Abramyan Avenue

Coffee, Rain, Hair, Changes

2012-02-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

I have been wasting lots of time on Pintrest lately, whenever I get a few seconds. I found this picture and loved it!

This morning when I woke up it was drizzling and nasty looking outside. It was so hard to get up and get moving. I had thrown away a piece of cake last night and when I woke up this morning and saw this.... of course, it wasn't Luigi that dug in the trash and ate a piece of cake!

I knew it was going to be a big cup of coffee kinda day.

The weather was so nasty and wet. I know it's important to drive safely when it's wet but sometimes drivers create more traffic and dangerous conditions. I think it's pretty sad when the slow lane moves faster than the fast lane. Because of over cautious drivers, drivers talking on the phone and texting, people oblivious that the third lane is for passing only, what normally takes me an hour to an hour and a half tops took me three hours today!

But we put on some music and entertained ourselves....

Maybe a large Diet Dr. Pepper and Extreme Sour Patch Kids wasn't a good combination....

I might have a had a good sized headache by the time we got where we were going. But it's those crazy, frustrating, loud, fun moments like that, that I live for!
We came home and it was still raining. It's pouring right now, we are under a Flash Flood watch. CC and I decided to clean..at midnight. I guess that's what you do when you are gone running around all day!

Yesterday we took CC's pants to get altered and snapped a few pictures.

We went to the bookstore to buy Lena "Charlotte's Web" for her literature class. That girls is already in chapter 12!
I found a book I am putting on my wish list. I browsed through it last night and it looks really good! I checked prices on half.com. I'm pretty sure that's where I'll end up purchasing it from. I can't wait to get it!

I am also desperate for a new hair cut. I was offered the job last week that I had applied and interviewed for. I am super excited but also super, SUPER nervous about the change of going back to work, not being here with my girls, and not helping Papa Bear out with the business. Changes happen. Some good, some bad. It's how we approach them that determines how we interpret them. I am looking forward to this transition positively.
ANYWAY, back to the subject at hand, hair... I found a few styles that I like. These are my top two.

I also plan on coloring my hair before I start. I definitely don't want a head full of grey on my badge photo!

~~~~

I'm off to do some reading in bed while listening to the rain come down. I told my mom since I was let go from work in 2010, all I wanted was to stay home and have it pour down rain, all day, and I would be stuck inside, listening to and watching the rain. With the drought of last year that didn't happen. Now the Farmer's Almanac is showing the first week of March we will have lots of rain. So there goes my chance of being stuck at home in the rain again...that's when I start my new job! Oh well....it's been raining lightly all day and evening and occasionally it pours nice and hard. I better go grab the chance to read and listen to the rain while I have the chance!

My Baby Turns 16!!!

2012-02-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe my sweet CC is 16 today. I honestly have no idea where the time went. I wish just for one moment I could go back to each stage of her life and take it all in, just one more time. I wish I knew then how very fast these years would pass. I would have done so many things differently, cherished every moment I had with my sweet little girl. But nevertheless, I am so proud of the beautiful, sweet, good young lady she has turned out to be.

I remember how very scared I was having her. But I also remember the huge amount of love I was shown. All my family members drove hours to be here with us, even my grandpa Pots.

There was hardly ever a time when CC didn't have a big bow in her hair. She had her first set of highlights around 3. My mom worked in a salon and CC got a head start!

She was such a good big sister. I know it was hard for her at first. She was the baby for almost 5 years. When I told her I was pregnant with Lena I remember she cried. Then after Lena was born we were walking at the park. CC sweetly asked me if she could push the stroller. I thought she making progress and let her have the stroller. She started running with it and tried to push Lena, strapped in the stroller, down a rocky edge into the little creek below. I screamed and ran after her, reaching the stroller just in time. She said, "Mom!! Why did you do that? I was trying to kill her!" I'm thankful that she passed that stage pretty quickly!

CC and Charlie, her little brother. I can't believe how young they both were here!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my girls. We had just moved into this house and CC wanted to give Lena a make over.

They still love baking cookies together.

We brought this Barney game home from Vegas for Lena. Both girls had a good time playing it. When CC was a little baby she would have real mean, loud spells. She seemed so frustrated. We started teaching her a little sign language. That helped immeasurably! The first communication we understood from CC was when she was a few months old. She was humming/babbling a song and after a few times it clicked. She was singing the Barney theme some. When she saw that we understood and we started singing along with her she was so excited and smiled such a huge gummy smile!

She and Luigi bonded immediately. They are still inseparable. He suffers from extreme separation anxiety and she can't sleep without him. The result.... we have a 100 lb dog in the house all the time!

This is another of my very favorite photos of the girls. I love to take pictures of them the last day they are whatever age it is. Here I think she was turning 9.

We were at the San Antonio zoo here. Cc is 11.

My sweet girl with her Kelso. She was 12 here.

This was New Years 2006-7.

Ugh...hate that I didn't flip this one.... Our ice storm of 2008. The girls had a blast staying home from school and I didn't have to go to work. We played and slid on the ice most of the day. We were the only ones outside in it, but the girls still talk about it and I know we made memories that day!

Here CC and I are at our friends wedding in 2007. She is already starting to look like a little lady. The baby roundness of her face is starting to go away.

Another photo I didn't flip. I might go back in and correct these tomorrow. I am honestly too tired right now. CC is in middle school here. She is 11. It was around this time that I remember her going to sleep my sweet little girl and literally waking up the next morning looking like a young lady. It made me so sad. And now, my baby Lena has changed over night too. Time won't stop flying past me and I can't catch up with it. I don't think I want to.

New Years 2008-9. A grown up hair cut. A boutique blouse and jeans and she was wearing her first pair of real heels. My girl is a almost a teenager.

And this was the morning of her 13th birthday.

At the Japanese tea gardens.

With her little cousin Ariana, Thanksgiving 2009.

14 years old at Red Rooster Antiques.

Homeschool day at the park. The girls were getting restless this day and it was such a pretty day I loaded them (and Luigi) up and headed over to the park to do our homework. It's amazing what a change in scenery can do for you!

Here we are at the Pearl Brewery Farmer's Market.

On one of our many drives to Austin, CC here is 15.

And here we are today, again in Austin, Dillard's to be exact. She took this photo while waiting on me..Ha! It's usually the other way around!

And of course I have to take her last photos as a 15 year old.

CC is such a wonderful young lady. She loves to cook and clean. She loves to bake and find new recipes. "Chopped" is one of her favorite shows. We are definitely at the stage where we hate each others music. The other day we were driving home and she asked if she could play music for us. I told her it couldn't be anything that had barking, growling or any other animal sounds in it. She said, "Well, that leaves out Nikki Minaj, Shakira and some Alanis Morrisette."

CC is so responsible. In one year she completed 9th, 10th and half of 11th grade. When she has set her mind to do something, there is very little that can stand in her way. She has amazing ideas and concepts and is so much older than her age. At the same time, she loves to lay down with me before bed. She likes to snuggle on the couch and watch movies together. Just the other night she and I played Hide and Seek together. She loves her sister and her nanny and her dad. She takes excellent care of her guinea pigs. They probably have it better than some children! Any extra money she has goes straight to her pets!

I hope she always knows her worth and never settles for anything less. I pray she believes honesty is the best policy, even if it means something negative resulting. A good name means more than anything else. I want her to always stand her ground in whatever her convictions are and not let anything influence her other wise. I want her to know that her dreams can be a reality, nothing is impossible, because she has a family that loves her and supports her, fleshly and spiritually. The only person that can stand in the way of her accomplishing her dreams is her, and with all of us behind her, encouraging her, loving her and never judging her, I don't see that as an option. I love her so much more everyday and I am so very proud and thankful to be her mother!

Tuesday....

2012-02-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today I met up with my friend from school for lunch. We both worked at Sarita's, me as a waitress and Tammy as hostess, when we were in our teens. Tammy was off this week and invited me out to lunch. We had such a good time talking and catching up. It's been so long. Our old boss was there and a couple of people we worked with are still there. It was great seeing everyone. I just can't believe I didn't even take one photo of us together!! I hope we do this more often!
When I came home from lunch my mom told me my sister was wanting to come to us for a few days. She hasn't been feeling well, so us girls loaded up and drove down to Shiner!
For my girls, the big highlight was stopping at Buc-ees. They LOVE Buc-ees...for the drinks! Lena gets her coffee (they have GOOD coffee and CC gets her Dr. Pepper with THREE shots of vanilla). We also brought home some dried venison and beef sausage for my Papa Bear.
I saw this cute sign there. I thought it was neat.

I absolutely love the drive to Shiner. It really makes me miss living down there. I know I've said it a zillion times on here but life really is simpler and slower there. And my family is there. That's the biggest draw for me. I never get to see scenes like this up here.

The rains we've had this past week have really "greened" things up. I even saw a few pops of poppy's!

We finally arrived and I let CC drive in to Stacy's house.

Stacy had some cookbooks saved for me. Mom also found an old Southern Living cookbook from 1982 for me. I love, love, love Southern Living cookbooks!

I have completely run out of room in my cookbook cabinet above the stove and the space I use on top of my bread box. I guess one day this week I will have to clean out the cabinet beside the stove to store more cookbooks.

I think I might have a little problem. Is is possible to be a cookbook hoarder?

I have also been contacted by Everest Nutrition to do a review of their Krill Oil pills. I don't usually do reviews unless I research the company and feel that it's a good match for me and anyone who might read my blog.

Some of the benefits it has is:

increased energy

reduce facial wrinkles (that had me sold right there!)

decreases physical and emotional effects of PMS (can I get an amen?!?!)

lowers the bad cholesterol and elevates the good

And many, many benefits. I can't wait to try it out!

The Things We Do For Love....

2012-01-30T22:32:00.000-08:00

My sweet CC found a jacket on sale at Dillard's that she absolutely loved and absolutely HAD to have. The only problem was that the Dillard's here didn't have her size. So, I did what any good mother would do....I drove an hour and a half to Austin to buy one of the two they had left.
My baby was so happy!

While we were there we had lunch together then headed over to our favorite cupcakery, Cupprimo. (They were featured on Cupcake Wars yesterday.) I tried the Neapolitan, it was one they made for the show. It was really, really good.

We brought Lena home Brown Chicken Brown Cow (left back), my Neapolitan next to it. CC had the Snicker doodle (front right) and we brought Papa home the Double Chocolate (front left).

We ran into rain on the way home. Lots of it.

That was one stressful drive home. It was dark. No lights. All country winding roads. We (me) were so thankful to make it home. CC and I Zumba'd, ate Chinese (probably not the best thing for us.) then we relaxed on the couch and watched some TV.

Today was a good, fun day!

Snake Farm (Pt.1)

2012-01-29T10:15:00.001-08:00

Friday (1/27) Emil loaded us girls up for a little family fun. It was so nice not to have to rush to be anywhere or do anything. We were able to just rest, take our time, relax and have fun.

After lunch we drove to the Snake Farm and Zoo. We have been wanting to go there for quite a while but never had any extra time. I had been there once many, many years ago and all I remembered was it was hot and there was a huge hole/pit in the ground with dozens of rattle snakes at the bottom. That was enough for me.

We saw the Snake Farm on San Antonio Living and it gave us a good reason to get up and go. There are lots of good pictures so I had to break this up into two posts. And of course I am starting with the outside first!

At the end of our tour we stopped by the petting zoo. We bought a few bags of feed inside and braved ourselves enough to go in. THIS should have given us some indignation of what it would be like inside the petting zoo! At this point they had all ready taken a bag out of my purse, eaten through one of the feed bags and tried nibbling on our clothes.

This little cutie said back and seemed a bit shy. I thought he was just so darn cute.

For some reason this lama scared me. I kept thinking if he gets mad and riled up and starts attacking there is no one close to come help. I tried to stay as far away from him as possible.

If you know me you know I am terrified of roosters. But this guy was just so cute and attentive and was following us all around. I can't believe I got this close to him...he's not so bad. I almost wish I had a couple of chickens and roosters at home. They are fun to watch.

CC loved the piggies. She really wanted to hold the babies we saw on San Antonio Living.

My poor Lena kept getting attacked by the goats. They were eating her messenger bag, grabbing the food from her hand and bags.

Our little shy goat was back getting in the middle of the action, being nosey and seeing whats going on.

Our friend the llama. He really wasn't so bad after all.

Walking around the outside we kept coming across this peacock. He was so beautiful. There are really no words to describe how vibrant his colors were. We kept hoping he would show his tail feathers but it didn't happen.

Last night the girls decided to rent some movies and make a tent. I thought it was so sweet. They had so much fun. They knocked out five minutes into the movie, I knew that would happen! My only requirement was they pick it up as soon as they wake up. And they did.

One day last week I wanted to try my hand at making quiche. I always wanted to make it but didn't know how or have a recipe. So I just decided to wing it. I sauteed onions, spinach, mushrooms, feta cheese and cubed ham. Then I lined the cupcake pan with layers of phyllo dough.

Added in my egg mixture...

baked for about 15 minutes.....

and viola....they were sooo good!! I definitely will make this again.

I have also been trying to cut out so much coffee and opted for Zen tea one morning. It was good.... but I felt something was missing....and gave in to a big cup of coffee..I failed!

CC and I saw Diana Stobo on San Antonio Living and decided to try one of her shakes with the fruits and veggies we had on hand. We blended up apples, a banana, pears, strawberries, romaine lettuce and fresh spinach.

I couldn't believe how refreshing and tasty it was. And the bonus was we were able to drink and enjoy our daily recommended amount of fruits and veggies for the day.

I'm all ready thinking up new ideas...peaches, mango, kiwi and cantaloupe.. maybe add watermelon one day....the possibilities are endless.

