee... Otherwise know as my Internet date by my kids...

Amanda was so sweet to visit with me and give me her wonderful list of cool places to take pictures!

But the very best bit of info she gave me was where to find the mini donkeys that she had taken pics of...

Today we went out looking around at some of the sites she told me about and we stopped by to pet the mini donkeys and horses...

They came up to the fence to let us pet them and were soooo sweet!

I think I need one of these babies in my yard!!!

Then we went on to check out some other cool spots we heard about from her...

I realized today that all my recent pictures are of Kellie but she is the only kid that usually wants to go...

Daisy made sure there wasn't a dead body in there for us...
We had fun and I think Kellie and I will be going back to see the donkeys everyday...

I think we are all allergic to Lubbock

2011-03-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am ready for Spring Break! I have big plans of doing very little except for dusting and dusting and dusting!
The blowing dirt here is killing me.
I have had a sinus infection almost constantly since Nov. The dr. this week said maybe I've developed allergies since moving here...shot, med's, nasal sprays, etc. to help it...

Now, poor Elvis is having an allergy too. He has had some red spots on his face and stomach off and on for a couple of months but they got really bad this week and last night he got big bumps on his sides that made his hair stick up....
so, off to the vet we went this morning....
to find out that Elvis has allergies, maybe a little skin infection... So Elvis got his own shot, steroids, antibiotics and an oatmeal bath shampoo....I was just glad he didn't need the nasal spays...

The vet tells me the that the oatmeal soap needs to stay on his skin for 15 minutes or so... and he says, "it would probably be easiest for you to get in the tub with him and sit in there to keep him in"...
Really?
Really?
I tried to talk both kids into doing it and had no takers...
I asked Mike to do it and he said we could just go back and have him put down before he would get in the tub with him...
so, I put on my swimsuit, we hoisted him into the tub and the fun began. Katie runs for a camera and takes pictures of him, all the while I'm trying to keep the soap on his body and keep me out of the pictures!

Ellie watches all the fun not realizing she is going to get a bath too while I'm already wet...

She wasn't happy when she found out...

and then the shaking began...

The after picture...
I went straight to the shower and now need to go clean the tub and mop the bathroom!
The allergies are going to be the death of me.
And reason number 417 I want to move back to Dallas...

Tutu's are flattering, on dogs anyway

2011-03-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Where do weekends go?

The week goes slowly most of the time and then there are not enough hours in the weekend.

Dance rehearsals, driving kids a thousand places, church, and then to top it off, a car wash!

I didn't do any car washing. But I was instructed to bring the bulldog in a tutu...

I had my car washed and bought some of the cookies I baked for them to sell...

these pictures are proof that she knows what to do with a sponge and soap!

The girls worked hard and are thinking about giving their earnings to a girl who may not get to go to the competition because money... I was proud to hear them thinking of others...living out just what we talked about in Katie's Sunday school class today...

Elvis was a good sport about the tutu...

He just enjoyed the outing!

Black and White

2011-03-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have always loved black and white pictures!

I saw this black and white party and knew I wanted to play with a few pictures...

love the look of all of these in black and white... show me your black and white....

Dirt and more dirt

2011-02-27T15:05:00.000-08:00

We survived the weekend! It was much easier than I even expected.
The girls were so good. The leaders were amazing.
We still have the majority of the million animal crackers!
Church was wonderful this morning. The youth pastor did the message and shared about what the youth did this weekend.
Nothing makes you prouder than to see your kid on a video with her hair completely combed over her face, doing the "Bieber hair sling" on the big screen at church. Nice.

When we left for church it was beautiful outside. When we left church it was orange outside.

the picture really doesn't do it justice....is just weird.

and because we didn't know to put the cover on the dog door when we left we came home to a coating of dirt. Lovely.

I don't think I will ever get used to this.... it's gloomy and brown, I've already dusted once today and the wood floor in the dining room looks a little like a sand box....

Gloomy and windy worked sort of like rain on us... we've had a lazy afternoon, a short nap and I might have had one to many left over rice crispy treats.

8 teenage girls, two college leaders and a million animal crackers

2011-02-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

We are hosting the freshman and sophomore girls from our church this weekend for Discipleship Now weekend.
We have 8 sweet sweet girls. Two precious, pretty, and Godly college girls leading the girls.
Not to mention more hair dryers, brushes, straighteners, and make up bags than I can count!

They brought plenty of snacks!

Elvis got excited when the youth minister came by and loved him... he got to show of his t.v. watching skills...

So far it hasn't been any crazier than the usual weekend... as a matter of fact I have enjoyed listing to the Bible study they are doing, enjoying getting to do my own quiet time with them and watching such sweet leaders be so loving and encouraging to the girls. They have to come away a little better just for being around leaders that are such a good example!

And because we wouldn't want to have too much girl fun and peacefulness, we're off to the loud pizza and game place to meet the rest of the youth!

Anyone want to invest in a bakery?

2011-02-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

I've decided I have a problem.

A baking/cooking problem.

So, do you think if I just bake more I could sell it? Then I wouldn't feel so bad for wanting to bake and cook all the time!

Maybe a sign by our street like a garage sale sign? hmmm....

Yesterday I made a batch of Cinnamon Bread for breakfasts next week...

I haven't been able to quit thinking about the Dreamy Apple Pie I made a couple of weeks ago...So, today I made two of them...

I taught Kellie how to make pie crust...

I remember my dad teaching me to make pie crust. I thought of that today and told Kellie about... of course, I went on to realize that my dad taught me to cook several things and really was a good cook in the little time we spent together (he worked out of the country a lot when I was a kid)... and I never thought to ask where he learned to cook...

And feeding my baking problem is my sweet neighbor who has a mom and dad that have chickens and bring me eggs...

Can I tell you that getting fresh eggs makes me really happy... so happy, I want to figure out where I could have some chickens of my own...

Just look at those eggs, they begged to be in wonderful loaf of bread...

those sweet neighbors say they like me bringing them treats... hope they mean it because they have a pie in my oven as we speak...

Kellie got bored with pie crust and decided to bath Ellie... she was not happy...

until it was over and the crazy puppy run commenced.

Yesterday I also go to spend some time with a friend taking pictures of friends of ours...what a fun afternoon with a wonderful family...