School nurse....the best job ever

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?

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

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

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

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....

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

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...