~~~~~

I finished watching "My Foolish Heart" on Netflix this morning. My goodness... that was a wonderful movie. It brought me to tears. Why can't they make movies like that anymore? Movies with out cussing and violence, the girls kept their clothes ON and sex wasn't filling or suggested in every scene. The movie wasn't predictable, it was beautiful.

Anyway, we girls are going to go visit mom. She's been down for a couple of weeks and now that I know she's not contagious it's due time for a visit.

Freaky Friday...

2012-01-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

Today started off much better than yesterday. I fell asleep at 11:30 last night and woke up at 8:30 this morning. I honestly can't remember the last time I fell asleep on the same day I woke up! I woke up feeling great and refreshed and made myself a nice, big cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee!!

Yesterday morning was a disaster in every since of the word. We girls woke up early to go out of town. I knew from the night before that my car said "Low Fuel" so the first thing I did was head straight to the gas station. The fog was so thick and dense you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you, so I was driving pretty slow. Lena was in the passenger seat with her head leaned against the window looking out. Then the car starts sputtering and finally dies. I ran out of gas. I knew I was close to the station so I was thinking I would get out and walk there. I called Mom and she advised against it, especially in the thick fog, so she came to find me.
She called me when she was close and told me she was at the gas station but didn't see me. I told her I hadn't passed the gas station, she must have passed me and not seen me in the fog. I told her to drive back. She drove back and was now at my neighborhood gates and she still didn't see me, so she was heading back towards the station. She said she was at the station and still not seeing me, maybe I was not on that street. I got out of the car to see the street sign, even thought I knew I didn't turn down any other street. I had only made it about ten feet from the car and the car was not visible to me. I could only see the flashers dimly blinking.
I was getting scared. Our phones started cutting in and out and hanging up on us. Our calls were not connecting. I was stranded out in the middle of who-knows-where, in this thick fog and my mom couldn't find me. I was starting to panic. It's been an hour that we were stuck on the side of the road.
We finally got connected and Mom said maybe I passed the station. I told her it was impossible, the station is huge and lit up and connected to a little strip mall. There was no way I passed it up but we both decided it was worth a try. She drove further north passed the station and there she found me. I was so thankful! The freaky thing is I know with 100% certainty I did not pass the station. I was going slow and looking constantly to my right for it. Lena had her head leaned against the passenger window looking out. There is no way both of us missed the station. How we ended up so far north, I have no idea. I've been driving to this station for over 7 years. I'm not crazy. And I know I didn't drive past Valero yesterday morning. The entire situation was just wierd and creepy.

We girls finally got where we were going and by this time we were starving. I promised Lena Le Madeleine. It's kinda our thing.
Lena and I ordered the Chicken Friand. CC ordered the small salad and veggie soup.

I literally had to BEG the girls to let me snap a couple of pictures of them.

See how CC is trying to hide her face? She said, "Mom, someone sees!"

On the way home we stopped at Tractor Supply to get the guinea pigs food and bedding. CC tried on some rubber boots... I told her I should have made her buy them AND wear them!

And I came home with a John Deere t-shirt, much to CC's dismay. I thought she was gonna have a fit when I wore it to the grocery store earlier today. Lena likes it and doesn't mind. I think it's cute and different.

Tonight CC made an amazing salad and then showed me how to make spring rolls. I think I'm hooked. I love them. They're fast and easy to make and oh, so good AND you don't feel horrible after eating them. I'm already thinking up new recipes to fill them with!

Pinning, Sneaking and (Soon to be) Sweating...

2012-01-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

It seems all I do lately is play catch up with my blog. I wish it was because I am doing so many fabulously, fun, exciting things and I just didn't have time to blog. The truth is I am just so busy with homeschooling, helping my Papa Bear, trying to stay on top of the laundry and all those exciting things a stay-at-home mom does!
Since we ARE in January, one would expect the weather to be at least chilly, if not cold. I should be wearing gloves and a scarf and some kind of jacket. Instead, the next week or so I will be wearing capri's and skirts and short sleeved shirts!

I snapped this cute picture of Toby sneaking a rest on the table. CC was at mom's for the night and Toby would NEVER try this if she were at home. I guess "While CC is away, Toby will play!"

I've been wanting to jazz up a few things in the house. Since I'm not working I don't feel it's right to ask Papa Bear to let me shop for new accessories for each room. Knowing him, he wouldn't object, but I just wouldn't feel right. One thing I have always wanted to do was make pillow covers for the couch...coverings that can be changed with the seasons. I was clicking around blogland and found this super cute tutorial. I really think I might give it a try!

I also found these cuties on Pintrest. I swear that website is sooo addicting!!

I have also been wanting to change up my mantle. It just feels like it's time to take it all down and make a fresh new start. I would have something like this..... Isn't it dreamy?

Then I wake up and realize CC and Papa Bear would NEVER allow it!! Ha! But I also found these mantles on Pintrest. I can see both of them working in our living room.

I love the simplicity of this mantle. I love the black and white and the mixture of shapes.

And I really like this mantle. I am thinking this is more what I am leaning towards when I do redo my mantle. It's simple, crisp and clean.

Now to catch up... last Thursday we went to George and Marie's house for a sushi night. Their son was leaving to college the next day and wanted some of my Papa Bear's sushi. We had a blast!! They are such sweet fun people to spend time with.

My job interview didn't pan out, however she said she was going to send my resume and info to a colleague who is hiring in a different department. I didn't hear anything from her for a week and got really disappointed. Then I received an email stating I would have a phone interview today. It went great. She said she wants to proceed with my application and they will be contacting me for a face-to-face interview either this week or next! YES!!! I have been trying to get into that company for years....seriously years! This is one company, they say, no one ever wants to leave. I've been reading the benefits and perks and I can definitely see why!

We went to Austin for a little shoe sale trip with Mom last Tuesday. We had so much fun laughing and being silly. Mom didn't make it home until almost midnight!!

And now I am so ready to turn in and call it a night (even though it's 1am)! I hardly ever get to bed the same day I wake up, isn't that sad?

Tuesday

2012-01-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

Last week our friends in the congregation who also homeschool invited us to Incredible Pizza. We had the best time talking and laughing. The kids played games and enjoyed hanging out. Lena left with Cindy and Stevie, went to their house and had her first bass guitar lesson from Stevie's dad, Steven. The girls, Steve and Cindy went to the Witte Museum with another homeschooler and her children. Lena had a blast and made a new, close friend!! LOVE THAT!

And my baby turns 11 tomorrow!! I had to take my annual picture of her before she turns a year older!! I can't believe how time runs away from us. I still remember the sweet little things she would say or do that she now gets so upset when we mention it. She went from a super girly, everything pink, purple or sparkly, tons of lipgloss (or as she used to call is "lipstips"), she loved Crazy Town, her mimi and singing. Now she's older and her changes have also matured. Sparkly, glittery things have been replaced by more grown up styles. Her mimi is long gone in her closet somewhere. Crazy Town has been replaced by Zombieland and singing is now replaced with drawing and playing the guitar.

I love watching the fun, sweet, unbelieveably smart young lady she is becoming. She studies, often times without my pushing, helps me clean, takes care of her pets, draws some of the most beautiful images, always find fun, interesting types of music, has the absolute funniest comebacks and still has the sweetest hugs. I love my baby girl so much!!
****
On another note, when CC and I were driving home from lunch we saw this boy walking home I guess from school. I know "sagging" is supposedly what's in style. It's a style I don't understand. I think it's just ridiculous...it looks like you can't afford to buy clothes that fit and obviously must not have a mirror at home, other wise I can't see anyone WANTING to look like this boy. This boy had his pants so low under his bottom that he was having to HOLD THEM up with his hand mid-thigh to stop them from falling. Aside from what I assume to be EXTREMELY uncomfortable to walk in (what if he suddenly needed both hands to do something?) does he seriously think this looks cute? Can he (and all the other "saggers" not see how silly/gross/stupid this looks?

I was grading CC's homework yesterday morning. I was going her answers and loved these, I thought I'd share.
CC has been working hard to graduate early and has been looking into different schools and entrance tests. I loved this answer. The question states: "Type a sixth major decision teenagers face as they go through life."
Her reply..." should I try passing those pointless standardized tests to graduate." My thought...honey, you will see those tests are so NOT pointless. You won't get into any school without those tests and her preparation for those tests will determine where she is placed in college courses.

The question states: "Type a tenth major decision teenagers face as they go through life."

Her reply: "Figuring out who they are."

My thought... We go through life trying to figure that out. Each season of our life brings new things to the table that will make us question who we are, what we will stand for, what our limits will be and what we will except. I pray and hope she will get a core sense of this down early in life and stick to it so that she will always have a solid ground to stand strong on and not let anyone or anything allow that to waiver.

And this is my favorite reply of all. I think this concept will help her in life to decide who she is in reference to the above question.

The question states: "What knowledge has Dann gained from this decision?"

Her reply: "that nothing is free. if you want something you need to earn it and/or work for it."

My thought... that is EXACTLY the values I want my girls to grow up with. I want them to know that work is essential and necessary and that it is a part of who we are. I want my girls to be independent and not need to rely on anyone to provide them with the things they need. I want them to make their own paths in life and be happy with the choices they've made.

I would like to ask her these same questions in five years and see what her answers would be then, just to compare. I would have liked to ask myself these same questions at 15 and answer them at 20 and 30 and see how my thought process has grown over time.

*******

On another note, I have an interview with a wonderful company tomorrow. I am keeping my fingers crossed and trying to be optimistic but it's a company everyone wants to work with and I know they definitely have their choice of applicants. This will be my second interview in over a year. There's just nothing out there and competition is fierce. I guess we just have to wait and see!

Friday

2012-01-08T21:02:00.001-08:00

I quietly checked on Lena while she was doing her homework and found that she had a little help...

Micah has really bonded with her and many times I see him run out of her room looking for her.

Friday the girls and I went to Blanco to look through some antique shops. We found one that was just perfect...pricey but perfect! Tucked away in a corner shelf was this super cute Moonstone saucer for only $3!!

CC decided I needed it and bought it for me. It's so cute and delicate. Under the white rim it had a light bluish tent.

When you hold it up to the light you can see the "fire" in it.

I absolutely love it! I can't wait to be on the lookout for more pieces!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First Post of the Year - 2012

2012-01-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I received my jury summons, my first in 18 years! Luckily I was exempt (thanks to homeschooling!) and only had to wait there about an hour. And an hour was more than enough!!!
Back at home everyone was sleeping so I decided to spend a few minutes on Facebook. I saw my cousin was in town so I shot him over a message and we met up for lunch. We had such a great time talking and laughing and catching up! I couldn't thank my Papa Bear enough for keeping the girls so I could get some time away and visit with David. Our quick lunch ended up being about a two hour lunch and it was perfect! I hope we get to get together again soon!

CC was asking to take Luigi to the park since the weather was nice. I told them if the cleaned up in the kitchen and living room we would go.

Luigi was super excited to go and did lots and lots of this.....

he also picked up a few scents and checked those out.

My sweet girls. Lena will be 11 in just a few days. CC will be 16 next month. How does time fly by so quickly?

CC found this cute heart shaped leaf.

It was starting to get cool and dark so we rounded up Luigi and left. CC even drove a few laps around the park!

We've had a few extremely stressful days here and could hardly keep our heads together to just get through the day doing our normal every day tasks. Mom came over to make soup and CC and Mom made an apple pie.

On another note, Micah has been adjusting perfectly here. He even snuggles with us occasionally.

The girls and I watched Apollo 18 tonight. It was good. I don't think I would necessarily watch it again but it was great spending some uninterrupted family time with them!

Lena started her classes back this past Tuesday and my classes will start on the 17th again. Before you know it summer will be here....hopefully it won't be as hot as last year.

Our Weekend....

2011-12-26T20:18:00.001-08:00

was the most relaxing weekend we have had in a very long time. We did very little work Friday, just a bit Saturday morning and then that was it. The girls and I went to the meeting Saturday then came home and stayed in pajamas the rest of the weekend.
I woke up early Sunday and snuggled on the couch with my Papa Bear and we watched DVR'd shows (I watched, he napped). We slept most of the day and only got off the couch to refill our coffee cups!
I pulled up my big chair to the computer and watched "From Prada to Nada" on Netflix. The girls just played on the iPad, the Wii and cleaned their rooms.
Today Mom came over, we got tacos, I ran a little errand, then came home and watched "Anyone Can Play" on Netflix. One of the cutest movies I've seen in a long time!!
After this busy month this relaxing is EXACTLY what we all have needed as a family. It has been perfect!

Truth- A Jewelers Wife at Christmas

2011-12-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

I just realized I have hardly posted anything this month. The truth is, we are just so, so busy. What is this time of the year like for a jewelers wife??

I woke up to my kitchen looking like this. It's for a sweet reason though. My girls decided to make Sugar Cookies from the recipe in our neighborhood newsletter...at 1:30 AM!

So my sink looked like this....

And my stove held flour dust....

I loved seeing their measuring spoons and sprinkles of dust on my counters.

They sure can make cookies, they're just not too good at cleaning up afterwards!

During this busy time for us, my bed usually always looks like this. I do, however, fix it right before we go to bed, only to mess it up again.

My dirty clothes pile looks like this....

And my clean clothes pile looks like this... not much of a distinction!

We live off fast food and coffee...

And any loose stones that I have are fair game for last minutes gifts for my husbands friends wives.

I got my new Southern Living in the mail sometime last week. Can't really tell you when, I check my mail about once a week or every ten days. Hopefully by February I'll have it read.

And this is what happens when you mix too little sleep and auto correct before coffee....

We were talking about putting bread pudding in the refrigerator!

However, not for one moment am I complaining. I am so very thankful for the work we have and that we have a reason to be tired. Too many people right now are suffering with out a job. I have been applying for jobs for a year and a half and have only been on ONE interview! So no, I am definitely NOT complaining, just a little tired! The good news is there are several Starbucks right around my home and we can always go fuel up!

It's Found!

2011-12-11T09:35:00.001-08:00

My Chemistry final was Tuesday. I searched like crazy for my Chemistry notebook that contained all my notes and formulas from the entire semester. It was gone. Just gone. We looked everywhere. In the car, on every shelf in every room, every bookbag and back pack, in cabinets, under the beds, in the garage. It was not showing up anywhere. I filled up on coffe, parked myself at Starbucks and redid the entire semester by the study guide in one night. I knew eventually it would show up AFTER my test. I just didn't know where.
Today I found my Chemistry note book. In the bottom of a clothes basket. I have NO IDEA how it got there but that is the one place I didn't look. I mean, who would look there for a notebook?

I passed the class with a "B".

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Girls Day Out - Antiques and Trains

2011-12-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Friday, the 9th, Mom, the girls and I went to our favorite antiques store in New Braunfels, Red Rooster Antiques. I found lots of pretty goodies, but only came home with a depression glass vase. I was very disappointed that they remodeled and now the entire front room is all booths and tables and the actual floor space for displays has been reduced by more than half!
Anyway, I found really cute transferware plates. I would love to start a collection with them but I know it could easily and quickly become an expensive habit! That little Aunt Jemima was a old plastic syrup bottle and it cost $125!!! I was shocked! I thought $10-$15 tops!

I'm really thinking the next time I drive through New Braunfels I might have to run in to purchase these bottom two plates. I have no idea where I would put them but they are just so cute and I want them to come home with me. Really bad. Especially the one on the right, it reminds me of Doctor Zhivago!
After walking around Red Rooster we walked over to the Train Depot museum next door. CC and I had a scary experience there last year so we didn't really get to walk through and enjoy it, but this time we did.
In the room where the huge train display is, this sign was posted.

Thank goodness the man working there was much better than last time. He was an older gentleman that fit right in with his surroundings. He was fun to talk to!

Mom, CC, Lena and I walked back to see the trains. Last year there was only the caboose. This year there was the first engine, dining car, box car (that hasn't been opened yet) and the caboose.

It may sound crazy, but I have always wanted to be a train conductor. I know it's not realistic but I think it would be so very,very fun! I was giddy with excitement when I saw I could stand where the conductors stand and even pull the rope for the bell! It was FUN!!!

Mom even joined in on the fun!

We then walked over to the dining car. The dining car can be rented out for parties... such a neat and original idea!!

There was a CD player inside and several big band and instrumental CD's stacked beside it. It just looked like it would be so fun to have a party there.

I told Mom being in there made me want to take a train ride somewhere....anywhere!

Lena didn't seem to be enjoying it too much. She later told me she hadn't eaten anything all day and had a bad headache.

I was lucky to get one picture with Lena.... she is just not too into pictures. I think I may have scarred her by always having my camera on hand!

Mom really had fun in the dining car.

We walked over to the caboose. It was really neat. A sign posted inside said that if the conductors had to spend the night on the train they slept in the caboose. It also said the conductors would give signals by lantern to the those in the caboose to apply the break or speed up and slow down. The caboose was really neat, but like Lena said, it smelled like pee.

Me and CC. I usually don't have too much trouble getting a picture WITH CC. Taking a picture of her is quite a different story!

I loved this old wagon with old trunks piled on. It definitely gave a very nostalgic feel!

And as we were walking back to the car I snapped a picture of Mom and Lena.

We had a great time just spending time together. I have been so bogged down and busy with school that I have really had zero time to relax and enjoy myself. I told Mom and the girls that after my finals were finished this week I wanted to go to Red Rooster and waste time. We did just that. And we had a blast!

WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES & CREME FUDGE - SUPER EASY

2011-12-08T18:11:00.001-08:00

Lena and I found a super easy, super good recipe for White Chocolate Cookies and Creme Fudge in my new Southern Living Cookbook. Being as easy as it is to make, I'm not sure if it's good we found out about it!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk

2 (12 oz) packages white chocolate morsels

1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow cream

3 cups coarsely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies

(about 25 cookies), divided

Pinch of salt

Directions-
1.) Line a greased 9" square pan with aluminum foil; set aside.
2.) Combine first three ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil, then cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add white chocolate morsels, marshmallow cream, 2 cups crushed cookies and a pinch of salt. Stir until melted.

3.) Pour fudge into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cookies over fudge, gently pressing cookies into fudge. Cover and chill until firm (about 2 hours).

4.) Lift uncut fudge in aluminum foil from pan. Remove foil and cut into squares.

It doesn't get more simple than that!! And it was so delicious!

I'm linking to Foodie Friday, stop by and visit to find more delicious recipes!

Hello December!

2011-12-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those rare perfect days where we did absolutely nothing but relax, rest and have fun. I woke up early and while everyone was asleep I finally opened my new Southern Living Cookbook to read through it. I've had it over a month now and yesterday was honestly the first time I've had a moment to open it. I love, love, love reading my cookbooks from front to back, so I made myself some coffee and got to reading.

We also had rain yesterday off and on all day. I LOVED it! It was the perfect weather for staying inside in pj's relaxing!

I let the girls rest and play and have a day off. I did manage to clean my restroom, tub, toilet and all, and wash, fold and put away about 4 loads of clothes. For me that is relaxing. I am always so busy and hardly ever at home. So, when I get a chance to stay in and clean it is really a treat for me!
I also cooked a little lunch that turned out pretty good. I'm all about fast and easy right now. I bought 3 bags of pasta and 2 cans of chicken meat.

I made the pasta according to the package directions and then drained and added the chicken.

I topped it with some Parmesan cheese...it was so good!!

Toby also took the day off....he made himself comfortable on our new throws. Mom has this exact red one and she said her Bella just took it over and claimed it. We can use our throws but if Mom tries to use her Bella attacks her. I told Mom she should have bought one for herself!

Lena found a recipe in my new cookbook for White Chocolate Cookies and Creme Fudge. I didn't plan on leaving the house because of my day prior, but she was so excited I couldn't tell her no. To my surprise it was probably the easiest dessert we have ever made and it is so darn good!!! I'll be posting the recipe later today.

My December 1st....was CRAZY!!

It started at 7 am. I was supposed to wake up at 6:30 but slept in. Micah (the new cat) had an appointment to be neutered. We were supposed to have him there between 7-10. Charlie woke me up meowing at 7, I threw on clothes, brushed teeth and hair, woke up CC and we took Micah in. I came home, ate a quick breakfast and by 10:15 was out the door on my way to school. After school (12:15) I left with Emil around 1 pm to run errands. We got home about 2:45, I took a 30 minute power nap and was back up to go pick Micah up at 4. We got home around 5 then CC and I left to Austin for some things at 6:30. We didn't get home until 11 pm. I logged on to pay Mom's Wal-Mart card and the online server was down so I had to load back up at 11:15 to drive to Wal-Mart to make the payment and avoid late charges. I swear this computer is costing me 10x what the original cost was!! We finally got home around 12:15 am, warmed up some TV dinners and went to bed. I was exhausted!!! And that is why I planned to NOT drive anywhere yesterday, I made the exception for Lena's fudge ingredients!

However, in Austin I did just make it by the skin of my teeth to the absolute best cupcake place around, Cupprimo! I seriously will drive to Austin just to get their cupcakes...they are THAT good!!

I called around 8:50 to see if they were still open and if they had any cupcakes left. She told me what they have and I told her just give me one of each, about 5 cupcakes. She said, "Well, we have a special, buy 6 get 6." I said that we fine, we could give some to Mom and her friends. The sweet, sweet owner waited for me to get there from the mall and had the cupcakes all boxed up for me!

There were two boxes total, she gave me EVERYTHING they had left!!! Oh my goodness....they are so good!! CC and I each ate one of the way home. With all my running around I did that day I didn't take time to eat beyond breakfast and I was so hungry (not that it would kill me to miss a meal or ten!)
CC ate the Pumpkin Choco-Chip. She gave me a piece of her cake, it was so delicious!

I ate the Snickerdoodle.... it's probably one of my new favorites. It's not too sweet and you really get the Snickerdoodle taste...unbelievable how good it is!

My Papa Bear is a hard core, true blue dark chocolate fan. He is always wanting a chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling. Well, they sent home a few Razzle Dazzles with me, white chocolate and raspberry. This is also one of my favorite cupcakes from Cupprimo..and it is now his favorite! I was shocked when he asked me for a Razzle Dazzle yesterday!! He choose it over the one chocolate they did send home with me!!

It's rainy today again. I am so in the mood to make some good soup. It's supposed to get really cold this coming week. Cooler weather always makes me want to make borscht. It's always one of my favorite soups to make. Nothing says "cold weather" like a big bowl of warm borscht with sour creme!!!

What a week/weekend...

2011-11-28T23:31:00.001-08:00

Wednesday night my mother-in-law came from Dallas to visit. It was VERY much unexpected...we had planned on spending our days off in pj's watching TV, baking, studying for finals (ok, just me) and really doing nothing but catching up on some MUCH needed rest! Thursday turned out good. I started my day with Duncan Donuts coffee and my Apple-Praline bread...

It was good, good, good! Later that evening we took Karina to her friends house. They are so close and enjoy spending time together.

My mother in law, Karina, is in the middle. Lala is on the left and her mother in law is on the right. Can you believe her mother in law is almost 90 years old?

That night Lena went home with mom and the next morning Karina found Lena's guinea pig Jynx dead in his cage.

We are so, so sad. He wasn't sick. He wasn't lethargic. His food/liquid intake was normal. His out put was fine. He had energy. NOTHING seemed wrong with him at all. In fact, Thursday Lena had him out showing him to Karina and he was just normal like always. We are all so heart broken. Breaking the news to Lena was so hard. When she came home she went in her room to him, slammed her door and spent some time with him. We were all in tears. Jynx was her buddy. He would lay on her chest...chill out with her when she did her homework..run around her bed. He was her buddy. So Friday evening we dug Jynx a grave and placed him in it. We all took comfort knowing he's sleeping now. Lena bought him some roses to put on his grave. She said when God calls him and he wakes up, he will be happy to see those roses. Ugh, more tears and heavy hearts. I was so stressed that day. We had to get up so early for work, then finding Jynx... It was bad. I picked a really ugly, nasty fight with Emil. I was pushed beyond my limits and took it all out in him. I felt so bad.

Saturday after the meeting I made us a nice dinner. We all pitched in to help, trying not to think about Jynx.

It was so good. Luigi finished the leftovers this evening. When I stepped out of the kitchen he took it upon himself to knock down the container of food and finish it off. Oh he's a bad, bad boy!
Toby also put a whole new meaning on the word "Catfish"..

Later that night we all went to Starbucks to warm up with good coffee.

Yesterday karina left back to Dallas. I also had to visit Sister Lassen and snapped a pic of her while she wasn't looking.

We got a kick out of her drinking a glass of wine and studying her bible with a magnifying glass. We just love her to pieces!! On the way home we drove through Incarnate Word to look at the pretty lights...

Today it was back to school and work for all of us. I have about a week and a half of this semester left. I am really looking forward to my break.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Perfect Day...

2011-11-22T21:34:00.001-08:00

Today was truly one of the most relaxing, fun, stress-free days I've had in a long time. Papa Bear and I woke up around 9:30, laid in bed and just talked and had a little Bubble Shooter competition on our phones.
Mom called and Emil said he would cook breakfast for her if she came. Once the girls got up we all went to Pho VN. It was sooooo good!

After our late lunch we came home, sat around the table, drank coffee and just talked some more.

After making dinner, I got in a super cleaning mode and cleaned out my junk drawer in my bathroom. It had been stressing me out for so long. It felt good to just get it over with! CC did Zumba. Then Lena and I played for a while. I talked to my mother in law on the phone and found out she's coming for a few days. It'll be nice to have her.

I lit some candles in my room, turned off the lights, laid down and just relaxed. I haven't had many of the days in such a long time, I've really appreciated today!

Now I have to make myself study for my Female Reproductive System quiz tomorrow. I'm just so burned out from this semester I can't make myself sit down and study. I only have two weeks left. I need to make them count!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seperation Anxiety

2011-11-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

The girls and I got a crazy idea to walk to the Mexican restaurant down the street from our house. The weather was nice and cool and we had fun walking and talking and laughing!

We got there shortly before they closed. They gave us lots of extras. They have THE BEST tortilla soup hands down!!

We got a MONSTER order of Nacho Salad. It was so big that we ended up taking most of it home.

I remembered I don't have many pictures of my girls for the month of November, so I snapped a few pics while we were there. They are all done on my cell phone, so they appear a little grainy.

When we got home we found Luigi suffered from a little separation anxiety while we were gone.

Emil says when we girls leave he lays by the front door and whines and cries for us.

~~~~

We received a Zumba Wii disk from Houseparty. It is AMAZING! I am so in love! It's probably one of the hardest games I've ever played but I love it. Everything hurts after playing it, so I know it's working!! I'm signing off now so I can do a short class....I don't have the energy to do the full class yet!

Busy Days

2011-11-15T21:57:00.001-08:00

I realized I haven't posted much during the month of November. This is bad because I like to look back through my posts and see where we were or what we were doing a year or two ago. The truth is, we've just been so busy doing everyday things that I haven't had time or things to blog about. I guess the closer I get to my classes being over the busier I will get.

It was raining then I woke up this morning. I had every intention of going to school, but as I started driving I realized there was just way to much to do at home. I couldn't bear to think about eating out one more time, do I turned the car around and went home to get Lena and do some things.
(I saw these leaves as we were getting in the car and had to snap a pic. I LOVE fallen leaves.)

We bought a new skillet (super exciting) and then bought the girls some clothes. Then we went to H-E-B and literally bought a back seat full of groceries.

After unpacking, cooking twice, running more errands and a few other things, I pulled my big chair up to the computer and watched The Nutcracker that I found on a flash drive in my drawer. It was beautiful!

What else has been going on? Micah and Toby ate starting to get along better. Micah plays rough and CC usually ends up rescuing Toby. Micah has fattened up ALOT. I think he's doing well here.

He likes to hang out in the tub. Charlie and Toby kinda stick together. I found then on the bed holding paws one day. It was so cute!

And last but not least, I MAY have a crown that I keep in the car and pull out to wear when someone pulls out in front of me then drives 15 miles an hour.

I guess they think we're in a parade. I mean, why else would they go soooo slow? So I put on my crown and give them a parade wave. Ha!

Ok. That's it. This old lady is going to bed. I can't remember the last time I was in bed before midnight.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Natural Bridge Caverns pt. 2

2011-11-13T19:49:00.001-08:00

After I got over my initial panic I pulled my self together enough to finish the tour. The way I saw it, the only way to go was up. Up 180 feet of slippery, wet, VERY steep walk way, but it was up and that was good enough for me!

I loved the ceilings and the "ribbon" that hung from them.

Some of the "ribbon" was four to five feet long!

We went into other rooms but I honestly can't remember their names.

If you enlarge the next few photos you will see how very DEEP down we were and how very FAR up we had to climb.

I took these photos at the bottom as we started our ascent up!

I think part of me thought about how very unreal it was that I was standing at the bottom of a cave, yet I was still in one piece...for the most part at least.

The picture above shows how very steep the walk/climb up was.

FINALLY I caught up with the girls and the rest of the group at the top. This picture is taken looking down to the area I just climbed up. It was about half way to the top, maybe 90 feet below ground. Again, it was unreal.

This was called a fried egg because of the color and shape it formed.

How about some 5000 year old bat poo.... Mascara anyone?

And one more photo looking down. This one was taken when I reached the top. Yes, I was waaaayyy down there and I lugged my fat body ALL the way up here!

This room at the top was called the King's Throne because of one formation that looks like a king holding his scepter.

We climbed up another steep, wet walkway and into the outside. I have NEVER been so happy to be outside.
The tour was beautiful and I honestly would like to do it again now that I know what I'm in for. There's one tour we want to do called the Illumination tour.... I think we can do it!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Natural Bridge Caverns

2011-11-10T07:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the girls and I went to Natural Bridge Caverns for Lena's TXVA field trip. I'd never been there, always wanted to but I was just too scared.
The grounds were beautiful. I wish I had listened more to the guide telling us the Cavern's history but my nerves wouldn't let me.

Lena waiting for the tour to start.

Walking down to the sink hole.

This is the "bridge" of Natural Bridge Caverns.

I do remember the guide saying the stone was limestone.

And we head in. They told us it was wet, steep and humid inside.

We would be climbing down 180 feet below the surface and waking up 180 feet to the surface via VERY steep tracks and stairs. I thought they were making it worse than it really was.
They weren't.

CC and Lena going in the entrance.

It was a tight fit. At this point we were just a bit below the surface, something like 40 feet. I was thinking ok, good, no big deal.

Everything is thousands of years in the making. Touching is not allowed. The oils on our hands can prevent the stalagmites from continuing to form.

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CC started getting a bit claustrophobic and was rushing me down, down, down to the room I remember was called Sherwood Forrest. I did manage to snap a few pictures.

This is where we were going...Sherwood Forrest

Walking down the tour group was ahead of me and I loved the absolute silence that was around me. It was so calming. We arrived...180 feet below the surface.

I don't know if it was the change in pressure or realization of the fact that I am in a cave, 180 feet below the surface..in a cave... But I started panicking. Real serious panicking. I was getting so hot and had this ugly, nasty feeling in my stomach. I felt like I couldn't breathe, my head hurt and I was tingling on my legs. I ripped my jacket off, threw my hair in a high pony-tail, rolled up my jeans to my knees and started praying. I knew it was a panic attack and asked God to just send me an angel to get me through this experience..alive..for the girls. I tried to relax and take in the beauty of my surroundings.

Everything was glistening and sparkling. You could hear water trickling down the walls and occasionally feel it drip on you. My glasses were fogging up like crazy and the humidity down there...unbelievable!

I tried to get a picture of myself to distract my self from the panic.

More pics to follow. I'm posting from my phone and I'm not sure how many it will let me photos it will let me add on one posting.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lost & Found

2011-11-03T12:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was sooo not feeling like going to the park. It's been a really stressful few weeks and all I really wanted to do was stay home and have a pity party.
BUT CC insisted we go.
And in the back of mind I wondered...why... What is supposed to happen or WILL happen because we go. It just felt like there was a stronger reason/purpose for going. I've not listened to those strong feelings too many times and ended up seeing the lost/missed opportunities.
So after Luigi played in the dog park we decided to go for a short walk even though none of had on the proper shoes and honestly didn't really feel like walking. But we walked.
On the last stretch before heading to the car we heard a little "meow" coming from the woods.

He was so cute and sweet and loveable...and so skinny. It was going to get really cold last night and I couldn't leave him there cold and hungry in the woods. It was a bit of a struggle, he was scared, but my future veterinarian CC managed to get him in the car and we took him home.

He ate like a mad man but took to all of us and the house very quickly.

Toby isn't too sure of him. Charlie is just my old mean grouch and Luigi is weary.

But Lena and Emil are in love. CC and I just want to get him fattened up, neutered and vaccinated and try to adopt him out to a good family. But for now he's making himself at home. He's kinda chosen Lena as his "person". They snuggled all night on her bed.
CC and I have been looking on PetAmberAlert.com and Craigslist to see if anyone has posted a missing cat. No luck yet. I guess for now he stays. So far he doesn't seem to mind!

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Catching Up...

2011-10-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot has been going on. We've just been busy and bogged down with work and school. I haven't had a chance to blog. This post will have no pictures. I think this may be the first week I can remember in a really long time when I took absolutely NO pictures.

What's Been Happening?
My last two A&P tests I scored a 90 and 92. VERY HAPPY about that.

My Chemistry test I scored an 83. I'm happy.

Tuesday night Mom kept the girls and Emil and I had a date night. We went to eat Pho and came home, rented a movie and tried to watch it. We couldn't make it work and ended up falling asleep on the couch. We said we were gonna stay up late. Didn't happen. I think we're getting old. We had to wait for CC and Lena to come home from Mom's to show us how to make the DVD player work. Then we watched Bad Teacher together. It was good.

We finally got a cold front come in Thursday. It is so nice. The temps have been in the upper 60's. SUCH a nice relief from this unbelievable summer.

Papa Bear and the girls made stew tonight. It is amazing! So, so good! Michael picked CC up and took her to Starbucks. They had a good time. He told her that her eyes sparkled, she had pretty earrings and asked if that was her natural hair color.

I am about to fall asleep. I am so tired. I want coffee but don't want to stay up. I have loads of laundry to do this weekend and Pam is coming in the morning.

And that's all I know! I am just going to enjoy the cooler weather!

Nightmare On Grayson - New Traditions

2011-10-23T20:38:00.001-07:00

Last night we started a new tradition.... We took Lena to Nightmare on Grayson. CC and I have been going to Grayson for seven years straight. We love, love, love it! Every year they change it up and add new stuff. This was the second year they had about half of the haunted house in 3-D.

We usually just go to Grayson, then once we make our way through it we grab a smoked turkey leg. We were too hungry to wait this time so we went to McDonald's to eat and kill some time.

Our stomachs had butterflies we were getting ourselves so scared up about going. Usually it never fails that Freddy chases CC and Michael Myers chases me....with his stupid knife! I may have took off running a few times leaving CC and her friends far, far behind me. Maybe.

We found parking, which is almost a miracle! and then made our way to the haunted house. We were in group 7 and they were still on group 2 so we walked around the Pearl Brewery to waste some more time.

And we girls decided to take some photos while we were there. I really, really like that shirt I'm wearing above but after seeing this picture and how extremely top-heavy it makes me I swear I will NEVER wear that shirt again! NEVER!!

We were so excited to see Brothers of the Flame performing. This was the first time in three years they were there. They are beyond amazing!!

CC's favorite performer is Rayne. She simply goes crazy over him. We managed to get a few pics with him. Here is he with Lena.

And CC and her Rayne....she was a very happy girl after this!

We had a blast. Lena did really well in the haunted house. I had warned her before we went that I was NOT turning back and she would HAVE to make it through. And she did....until we came to the killer clowns. She yelled and ran backwards then was blocking her way in the doorway and not letting me help her through that room. I had to literally pick her up and carry her through to the next room. It was so funny. I couldn't help but laugh. And when the clown saw how terrified she was he really went after her. In the end she said she loved it and it was awesome! I think CC and I now have a new Grayson partner. We are so happy to have her in on the tradition!

Friday during the day the girls and I went to Garden Ridge. That place is amazing!!! LOVE it! There are so many neat things there and they are so very, very cheap. It's over 3 acres of a Kirklands / Home Goods mixture literally at about half the price! There were vases there for $3.00!!! There was also a section of scrubs. I know where I'll be going when I graduate from nursing school!

One day last week I took a shower and then put my hair in braids because it's getting long and hard to sleep on. I woke up with an afro!

I did manage to tame it down enough for school. And let me tell you, it stayed curly, even after I showered!

Today none of us were feeling too good. Maybe we stayed up to late and were too excited about Grayson last night. The girls and I headed to Mom, brought her a Pumpkin Pie Shake from Sonic and watched a Criminal Minds and Bridesmaids with her. That movie is hilarious!!

Tomorrow starts another full week....and the last week of October...how can October almost be over? Didn't it just start???

Wonderful Weekend

2011-10-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the most relaxing, wonderful weekends we have had in a really long time. Saturday morning I woke up a bit late but still in time (30 mins) for us girls to wash our faces, brush our teeth and get dressed to go to the assembly. It was such a wonderful assembly. We got to hear so many experiences and learn so many things.

My favorite was a Brother Wilson who once worked for CBS Sports. His job kept him away from home and away from the ministry, so he decided to quit. When he was asked if it was a hard decision for him, he said initially yes, it was BUT he was given the most precious gift out of it...meeting his wife in the ministry. It was so sweet! And there was an elderly brother who has been in the ministry for 70 years! He was baptized in 1940!! Everyone was clapping for him!

Today was a lazy day. I woke up and made up potato, egg and cheese tacos. Then Papa Bear, CC and I decided to go for a drive through the country and relax at the park. On a country road we passed a cow criss-crossing the street. There were four police cars behind her trying to round her up!

We found a Sonic and had to stop by for drinks. Luigi LOVES getting his water with no ice! And CC just loves her Luigi!

Luigi enjoyed being out in the fresh air and running around. I think CC wore him out!

I LOVE this picture of him. We got him mid-lick and it looks like he has really, really big lips at first glance!

Every once in a while he would snap over and over at flies.

He wanted to love up on Papa Bear too!

It was getting hot and we had been at the park for a couple of hours. I got lots of homework done! We headed home and I made dinner. Afterwards we went to Mom, hung out a bit and brought Lena home.

I wish we could have more weekends like this! Hopefully with the weather getting cooler it will happen!

We Were On TV!!!

2011-10-14T21:26:00.001-07:00

I am addicted to San Antonio Living...I love that show and I love the host, Shelly Miles. She is so upbeat and funny, so real and down to earth and the girl loves to eat!! She mentioned that starting this week the show was going to have a live audience. I went and signed the girls, my mom and myself up!

We were told to arrive at the studio at 9:40. It was so fun to have a reason to get dressed up and put on make up again....it's been soooo long since I've needed to do that! We chatted with a nice lady that works there, I think her name was Julie. She led us to the studio and our seats.

The set was actually much smaller than I thought it would be. I was surprised. I recognized the lady in the background right away, she is always invited on the show for seasonal craft segments. And there was an amazing chef there cooking who was doing a segment for his restaurant, Romo's. His food smelled soooo delicious!

Shelly wasn't in today, Leslie Bohl Jones was. I've always thought she is so elegant and pretty and she is even more beautiful in person!! And her eyeshadow is always immaculate and gorgeous! I had to ask her if she has someone do it for her...nope, she does it herself! This picture is fuzzy. I didn't bring my camera because I wasn't sure if it was allowed. Now that I know it is, I will bring it next time.

This is me with Cleto Rodriguez. He joined the show full time some months ago. My goodness he is a character!! He had us laughing til it hurt!! Cleto told us he will be having his own show on Comedy Central starting November 3.

It was so fun to see how things work "behind the scenes." The girls had a blast!

Here is Mom with Cleto. She said she was so nervous initially and almost didn't go. She had so much fun that she can't wait to go back! I am already planning our next visit to be in the audience. It was so nice to meet Leslie Bohl Jones, but I was slightly bummed I didn't get to meet Shelly Miles.

It was so odd/funny to come home and see ourselves on tv. I know next time I go not to look up at the monitor. I look really weird when I do that. And I learned that I need to smile showing teeth. When I just grin it looks.... just not good. I looked pretty mad alot. I wasn't mad, just not sure where to look or how to smile.

Anyway, we came home and immediately turned on the DVR to watch the show. We laughed and laughed and I decided I could not watch myself on TV again. Then I started cleaning the house up and down. I did several load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept, mopped and even managed to get in some time to watch trash tv AND watch the news. It felt so relaxing!! I am always on the go and hardly ever at home so for me, being able to be at home with nothing to do but clean was such a treat!!

Papa Bear and I went to the mall this afternoon and then picked up Pho for dinner. Delicious! Then I pulled up a chair and watched a great old movie on Netflix, The Mating Season. Hilarious!! Right now I am sipping my Red Velvet hot tea and plan on eating a strawberry filled chocolate cupcake CC made. This has been an almost perfect day!

It's Been A Week...

2011-10-11T13:44:00.001-07:00

Since my hair color went from THIS...

And this...

To this...

And Emil still hasn't noticed.
Now this means one of two things... Either he's so used to me changing my hair color he doesn't even pay attention anymore ....OR....he just doesn't pay attention to me.

I think I'm hoping for the first one...

And.... Liz is having a wonderful giveaway over at her beautiful blog...check it out here or click on the icon on my side bar!

Pink Saturday - Blooms

2011-10-08T12:23:00.001-07:00

We have had rain the past couple of days and my roses have really enjoyed it! I hadn't planned on linking up to Pink Saturday, but after seeing my blooms, I thought this might be the last time I can link my roses up this year!

My Peace Rose is my most favorite rose in my garden. When Papa Bear and CC went to pick out my roses, CC chose the Peace and I'm so glad she did!

I woke up yesterday morning to go take some pictures of my babies and didn't realize it was drizzling a bit. A little rain didn't stop me. I went straight out with my camera and I think the pictures came out beautiful!

My red cutter rose even gave me some blooms.....

I have some knockout blooms and I'm waiting on my white Kennedy roses to bloom.

Yesterday the girls took Charlie out side for fresh air and snapped some pics....

My most handsome, beautiful little boy......

~~~CC~~~

CC and her "brother"

And my Lena...CC said it was a fight trying to get this picture of her. I guess I've taken too many pictures, Lena runs the opposite way when she sees my camera coming out!

This has been a perfect, lazy rainy day. We are still in pj's. We stayed up late last night watching Lifetime's Russian Dolls. I LOVE this show. I'm hoping they renew for a second season. It's just so funny to watch the Russians there having the same drama as the Russian's here. LOVE THIS SHOW!! If you're interested you can watch the whole first season here.

And....don't forget to check out Beverly's beautiful blog for more pinkness!!

Book Fair & Shopping

2011-10-01T10:04:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was the Book Fair for Lena's homeschool TXVA. I was supposed to be going to Chemistry class, but Lena was so excited and so looking forward to going I couldn't tell her no. I'm starting to see that things just aren't going to happen as we would like to plan them. Plans change. Chemistry was out--> Barnes and Noble was in. And we had a blast!

She received this cute little bracelet that says "TXVA ROCKS"

And what is a trip to Barnes and Noble without pumpkin spice frappaccinos?

She found a wonderful book, "The Book Thief" and a cute bookmark.

CC found a cute bookmark that suits her perfectly!

Wednesday I found out I bombed my Anatomy Lab Practical over the heart and veins. Thank goodness she is giving us lots of other quizzes to make up for the horrible grades!

Thursday the girls and I wanted to go to Austin, they have THE BEST cupcakes! On the way we encountered some really bad weather.....

THIS is what I was seeing out of the front window...there was hardly any visibility! It was so scary!!

We pulled over at a gas station and the girls saw I had green stuff all over my beige pants AND they had ripped.... perfect! So, we went across the street to the shopping center and found a JCPenny! They were having an 80% off sale. SCORE!! We walked out of there (in my new pants) with four pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, one shirt and a hoodie for $63!! I couldn't believe it!!

Last night Lena was playing around on her computer, don't know how she does it, but she made this for me as a background for my phone. It was so fun and neat to watch her put it all together.

I would be so lost and not even know where to start. She makes it look so simple!

We have been working on our flower bed turned weed bed. It's taken many hours of sweat and hard work but it's finally coming along and all we need to do now is plant the flowers! Thank goodness we are finally having decent temperatures. The next few days are in the upper 80's, lower 90's! So we plan to finish everything up soon. I hope last week was the last of the triple digit degrees we will see this year!

Oh, and a lovely blogger friend gave me some good pointers on redo-ing my fall mantle. Her advice was GREAT! I can't wait to post new pics!!

My Fall Mantle - 2011

2011-09-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting so long to put up some fall decorations through out the house. However, with temperatures staying in the upper 90's, it just doesn't feel like fall and that makes it hard to decorate.

I did however try to muster the motivation to at least touch up my fireplace and mantle. I took the coral and sea shells off and added touches of fall smells and colors.

I love pine cones and love to have them throughout my decor. I pulled a few out, but it is nothing in comparison to what I usually have out.

We picked up a few new items to add to the mantle from Michaels. This is just a work in progress...there is still sooooo much to do.

I actually won this soy candle from the Yellow Rose of Tx candle company. They smell sooooo good. Yesterday a new catalog came in the mail and I'm thinking one of their candles would make a great giveaway item!

The moss balls are new to the mantle. I like them, CC likes them but Papa Bear and Lena said they would like to play golf with them....

I wanted to try a "fallish" craft, so I bought a small glass jar, layered some coffee beans and candy corn and placed a little votive candle inside. I love the way it looks and when it burns it smells divine!!

I added some fall flowers to the floral arrangement in front of the fireplace.

There is still something missing. I can't put my finger on it. Hopefully I can find some inspiration online and in my magazines....

If you have any ideas of what's missing or what needs to be added, please, please feel free to let me know. I am in desperate need of help!!! (there are so many talented bloggers out there with great style!)

I'll be linking up to a couple of parties, hoping to find some help/inspiration!

No Minimalist Here - Open House Party

The Lettered Cottage's Fall Mantle Party

Hooked On Houses Decorating Party

Pink Saturday - Gone With The Wind....

2011-09-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school I went over to my friend Kim's house after school and found out she was a Gone With The Wind fanatic like me. She actually had the movie script book and I was sooooo jealous, you could say, "Pea green with envy."
I searched and searched and never found one. Then my sister called me one day, found it on Amazon, a few dollars and days later it was mine, all mine!

I have loved Gone With The Wind since the first time I saw it about 20 years ago. I have a few favorite lines from the movie....

Of course there is Mammy, sweet, sweet Mammy. Here she is calling Scarlett upon seeing Scarlett run off to find her dad after the Tarleton twins tell her Ashley will be marrying his cousin Melanie.

The engagement was to be announced at Twelve Oaks, Ashley's family plantation. Here she is greeting Melanie.

Scarlett sneaks down when the girls are supposed to be napping. She calls Ashley into the library. I love the neutral tones, making me feel that the setting sun is shining through the windows casting a soft, pink tint.

Scarlett confesses her love to Ashley and he tells her he is marrying his cousin because she has his blood, she understands him. Though, he says, Scarlett possesses all the passion for life that he lacks.

Her response here is my favorite... she tells him he afraid to marry her. He'd rather live with that silly little fool who can't open her mouth except to say "yes" "no" and raise a passel of mealy-mouth brats just like her....

And of course Rhett was hiding behind the couch and heard the whole thing.

Scarlett is upset Ashley is marrying Melanie so she says "yes" that she will marry Melanie's brother Charles. I just love, love, love her wedding dress. It's just perfect!! Here she is more sad about Ashley kissing her on the cheek and moving on than she is about her husband going off to the war to fight, as is Ashley.

....THE DRESS.....

So Charles dies and Scarlett HATES being in mourning. She is too young to be in mourning, wearing black. She should be at parties dancing. After all, she doesn't feel like she's in mourning. So, she convinces her mother to allow her to go to Atlanta with Melanie.

Mammy tells her she'll only get into trouble in Atlanta. (My second favorite line of the movie coming up....) Mammy tells Scarlett she knows Ashley will be coming home and Scarlett will be sitting there waiting for him " jes like a spider." (I tell this to my girls all the time!)

Here Scarlett is at the ball "for the cause" where Rhett bids on Scarlett to dance with her causing poor Aunt Pittypat to faint at the scandal of it.

And on into the movie, and another husband later, Scarlett marries Rhett and has a baby. In this photo she is upset that her waist is no longer 19 inches. I am loving those rose colored velvet curtains. This movie has always played a major influence in how I would love to make my dressing room.

And I love this scene where Scarlett takes Rhett back to Tara. She has just gotten into an argument with her sister Sue Ellen. Scarlett tells Rhett she wants him to build her a big house, one that'll make everyone "pea green with envy." And I'm loving the pink and green dress!

Smiling after a very good night with Rhett.

And here we are at my other favorite line of the movie. Scarlett and Ashley were caught hugging by India and Rhett has gotten word of it. They are to attend a party at Melanie and Ashley's house that evening and Scarlett doesn't want to go. Rhett makes her go and finds the most sexy dress for her to wear in her closet. He tells her, "Nothing modest or matronly will do..." LOVE IT!

And here is her dress, probably my favorite dress in the movie. Imagine the work that went into making these costumes!

She was just beautiful in this scene.... in my opinion, she is perfection here.

And of course I can't leave out Belle Watling, the thorn in Scarlett's side (beside Melanie). Belle was always pretty and dressed to the nines!

Gone With The Wind is my most favorite movie ever. It never gets old. I love, love, love it.

Please stop by and see more pinks at our wonderful host Beverly's blog.

Happy Pink Saturday!

Soooo Thankful....

2011-09-22T13:30:00.001-07:00

That I have a 15 year old daughter who loves to spend her time....
Buying fall decorations with me. (Even if it included a vulture!)

spending hours outside trimming the bushes and pulling the weeds and ENJOYING every minute of it!

nursing a lizard that got slammed in the backdoor back to health and giving him a comfortable home and lots of crickets.

Loves her guinea pigs and talks to then like they are little people when they start squealing when she walks in her room...

And likes to spend her evenings taking walks with her momma and little sister talking about any and everything you can imagine!

We have our moments but they are VERY, VERY few and far between.
I love her more than she will ever know!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Today Was A Good Day...

2011-09-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I don't have much to complain about.... I found out I passed my Chemistry test. When I took it last week I walked out of there 100% sure I failed. It was hard... I was so surprised when I saw my grade! Yesterday I learned I passed my Anatomy & Physiology test...super excited about that too!!
Today I woke up early, bought groceries, went to class, came home, got the girls ready and we all (including Papa Bear) went to Austin. We ate at Pho Saigon...THE BEST Pho...seriously!

Then we went to Dillards and Emil bought us lots of different K-cups for my Keurig and he picked out the cutest coffee mug for me!!! That's my Papa Bear!
Yesterday was not so good... I dropped the keys down the car seat and Emil ended up having to take the whole front seat off to get them. This put me 45 minutes late to the class for the teacher that says "there really are no excuses for not being in class."
All I need now is some cooler weather so I can start my fall decorating!! I can't wait to get it started!
So now I am going to make me a cup of Donut Shop Coffee, eat a slice of Pineapple Upside Down Cake and watch TV with my girls....

Masks, Gizzards and Storms....

2011-09-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Toby has been eating all of CC's lizards crickets. Every few days we are at Pet Supply Plus buying more crickets. A Halloween store opened up next door (can't remember them opening up this early before) and the girls wanted to go look around. CC is looking for some costume to dance in. Well, the found these masks and the girls couldn't pass up trying them on.

We thought it was so funny when CC noticed this. This cheerleader costume is for a "plus" size girl. However, in the lower left corner is a picture of what the costume could look like on a not plus size girl.....look at the difference in the thighs. I'm a plus size girl (not that I would ever, ever, ever in my life EVER wear an outfit like this) and I'm a bit offended!

Saturday the girls and I went with Mom to the mall and spent some time and money in Bath and Body Works. I found lots of good yummy candles I can't wait to purchase. When we came home she surprised Emil by making him fried gizzards...his FAVORITE! He loved them!!

This cooler weather and rain has really gotten me into the fall mood. I have had candles going in almost every room of the house.

I even cleaned out the fireplace and did a little redecorating on it. I am hoping to get my fall mantle up this coming weekend. I have another Anatomy quiz over the heart tomorrow and haven't had any extra time.

Today as the girls and I were driving home we found ourselves under this huge, dark cloud. The wind was whipping, rain was falling and clouds were dropping out of the sky. It was a little scary but also kind of fun.

CC took this as I was driving.

When we got home the rain really started coming down. There was tons of loud thunder and some lightning. I completely enjoyed sitting in my big comfy chair, in my pj's, studying and listening to the rain. It was bliss!!

I really should be studying right now. We were given 8.5 pages over the heart Thursday and the quiz and spelling test in tomorrow. I fell asleep for a bit while I was studying and now am wide awake. I HATE when that happens!

Woke Up To The Sound of Pouring Rain...

2011-09-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

The wind would whisper and I'd think of you....

No, really, I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain.....
I was laying in bed catching up on my Blog Reader and I heard rain. At first I thought it was my Nature Sounds I was listening to to go to sleep. The girls were already up and on the couch watching TV....we went to check and it was definitely raining!!

I love the sound of rain.....

And the smell....

Lena was itching to get out in it, so I gave her a small pitcher to fill up so my pecan tree from Sister Lassen could enjoy some rain water. She was more than happy to do it!

My grapevine and roses are going to be pretty happy!!

It's still coming down....really, really good! Lord knows we've needed this!

Since CC already had the Keurig fired up, I made me a cup of Cafe Mocha...

and decided to lay down in my bed, drink some coffee, catch up on my blogs and.....

listen to the rain!!!!

***happy, happy, happy***

Old Friends, Broken Wheels, Ikea Meatballs

2011-09-12T19:05:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday the girls and I went to Austin to see my sweet friend Nona who is having a baby in just a few days. I have been looking forward to seeing her for so long! We went to school together in Yoakum and haven't seen in other in years! On the way I ran over a piece of wood on the highway. No biggie...I thought. Within a few minutes the "Low Tire Pressure" light came on. I pulled over at the first exit I came to, had no idea what it was. There was a Shell station. I pulled over to look at the tire...this is what I saw....

Just one block down was a Discount Tire. I drove there and they were closed. But... the manager was kind enough to let me in and put the spare on for me...at NO CHARGE!!! I truly believe God was watching over us three girls!

Nona and I had a nice visit. We picked up like we had never been apart. She was so beautiful and her daughter was so precious. I didn't ask for any photos because I know if I was only days away from giving birth I certainly wouldn't want any pictures taken!

I didn't go to school today, just wasn't feeling well. I also wanted to make an easy, quick dinner....so I made Ikea meatballs!

They were so, so good. They are definitely a new favorite here!

I put a bag of cooked meatballs in the slowcooker with a can of cream of celery, french onion mix and 16 oz. of sour cream. Cooked it on high for about 4-5 hours.

Last time I kept the noodles separate. Tonight I mixed them all together. It was MUCH better this way!

Saturday night Mom kept the girls. Emil and I had such a fun, relaxing evening. We went to Starbucks then just drove around for a while and talked and talked and talked. It was so nice and so needed!! After driving around we came home then realized we were hungry. So, we found the closest Burger King and drove there to pick up some Whoppers. It was such a carefree evening and we enjoyed every single minute of it!

Sunday I met up with Mom and the girls at the meeting. It was a wonderful talk!

I snapped this picture of me and Lena Sunday evening. She is getting so big so fast. It makes me sad!

Then we made some silly faces.....

And I'm not sure what's going on with this picture or what I was doing...still making stupid faces??? .... oh well....

I have to study for a major exam I'm having on Wednesday.

I thought last semester was bad...it's nothing compared to this one. But I am so not complaining.... I love studying and learning....

On another note...we're back in triple digit days. It doesn't seem like we are ever going to get out of this heat!! And the really sad thing is there is no rain in sight! The news today said we haven't had a real rain since September 4....of last year!!!

Another Fire....

2011-09-07T20:35:00.001-07:00

I have been studying like crazy for an Anatomy and Physiology quiz today...it definitely paid off because I made a 100!! It felt so good to walk in there confident that I had done as much studying as I could. I wasn't even that nervous!

After school I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. When I was coming out and driving home I noticed thick, heavy, white smoke at Camp Bullis across the street from our back yard. I called Emil and asked him if there was another fire....

They put TV on and sure enough, the NW side of Camp Bullis had a fire.

Camp Bullis is a military training area. The news reported today that there is no irrigation system there and perfect conditions for a big, big fire.

They said it was no longer considered a grass fire, but a forest fire!

It was very, very scary!

I took these photos with my cell phone.

These pictures came from the Kens5 website.....

This fire was about 20 minutes from my house. The fire we had Monday was only about 5 minutes away!! I really, really just want some rain!!!

Beautiful Day & Brush Fire

2011-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day in a long time that we had nice temperatures. The news said today we have had 53 straight days of temps over 100!! So, this morning I woke the girls up and Luigi, loaded us all up, called Mom and headed to the park.
Luigi was so busy playing this was the best picture I got of him in the dog park.

I think everyone was happy to have such nice, cool weather because the park was busy! It was hard to find parking! Mom said she has been looking forward to this day for a long, long time!
I loved these cactus there, and the red buds on them.

This big old tree is one of my favorites as well.

Mom's car alarm went off in the middle of our walk, so we had to turn around to cut it off. When we made it back to the girls, they were sitting in a little rest area. Luigi was pooped!

Mom and Lena got ahead of CC and me. I snapped this pic. I love it! I think it needs to be framed.

At the end of the walk Luigi decided he had had enough. Right before I snapped this picture he laid down and for a minute we didn't think we would be able to get him back up!

We came home and Emil was sitting in the back yard enjoying the cool temperature and the breeze. We finally got to hear our wind chime that we brought back from Galveston chime. Charlie wanted to be outside with us. I think he enjoyed the cooler weather too!

I laid down on Emil's chair and just relaxed. It was soooo nice!

The girls and I went to the grocery store to buy a few things we needed for lunch. On the way out I received an alert that there was a large brush fire in my area. My sister called and said she too had heard it and wanted to check on us. When we left H-E-B we saw the thick smoke billowing not far from our subdivision. We got home and put the news on.

I took some of these photos from my friends facebook and some from the KSAT website.

Apparently a city truck was in this park and it ignited somehow causing this fire that raged for over three hours. Two apartment complexes had to be evacuated.

We were glued to the TV watching it's progress.. For a while there it started getting closer to our area and it was a little scary. For the most part it was about 3.5 miles away. The high winds kept igniting hot spots making it hard to completely put out.

Emil made us such a great lunch... in fact we are still so full it doesn't look like we will be wanting dinner!

Grilled patties, waffle fries and fried pickles!

It was delicious!!

After our late lunch we laid down and took a little nap. I went back outside with Lena to relax and enjoy the coolness. I heard some banging in the kitchen and saw CC making cookies. I snapped a quick picture through the window... I think it's time to clean the windows again.

Aside from the fire, this has been a wonderful day!!

Yesterday we went to Ikea.... I found this desk/table that I completely fell in love with. It is exactly what I have been wanting. Lena wants the chair...the chair costs more than the table!

And I found this entertainment center that is EXACTLY what I have envisioned for our living room.....

Tomorrow it's back to school. I have spent this whole weekend studying and that is exactly what I am going to do now....study some more!

Fried Pickles & What a Week....

2011-09-01T22:56:00.001-07:00

What a week this has been....let me just say, I am so, so glad it's over! It started off so hot and stayed hot and will keep being hot through this weekend. Oh come on, I am so, so over this heat! Yesterday when I came home from school I was wiped out, just exhausted. I laid down on my bed and passed out for at least an hour. When I woke up I told Emil for some reason I wanted fried pickles.... My sweet Papa Bear got up, went in the kitchen, CC found him a recipe online and he made me some fried pickles! This recipe is too good not to share!

Fried Dill Pickles

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup ice water

2 tbsp dill pickle juice

8 medium-large pickles, sliced 1/4 inch

or 4 cups drained dill pickles

oil for frying

Stir flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Make a well in the center and add water, egg yolk and dill pickle juice at the same time.

Stir until smooth, cover bowl and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Heat at least 2 inches of oil in the deep fryer (or pan).

Dip pickles in batter to coat evenly and fry.

After refrigerating the pickles he was good to go....

We did add about 1/4 cup more flour because the consistency was just off a bit. It worked much, much better with the extra flour.

They were so, so good!!! The crust was amazing, light and delicious!

We dipped them in ranch dressing... I can't wait for him to make more!

I guess my nap yesterday messed up my night. I went to bed late, woke up late and had a hard time getting started. I also left late to school this morning...very, very late. I was rushing down the road and saw a cop on a motorcycle but it was too late.......

He said he saw me coming up fast behind him and he was hoping I would slow down but I didn't and his radar clocked me at 57 in a 45 so he had to pull me over. He kept apologizing and told me, "Maim, I know we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of things, but you have to be careful. Just please, please be careful...." This was my first speeding ticket in over 6 years.... ugh!And I ended up being late to class!! Double Ugh!!

Mom came over for a little while and we went to Homestead Handcrafts. I found lots of cuties, even bought a lavender shirt that says, "Love, Love, Love" on it. I just couldn't shake this funk I've been in since that stupid ticket. It's no one's fault but my own. Guess I really need to take it slow and try to slow down a bit.... but on the up side, the speed limit on TX highways increased to 75 today!! I'm just going to have to keep it on cruise control I guess!

I'm just glad this week is FINALLY over....I've got nothing planned but I don't think I have ever been so ready for the weekend!

Generator

The winner for my Lysol No-Touch Soap System is LV from Thoughts from Meme's Corner...
Min: 1
Max: 8
Result:
1

Crock Pot Stuffed Cabage Rolls

2011-08-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

I love to make easy dinners in my slow cooker/crock pot. I tried out a new recipe for Stuffed Cabage Rolls but also did a few stuffed bell peppers in a regular pot. Both are so good topped with sour creme.....

I was supposed to use two cans of tomato sauce for the sauce but I only had two cans of stewed tomatoes. They worked just fine! I also added some fresh lemon juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar and ten shakes of Worcestershire sauce.

I was supposed to chop a whole onion but only had about 3/4 cup so I just added dried onion flakes to the meat. I also add one egg slightly beaten, 1/2 cup milk, and 1 tsp each dried basil, parsley and oregano. I needed two small cans of chopped mushrooms and didn't have any canned so I used 1/2 a carton of fresh. It was sooooo good!

I added my two pounds of browned ground beef and two cups of cooked rice to the spice mixture.

I was originally supposed to make 14 stuffed cabbage leaves but I ended up only getting 11 good leaves and the rest of the mixture I put in 6 large bell peppers. I made the same sauce mixture for these, spooned some on top and poured the rest on the bottom.

In the slow cooker I poured the tomato sauce mixture on top of my rolled cabbage leaves and let it cook on high for an hour and then turned it to low for 4 hours. Browning the meat helped speed up cooking time.

I cannot tell you how good the house smelled. We had to do deliveries and it was sooooo hard to not eat first. We came home with hungry tummies!

The stuffed cabbage is very similar to the Russian dish galubtsi. So we topped ours with sour cream just like you would galubtsi. It was beyond delicious!

I am linking this up today to Kelly's Korner Crockpotalooza!
This is also the last week to enter my giveaway here- perfect for families with school-age kids!!

...ALONE...

2011-08-30T17:59:00.001-07:00

Since I've started school back, my days are so, so long! I have to do my schoolwork, get the girls their homework for the day, go to school, help Emil, come home cook, clean, grade their homework, take a shower and if I'm lucky start on my homework before midnight! It's been stressful.
So today, Emil offered to take the girls out for a while and let me stay home...alone... to study in the uninterrupted quiet.... THANK YOU PAPA BEAR!!!!
I can probably count the number of times I have stayed home alone in the past ten years on one hand...this is a real treat! (I'm not saying I don't love my girls or being a mom, sometimes I need a time out and just rest and think about me.)
SO....... the first thing I did was put the TV on classical music.... I would never be able to do that if everyone was home!

Then I folded a load of clothes, washed another and after this post will put a third load in. I swept the floors, mopped the kitchen and living room, washed all the dishes, cleaned the table then cleaned the kitchen....with no interruptions!

Mom texted me and asked me if I was having fun yet...here is my response....

I just may have put my karaoke machine on and sang some Whitney Houston....maybe...after dancing around my living room to "Family Tradition".... just maybe....

The girls called and said they would be home in about an hour, so I uploaded these photos, am writing this post, made me a cup of Cafe Mocha......

and now am getting ready to buckle down and study some hormones and the heart...

I am so thankful Emil took the girls and gave me some free time. I don't ask for much and this was greatly appreciated! This little break should hold me over for a few months...it sure was nice. I do miss them all already...am I crazy?

Today was supposed to be our last day of triple digits... I sure hope it is. Yesterday we supposed to break all types of heat records. It was so hot! Both Emil and I got really bad headaches, and body aches yesterday. I think it was heat exhaustion. We weren't even out in it that much, but what we were out in was unbearable. It's like you can't even breathe it's so hot and so much pressure.

Sunday we girls stepped outside after lunch. It was the hottest I have ever felt outside....

This is why......

I am so ready for fall. I've been looking at fall crafts on pintrest and am ready for some fall scents. I've been hounding my sister about Scentsy fall scents. I want fall colors and scents and crafts....I am ready for fall!

Pink Saturday - Goodbye To Summer...

2011-08-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

Today as were walking through Lowe's I wondered over to the Garden Center to see if they have any cactus... I didn't find cactus, but I did find a few pretty pink flowers left. AND since it's Pink Saturday time, I thought I'd snap away!!

Birds of Paradise, Mexican grass (?) and Rangoon Creeper

I absolutely LOVED these orchids!!

And this flower, Bromeliad, really caught my eye....very unique!

I guess since Fall is supposed to be coming now, not that you'd know it here (we are expecting 108 today) I guess warmer colors and mums will be popping up. I only had one good bloom from my roses this year. I lost five crepe myrtles, all my tomatoes, basil and one miniature rose. I think it's just been too hot for anything to grow. Hopefully next year will have a better growing season!
You can visit our sweet host Beverly's blog here to see more sweet pinks!

AND

You can enter my giveaway here....the winner will be drawn next week!

Ready For The Weekend!!!

2011-08-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

I am so ready for this weekend! This past week has been so hectic and crazy for us. I started college back, Monday through Thursday, and Lena started her homeschooling back full time as well. I've been wanting to get the girls in bed by 10:30, a time both Emil and I agreed on. However, there just isn't enough time in the day and they've been getting to bed closer to midnight!! This coming up week I plan to buckle down and fix that!

Last night when the girls and I came home from being out of town, my sweet Papa Bear had dinner cooked (Dover fish and rice) and had the table set for us!! It was soooo good and so, so sweet!!!

Then today after I came home from an appointment he made some appetizers for us.... grilled bread topped with sprotik fish, fried garlic potato cubes, fresh cilantro and cheese.... so, so good!!

Since we successfully finished this week with our nerves in tact (and CC did SO good in Math today), I promised the girls I would take them to Gigi's for cupcakes. I know you're not supposed to reward with food....because we're not dogs...but we really needed to just get out of the house, sit in a cool place, laugh and talk and have fun!!!

Lena choose the Banana Split cupcake.... it was good!

I went with the Miss Princess cupcake. It was good but still no Cupprimo.

And CC choose Merry Margarita, with the warning, "Don't eat and drive!"

She loved her Margarita Cupcake.....

Maybe a little too much!!! haha! (I think the tequila was getting to her!) The girls did sneak in a nice picture when I left my phone on the table.......

And then they decided to make fun of all the young kids who make these silly fish/duck/confused faces and show a peace sign....I guess that's what happens when they get too much sugar in them!!

When we came home CC and I watered the grass. She got smart and started spraying me. I took off running, hiding behind the car on the driveway and slipped and cut up my leg pretty nice!! But we had fun....lots of fun....and she just might have been trying to get me back. She said she was trying to spray, "that stupid little braid on my head!"

We don't have much on the schedule for tomorrow and I am glad! My Chemistry book came in today and I am so excited to start on homework!!! And this is going to be one of the hottest weekends on record, so I definitely plan to stay inside!!!

I'll be catching up on laundry, doing homework, grading all of Lena's many, many lessons and maybe make Tiramisu brownies for our friends in Austin.....

I am just so over this heat...I really, really want a change of weather! I need some cooler temps and a little rain!!

College, Guinea Pigs and a Surprise

2011-08-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday CC asked me to stop her at PetSmart so she could buy bedding for her guinea pigs. I honestly thought bedding was all we would be walking out with.

But then Lena saw this.....

and she has been begging for a guinea pig.....

She fell so hard in love with the black cowlick guinea pig. She made a phone call to her daddy and this cutie came home with us!

Meet Jynx, the newest member of our family!!!

Lena held him most of the way home. CC helped her set up his cage. She has hardly gotten any homework done, she has played with him so much today!! I think Jynx is going to be pretty spoiled!

About a month ago Lena had to keep CC's guinea pigs in her room for about a week. They loved all the attention they got from her and she loved having a guinea pig (or two) to play with. Gypsy, the newest one, is on the left and the beautiful, bad Tara (Tiramisu) is on the right.

Today after school I came home and Mom was here. That is always so nice! I love coming home and she is here. Papa Bear was marinating ribs and sausage and ...... he and the girls cleaned the house up and down. The refrigerator was spotless...better organized than it has been in years! I was so excited and happy!! It meant so much to me, especially since I started college this week and things have been so stressful and hectic! Emil even washed the dishes AND cleaned the laundry room!! You don't know what a nice surprise that was!!!

We grilled veggies...eggplants, zucchini, yellow squash and fresh asparagus...it was so delicious!

And of course had ribs and sausage.....

We all ate together and talked and laughed...it was so nice!

My Anatomy teacher has been all that I expected...and more.... she is tough, strict, yells, is super sarcastic, she humiliated a boy for asking a question, cut down a girl for correcting her that Labor Day is not this coming Monday but the following AND.....she actually took a students cell phone today because it rang during class!!!!

I do have to say, she explains things very clearly. She makes sure you understand before moving on. However, I would be terrified to ask her a question even if I didn't understand. We took lots and lots of notes today. My arm hurts from all the writing!

My chemistry class will be awesome! I LOVE my professor. His name is Jamshed Ayub. He actually worked with Gallo at the NIH when the AIDS virus first surfaced in the late 80's. He was one of the men who first identified and tried to find a vaccine for it. He has chaired several universities and colleges and I think this will be one of my favorite classes!! I just need to get my book in.. I bought it online, the cheapest one I found was a whopping $79!!! It's sure not cheap to get an education!!

I am so not looking forward to this weekend. They are expecting some out of this world temperatures... temps that will break every record we've ever had. Some forecasts have Saturday and Sunday with temps of 110 and heat indexes even higher.... Goodness!! I want winter!!!

You can still enter my giveaway here... The winner will be announced next week!

I'm Stressing.....

2011-08-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day back at school for Lena and for me. Lena is starting fifth grade and I am taking two courses, Chemistry and Anatomy and Physiology 2.
I guess because I have been so stressed and nervous about today I woke up at 6 a.m.!!! I laid in bed hoping to fall back asleep but that never happened...instead I made myself some coffee.

Then I went back to bed to do some reading. That always calms my nerves.

By this time the girls had woken up. Lena made herself some coffee and went straight to work. Since this is her last first day as a elementary school student I had to take her picture.

She is so super excited about her German classes. Fifth grade has given her lots of homework already. Saturday night I logged on to her homeschool and printed out all her papers and assignments for today. I seriously think I printed out about 20 pages!!! I had to tell Emil to buy more printer paper!

Lena also got a hair cut Friday...this is hers....the inspiration photo and her style.

It's shorter than we wanted but she is loving it! Especially when we put in some mouse and blow it out!!

My A&P teacher seems like a nightmare. I am so terrified. She has tons of rules!!

Example:

*If you are 15 mins late you are counted absent.

*After 4 tardies, every time you come in late you are counted absent.

*If you are absent it is up to you to find out what your assignment is. There is NO make up days.

*Homework is turned in when you WALK into the room. NOT once you sit at your desk.

*She has the right to take your cells phones if you bring them into class. (I have children and a husband who owns a small business... I NEED my cell phone!)

*All supplies should be brought to class the first day, NO EXCEPTIONS, however, she lovingly didn't tell us what those supplies are other than to say we could bring color pencils if we choose.

*If you miss a test, for any reason, you automatically get a zero. NO EXCEPTIONS!

*There is NO excuse for absences. Period.

I can tell this will be a wonderful semester!

Gigi's Cupcakes & Our Last Weekend...

2011-08-20T22:46:00.001-07:00

This is our last weekend before school starts up for me and Lena. This summer flew by so fast!! One thing Lena did ask me to do before school starts was take her to Gigi's Cupcakes. Today, we did just that!

It's really cute inside, very quaint and comfy... and very pink!!!

Their selection of cupcakes change daily and seasonally. There were so many different choices it was hard to decide!

They had several options from their menu and then a few specials for the day.

In the back there was such a nice area to sit and enjoy your cupcake....

I loved these lights..you can't see it here but they are the softest of pinks!

And they have the cutest pictures on the wall....pink and brown..that's my kind of color combination!

Lena choose the Top Hat. It was devil food cake with white butter cream frosting with chocolate ganache and a fondit hat on top. As you see she ate it before I could snap a picture.

CC picked the Champagne cupcake... description here... it was superb!

I was going to go for the Kentucky Bourbon Pie..but instead went with the Spumoni. It was good.. cherry cake, pistachio frosting... I just wasn't really digging the combination together and the frosting was SUPER SWEET!! I ended up taking 1/2 of it to mom!

And we brought Papa Bear the Midnight Magic cupcake home...he was in LOVE!!! And they had it wrapped up in a cute box!

After Gigi's we went to visit Mom for a while. With me starting school and homeschooling two girls, helping Papa Bear and finding time to study I won't have much free time until probably January, so I thought I better go visit her while I can! Tonight the girls and I did a late night run to Target to finish up getting what we need for school, folders, markers, pencils, etc.

Yesterday the girls and I went for haircuts. Mine is somewhere between these two. Papa Bear said he doesn't see much of a difference. I see that all the dead and damaged ends are gone!!

Lena's hair is shorter than we had planned and CC hates her hair, even though it looks really good on her. It about an inch shorter than she wanted and now she's begging Mom to buy her some Rogaine!! Oh lord...these girls are something else!

*Don't forget to stop by my giveaway here and leave a comment on the giveaway post to enter!

Lysol NO - TOUCH SYSTEM Review and GIVEAWAY

2011-08-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

I was asked to do a review for Lysol's No-Touch Hand Soap System....

We absolutely LOVED it!!!!
"You will never have to touch a germy soap pump again!"

View a video of our No - Touch Soap System here....

There is a switch at the back so you can turn the system off and on. A sensor on this sleek stainless steel look system detects your hand and dispenses the exact amount of soap needed for a thorough hand washing. The anti-bacterial soap kills up to 99% of germs when used as directed. It was absolutely perfect...and a superb way to cut down on the spread of germs and help you to stay healthy.

With school starting back, millions germs are bound to enter your home. Good hand washing techniques ensure a way to minimize their spread.

The starter kit includes one dispenser, one bottle of antibacterial soap and 4 AA batteries. Four great scents are available:

Refreshing Grapefruit Essence
Soothing Cucumber Splash
Aloe Vera and Vitamin E with moisturizers - we were given this one, it is divine!!!
Antibacterial Total Care

Upon visiting the Lysol website you will find many helpful links, such as Handwashing Prevention Tips, a fun Handwashing Poster for kids and even some Back To School Basics for Germ Prevention.

I was also given a container of Lysol Dual Wipes...
These wipes have two sides that go way beyond ordinary wipes.

One side is soft for everyday messes and clean ups...
the other side is textured with built in tough fibers and is used to scrub through tough messes...
These wipes kill up to 99% of viruses and bacteria when used directly, even killing cold and flu viruses and H1N1!! It comes in scents Citrus and Crisp Linen.

The Lysol website also includes links about Before and After School Hygeine Habits, Cleaning and Disinfecting 101, Kitchen Cleaning Tips, and Bathroom Cleaning and Disinfecting Tips.

You can also enter to win the Whirlpool® Lysol No-Touch Stainless Kitchen Sweepstakes here!
While you're there don't forget to "like" them on Facebook!

Now for the giveaway......

One reader will win the No - Touch Soap System by leaving a comment on this post.

That's it.... just leave a comment telling me how this system would help you out or which room you would put this system in.

Receive Additional Comments by:

**being a follower, new or current**

**posting about this giveaway on your blog**

**tweeting about this giveaway**

** "like" Lysol on facebook, come back and let me know**

I received the free product as part of a promotional program with Lysol® and MomSelect.

Busy Week

2011-08-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

This past week has been so busy for us. Between cooking, cleaning and helping Emil, I really haven't had any down time. I really would like to try to get some rest in this week since my and Lena's school starts back next week. I have to admit, I am getting pretty excited! I never appreciated school when I HAD to go, but now that I WANT to go, it's a completely different story!
I feel like this past week I have lived in the kitchen. We haven't had lasagna in quite some time, so I promised the girls and my Papa Bear that I would make some. Ohhh, it was good!

I also made two loaves of banana bread, Papa Bear's favorite. AND he only ate two slices!! He whines when I make apple bread because he doesn't like it, but then didn't eat much of his banana bread that I made especially for him....oh well!

I did make a loaf of my Praline-Apple Bread for some friends in Austin. Sherry called to tell me her husband said it was the best thing he has ever eaten! And his mother has written several cookbooks - she told me to take it as a huge compliment! I sure did!!!

One evening last week the girls and I went to Bath and Body Works to get some lip glosses and then head over to Barnes and Noble to find some good books and listen to fun music. We find books we like there and then look for them on eBay and get them for much, much cheaper. I found one book I really want, "Rooftops of Tehran" by Mahbod Seraji. At B&N it sells for around $18, on eBay it's going for $1.99! You can't beat that!!

Anyway.. there is a really good Italian restaurant in the same strip and the girls took this silly photo in front of the building. If you've played Just Dance 2 on Wii then you will recognize this as the end move on Katti Kalandal. (I know I'm dead once they see this!)

Bath and Body Works also came out with a new scent...ParisAmour.
It is sooo good and fresh and soft. I couldn't wait for it to launch on the 13th. My sweet Papa Bear treated me and the girls to a little shopping at BBW... we had lots of fun, voted for the next scent to come out, got some great goodies and came home happy! Thank you Papa!

My friend Ursula that I used to work with at the bank is being let go in a few days. So, she got some of the girls together that work there and she invited me to lunch with them. It was so nice to see everyone.
This is me with one of my best friends, April. When I worked at the bank April and I were together all the time. They used to call us April squared..lol! When they let me go exactly one year and three days ago, it was really hard on me to not have April there to talk to and laugh with. I have really missed her. She and I are alike on so many levels, we love family, cooking, cleaning, teaching our kids the right way... you name it!

And this is me with my sweet friend Ursula. She really got a raw deal in her departure with the bank. She is such a hard worker and so friendly and always tries to see the good in a situation. You can tell her anything and know it will be kept confidential and she is one of the hardest workers I have ever known! I love her to pieces!! I know something better is just around the corner for her!! The bonus in all of this is that she gets to spend the first few days of her daughter starting kindergarten at home with her! What a blessing!

After lunch CC and I went to HEB to do some things. I found these super cute succulents for only $2.99 each! I have been wanting some for quite some time. And they were in the cutest little clay pots...I couldn't pass them up and can't wait to plant them! I want to get a few more and find some coral cactus to go with it.

We ran a few more errands and then ended up at Arbolito's nursery. LOVE this place! Their plants are so reasonably priced!

We purchased some Mexican Feather Grass for CC and tried to find some cactus. Theirs were pretty small and I didn't find the coral cactus so I held off buying any. I did see plumbago but when I texted Papa Bear he said, "Nooooooo"!

This evening Papa Bear grilled steaks and veggies for us. We grilled eggplants, zucchini and yellow squash and portobello mushrooms...delish!! I think we all kinda hurt ourselves on the veggies...they were too good!!

I've been on the Weather Channel's hurricane forecast daily, multiple times daily to tell the truth. I think I have learned more about hurricanes these past few weeks than I have ever known before. I keep watching them and hoping one will come close my way so we can get some rain! We need rain! We need a relief from this heat! It is so overbearing. I think all our running around today gave me a tinge of heat exhaustion, it was hard to breathe, I had a funky headache and just felt really bad all over! I don't think Rick Perry's mass prayer for rain helped!! Haha! I'm not putting him down, but who does he think he is? Because he gathers hundreds or thousands of people to pray for rain, he thinks it will actually work? To me it looked like he was hoping for a miracle through his prayer. And the whole charrade was a bit comical to me. Ha! Doesn't work that way, especially when it was only a stepping to stone to fun for president. I guess people will try anything.

I have two giveaways coming up this week! I was going to post them both this past week but had no time, so I've got to squeeze them in before school starts!

Pink Saturday - Homestead Handcrafts

2011-08-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

I am sharing my second (and last) part of Homestead Handcrafts for Pink Saturday. They have such wonderfully cute things I had to break it up in two posts...it honestly could have been about 3 or 4 but I don't have tons of time, so ths post is a pic overload!! You can see all the Reds here...

When you walk in Homestead you see aisles of this.....

I was so happy that for once I didn't have to rush through there, hence all my pictures, I was able to take my time and enjoy all that they had to offer.

I found these cute little signs with the cutest little sayings. I've been on the look out to get my sweet friend Gala something different. This sign says, "If friends were shoes, I'd buy you in every color." This is on my list to give her.

This sign fits me to a "T". In fact, I'm drinking my coffee right now!

And this is sure to go in Gala's basket. She just turned 50 this year (though you would never know) and I like to tease her about it.

This display is my favorite. It's done by a local artist and I LOVE her 3-D work. It is simply amazing. I wish so badly my girls were still in that "baby" stage so I could put art work like this in their rooms... they laughed at me when I suggested it! Oh well....
~~~~~~~

This particular one is my favorite. I honestly think I may have to just purchase it for myself. I have no idea where I would put it. It would hate for it to end up in the top of my closet with my other original art pieces I've purchased over the years.

This is my next favorite...AND....she would match great in my living room!

This didn't have a lot of pinks but it did have things I have really been getting into, crowns and keys!

It's just too bad everything there was too expensive. I did fall in love with these bird book ends. I love the look and style and think they would look excellent on the entertainment center!

This booth had some really neat things, again not much white but too cute not to include.

I love the torn sheet music. It just reminds me of "Phantom of the Opera" for some reason.

And how cute is this.... grade cards from 1930! When I saw Charles Le Sage was promoted to the low 3rd I thought, "Ouch... that's gotta hurt!"

I loved this set of ladies. I think they used to be lamps but the pink flowers definitely make for a conversation piece, very whimsical and feminine!

This lamp would be adorable in a little girls room!! I love, love, love the black and white striped base!

And they have fun jewelry displays. I just love the big chunky necklaces and big earrings to dress up plain tees or sundresses during the summer.

I. WANT. THIS. MIRROR!!!!

Another cute mirror....

I have no idea where I would put this bench, but I want it too!!

I love going to Homestead Handcrafts to look around. Items change very often, so if you see something you like it's best to get it before it's too late!
~~~

You can find more great pink posts hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound.
~~~
I plan to stay inside and out of the heat. Our airconditioner in the house died on us Thursday night. We were miserable!! It was 85 in the house with the ceiling fans on and the windows open. It didn't help much that we were sitting at almost 90 by midnight. Just miserable. Luckily we called someone Friday morning and $110 later he had our air fixed and the house was cooling off. I think the heat really got to us. We drank more than we ever had and slept most of the afternoon.

~~~

Lena's school books came yesterday. She's not too happy but I think 5th grade will be great for her! I am so excited to this year of homeschooling!! I have big plans for us!
~~~

Ok, that's it. I want to go check out more Pink Saturday posts!!

Have a great weekend!

The Forecast & Pinterest

2011-08-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

THIS is our forecast for the next five days!!! AND this doesn't even show the heat index!! I am in need of winter in a bad way!!! I can't take this heat. My feet are tanned from my flip flops by my just being outside walking from the car to the store....unbelievable!!

When I was at Homestead Handcrafts the other day I noticed a booth with two wreaths that I have been seeing all over blogger for some time. They both look super easy and I've always wanted to give them a try...

the coffee filter wreath and the wreath made from pages of a book...

They had this wreath layered and it looked so good together. I'm thinking this is a craft I could do while I wait out these record breaking high temperatures!

And while I am staying cool inside I will be wishing I was at one of these lovely places that I found on pinterest. (I'm pretty addicted to pinterest! It's habit forming!)

This is a house in Russia...so pretty and whimsical!

too, too cute! And I'm loving that Mexican iron peacock chair in the lower left corner. I've actually been on the lookout for one for my house.

one of my favorites!!

Oh I wish I was seeing this out of my windows!

or even better...this!

I was recently asked to do a review for Lysol's new automatic soap dispenser. It cuts down on the spread of germs....

It looks so fun and I can't wait to play with it!!

Rednesday at Homestead Handcrafts....

2011-08-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

First, I can't believe it's already Wednesday and second, I can't believe I actually have a few minutes to put up a Rednesday post over at Sue Loves Cherries!

This past Saturday I wasn't rushing to do anything or be anywhere, so the girls and I headed over to Homestead Handcrafts, probably one of my favorite places to go! I can literally spend hours just perusing through the store. There is always new, beautiful things and I definitely have lots of items from them decorating my house!

My sister collects Coke products and Homestead has plenty to offer!

They always have the cutest displays set up. I LOVE aprons and this display really caught my eye!

You have to really take your time and look at each piece, other wise you could miss some really great deals!!

I know these have no red in them but I couldn't resist posting some Grade Cards from the 1930's!! Apparently "Charles Le Sage" was only promoted to the low 3rd grade...ouch!

I thought this was such a cute set-up. I love, love, love the Americana theme.

I am soooooo over it being hot!!! (In fact, our high Friday is 107!!!) I love fall, the colors, smells, decorations, and this display had me so excited and ready for fall to come!!!

I have no jungle theme in my house, but this cute little pair of monkey candles made me want to set up at least a jungle themed corner! They were too cute. And the palm tree candle holders??? Too cute!!

This little Keebler elf was one of my favorite red finds. I am seriously thinking about going back and getting him because I don't have a cookie jar and could really use one!

I can't wait to see all the other "red" posts. Don't forget to stop by Sue's lovely blog for more red goodies!

simple summer salads

2011-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

We had taken some steak out and I wanted to pair it with something not too heavy yesterday. I decided to raid my pantry and use what I had. I found a can of corn, three cans of beets and went from there.
First up....

Crab Salad

1 can corn, drained

1 pkg crab meat, chopped

1/2 onion, diced

mayo, salt & pepper

First chop the crab meat into small pieces.

Add 1/2 - 3/4 of a white onion.

Next is a can of drained corn and a couple of large spoonfuls of mayo.

Add salt and pepper to taste and mix together. It tastes best chilled.

I usually always have beets on hand. Lots of Russian salads use beets, which is why I always have some cans left over.

Simple Beet Salad

3 cans drained beets, diced

Mayo

Garlic powder

Salt and pepper

pine nuts, optional

I shredded the first two cans and it made the beets too watery, so I diced the last can. THEN I remembered it was supposed to be diced in the first place!

All you need to add next is garlic powder and mayo. I like to use lite mayo but Emil swears he can taste the difference, so I used regular mayo for these salads.

Again, just a couple large spoonfuls of mayo is enough.

It is super good, and one of my husbands favorites.

My mother in law adds nuts, but I didn't have any (I did, but they were going in the cookies I baked today!).

I prefer the crab salad. It's so good, especially paired with crackers. CC and Emil like the beet salad and Lena wouldn't try either one because she hates mayo!

Boys Are Fun...

2011-07-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

My mom always told me having boys is so much more fun than having girls. Girls you can have plenty of fun with dressing up and doing girly things with. Boys say the cutest things and do the craziest things.... My nephew came to visit us this week and it has been so fun! There were days my stomach literally hurt from laughing so much.
We went to the park and played soccer for a bit Friday.

Lena found this cute cactus circle...

After we were tired of playing soccer I took the kids over to play on the playground equipment. They had so much fun walking over this rope.

CC was a little hesitant at first. Lena was offering some help to her big sister.

But she finally made it!

SUCCESS!! All three across...

And they LOVED this wavy slide.

And what's a day at the park with out swinging?

This boy had me so nervous doing all kinds of crazy...and I mean crazy things.....

We were all so hot from the park so we decided to go to Sonic and get some Root Beer Floats... they never go out of style. It was sooo good!

When it got cooler we all went for a walk. I absolutely LOVE this street light in our neighborhood. Only a few houses have them in the yard and unfortunately I'm not one of them. I wish I was though!

Again, these kids had me laughing. They were skipping and singing, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..."

Then they decided to this dance....can't remember the name of it. But they were singing and dancing.... I absolutely love Lena's face here. It pretty much sums up how our visit with Tren has been!

Mom wanted to keep the kids and take them out to eat and to a movie (The Zookeeper). They had so much fun.

And she even made Chicken 'N Dumpling's for them....so, so good!

It has been so fun having Tren. I wish they lived closer so we could spend more time together! He is so super sweet and funny! Love him!!!

I was very disappointed with the little splash of rain Don brought yesterday. I was so hoping for a really hard, big, long, heavy downpour but instead got about 20 minutes of a steady rain...just enough to get my weeds growing! Tomorrow is August 1...the beginning of the Dog Day's of Summer. Oh man, I don't know if I'm ready for this. I need rain!!!

Tacos With A Twist...

2011-07-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was watching an old San Antonio Living with Shelly Miles, Diana Barrios was on making a taco recipe that had a little twist to it. I'm always up for trying new takes on regular recipes.

You will need lean ground beef, a can of corn drained with the juice set aside, a can of black beans, a can of crushed chipotle peppers, an onion, 3 cloves of garlic and salt and pepper.

First saute the onion and crushed garlic.

Add the ground beef and then drain.

Add the can of corn and about 2-3 Tbsps of the reserved corn juice.

Drain and rinse the black beans, then add to the mixture.

I added about 2 Tbsps of the crushed chipotle peppers. It can be made as spicy as you like. I just wanted the taste without the burn.

I also added some dried parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

I used corn tortillas and added chopped cilantro and green onions and squeezed some lemon juice on.

It was soooo good! I can definitely see it being a new staple in our family.

You can also top it with a salad of avacados, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was so good... I liked it this way!

Hot, Hot, Hot

2011-07-26T20:52:00.001-07:00

It has been so hot every single day!! I have had a headache today that I just couldn't get rid of...even after 5 Motrin!!
THIS is what we get to look forward to for the next eight days...we are soooo lucky!

Yesterday Papa Bear told me he wanted something cold and sweet. CC and I had just finished saying we wanted some ice cream. (The heat is just killing us!!) So we headed over to Sonic and I tried their Chocolate Sunday Shake.... ah-may-zing!!!

A miracle happened the other day... I managed to snap a picture of CC and I actually got away with it. She NEVER lets me take pictures of her....

Mom's air conditioner in her house went out on her yesterday so she loaded the kids up (they had stayed the night with her) and her cat Bella and spent the night with us. We had so much fun just laughing and talking and being together. Lena gave up her bed to Mom and then crashed on the couch.

Bella has been bullying Charlie and Toby. They don't quite know how to handle a mean, grouchy,bossy girl in their house. Both boys have hardly left my room today....this is why....

It was so nice to have Mom here. I loved hearing her making her coffee and opening and shutting the cabinets and talking to Bella. I missed that so much. I remember the night I moved in with Emil. We had been apartment hunting and found one and thought it would be a few more days before me moved in together and I would have to leave Mom. He told me we were moving in that night and I remember thinking, "Noooo, I haven't had my last night at home with my momma!!!" It was so scary. And I remember that next day, the first morning in my life I woke up with out my momma, it was so sad. I didn't hear her noises. I kept waiting to hear her moving around, doing her regular morning routine and it just never happened. I cried. And I cried the next several mornings until I got used to not hearing her. It was hard. So this morning I woke up early and heard her moving around in the kitchen and living room. I just laid on my bed listening...and smiling. I wanted to stretch it out for as long I could...make it a memory.

~~~~~

I had plans to make cookies tonight for the kids. It's just too hot. I can't do it! Maybe tomorrow. Bella is still here. My boys still won't come out. It's still hot outside at 11 p.m. with a heat index over 90. So I'm going to hop in the shower and snuggle on the couch with the kids and watch a movie!

A First For Me.....

2011-07-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today CC left to Belton with her friend Mariel to attend a convention on drawing near to God and preparing yourself to live in His kingdom. This was the first time CC has EVER gone out of town without me or my mom. I was soooo nervous!

But like Emil told me, "She's with Mariel (and five other ladies) going to a church convention, what's the worst they are going to do?" And he's right. I needed lots of prayer to stay calm.

We woke up early. I prepared her a lunch, drove through the bank to get her some money out, got her a breakfast taco and tea and dropped her off.

We texted most of her ride up there and talked through lunch. She even saw a couple of friends from when she went to public school.

I've been cleaning, getting ready for this evening and am going to take Lena to my Mom now.

This has been a truly great weekend!

We Had R.A.I.N.!!!!

2011-07-21T13:06:00.001-07:00

After a loooong dry spell, we finally received some much needed rain Tuesday. It started off nice and light......

then it turned dark and rained and rained....

and poured and poured.

It was so nice! It smelled so good. Our plants really enjoyed it!! The grass is greener. Unfortunately, so are the weeds!

Tuesday I treated us to cupcakes. I tried the Red Velvet... very, very good.

And I picked up Double Chocolate for my Papa. His birthday was Wednesday.

My nephew is here with us for a week. It's fun to have a boy in the house. I made Chicken Fried Steak last night with mashed potatoes and gravy and cream corn. It was soooo good!!!

Mom came over today and made Chicken and Dumplings. Ooooohhhh, delicious! It was supposed to be for dinner tonight but I think we all pretty much wiped it out!