I'm a Winner!!

I am very excited to announce I won the first ever giveaway I entered. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE what the design girl does. I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like! I choose the templete with brown and blue. I love the look of those two colors together! They truly compliment each other very well.



After work I met up with Lisa and her mother-in-law Nella at Buffalo Wild Wings. We approached the topic of healthcare. Nella has many heart problems and health issues. She moved here from Russia in the 90's. Her husband passed away two years after the moved here. She is unable to work due to her health issues and there is nothing they can do about this. They have tried many avenues, such as state sponsered health care. She was told no they couldn't help her and turned away. She looked into local avenues, such as our Carelink program sponsered through the University Health Systems. In order to apply she has to go through numerous interviews, one monthly, complete enormous amounts of paperwork and documentation. She cannot drive and both her son and daughter-in-law work full time jobs and cannot afford to take off one day a month to get her to these appointments/interviews. What is a person to do? Nella recently went to an appointment with a cardiologist. Just a regular appointment and her bill is over $3000! How is someone her age and in her health condition supposed to pay this crazy amount? It is so sad. Something definately needs to be done. How can people be given the added stress of these bills when they are already in poor health? Her medicines are only $100 a month. Thankfully her son takes care of this, but what if he couldn't? Is she supposed to just suffer? My mother-in-law works for our states sponsered insurance program. Her office states that anyone from Mexico or China is automatically approved for insurance coverage. But our own citizens can be turned away so easily? I do not think it's right and it certainly is not fair! I get really upset over things like this.



On to other subjects... I am so very happy the weekend is here. I don't know exactly what we are going to do but I am think the local museum of art. I bought more cocoa to make brownies. I brought my mother the last of the brownies I made and she accused me of using a mix. No mom, they are 100% homemade. Come over tomorrow and I will make you a fresh batch!



Lena's new word is "dead-gummit.." I don't know where she heard that but it sure took me right back to big 'ole Yoakum where that was commonly heard. It's cute to hear her say it. I can't help but smile when she says it. I just bought Lena a membership on PixieHollow. She is more than overjoyed and is creating her character right now. My how (just got another dead-gummit, haha), as I was saying, my how things have changed since I was a kid. We certainly didn't have games like that. There were not computers! We wanted to play we hopped on a bike and rode around town until it got dark and we knew we had to be home so we wouldn't get in trouble. We played cards, board games, made mud pies, played king of the hill at the cemetery (now that seems creepy but didn't at the time), made up songs... we found things to do. Now it seems like my girls are always plugged into something. You never see Sierra without her MP3 player thing plugged into her ears. Lena is really addicted to her laptop. I think the laptop and chatting with CC online is what got her to spelling and reading so well. Crazy!! We read books.. We went to the library and checked out books. I think my girls have been in a library once! Imagine That!



Ok... I will try to post more later. I am feeling so lucky after winning my first give-away entry I think I will try to win the give-away monogram chick has. This giveaway is for a monogramed travel mug. A must-have for any coffee drinker on the go. The other option is for a monogramed tote. Too cute as well. I am entering fot the travel mug. The link is http://monogramchick.blogspot.com/... I dont know how to just put her name and have you click on that yet. I am learning. Slowly but surely!!

Blog Giveaway....

No.. not me. I'm not giving anything away...this time. But the design girl is having a template giveaway. Kellyskornerblog has a template made from her and it's beautiful! I have read many other blogs where they are having giveaways and they list the winners. I have always wanted to enter a giveaway. I did enter the design girls.. I hope my next post will be announcing that I won.. Hey this is my eleventh posting! I am really starting to like this! I actually look forward to winding my day down with a post.

I played around with my blog last night and put a new template up. Anyone notice? It took me a couple of hours to get everything down but I did. And it was fun learning. I learned pretty much actually.

I took Emil to the doctor for a follow up on his knee. Dr. Taj said that we should come back in two to three weeks to schedule a MRI if it doesn't look like the knee is healing.

Ok. My big baby, the papa bear, is calling me to lay down on the couch with him. I must go...

Interesting

I have no pics today. I don't really feel like fighting with this and posting.. but I don't have any to post anyway.

Today was a pretty good day. I only worked four hours... went in at six and off at ten. I felt like I pretty much had the day off. It was so nice. HOWEVER.... I fell asleep on the couch with Emil around seven and woke up after eight. Not a good idea. I hope I still sleep well tonight.

We made tarragon chicken breasts, brown basalmic rice and Emils Korean cabbage salad. Delicious!! I am posting the recipe for the salad later on. I need Emil to translate the exact measurements for me. He found this Korean recipe on his Russian website... Imagaine That!!

I just put a batch of brownies in the oven. Sierra usually makes brownies but she's been kinda grumpy about it lately so I did it on my own. And the batter tastes pretty good!

While mixing the brownies I was listening to the channel Emil had on. I heard the most interesting thing I've heard in a long while. The chef was talking about figs. Emil always told me about the fig trees all around him growing up in Armenia. Anyway, the chef was saying that wasps have something to do with the pollination of figs. He said there are over 900 different varieties of figs and over 900 different types of wasps. If one species of wasps became extinct, the particular type of fig they pollinate would become extinct as well. Imagine That!! How very, very interesting!!

Ok... just wanted to add that here before I forget... I am on my tenth post now. Wow! I feel so proud. And they are coming not months apart! There is hope for me yet!

Going Back

This past Saturday I had to go visit someone in the Alamo Heights area of town and started telling the girls about my first date with their dad. I had never been on a one-on-one date with anyone since we had moved to San Antonio. I was 17. All my previous dates had been with groups of people so this was new for me. I was scared. Dumb, yes I know. As soon as I got in the car with Emil he took a left down the street by our apts. I had never been down that street in the ... ohhh... the three years we lived there. I knew the streets I needed to go down to get to school and the store and that was good enough for me. So we turn left down the street next to our apts and there is a highway to our right. Who would have thought... I certainly didn't know. Now I was scared. I was thinking.. oh my gosh.. I have no idea where we are.. he's taking me on this highway... he's gonna kill me! My heart was pounding.. he was listening to this crazy heavy metal music... I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. I was just thinking... I hope I told my mom I loved her before I left. Dramatic, yes.... but it was so out of my comfort zone I didn't know how to react. He wouldn't tell me where he was taking me... which made it worse. I saw high highways and tree tops... I saw signs for the zoo... WHAT WAS GOING ON?? Then we pulled into the the Japanese Tea Gardens... or Chinese Tea Gardens..depending on which sign you look at there. It was absolutely beautiful. Lush green plants and cherry blossom trees.. huge goldfish swimming in the ponds... stone bridges and stairs.. a waterfall... it was beautiful. We walked up a little hill and over a wooden bridge to a gazebo. We stood there and talked... another couple was there as well. When they left he kissed me. It was our first kiss. Oh man.. it still makes me smile thinking about it. And we kissed and kissed and kissed some more. So I decided that I would take the girls there to see where our family started.. where it all began. Well, smart me was thinking... we've had weeks of temperatures over 100 degree. So here we are... with our Sonic half price happy hour drinks.... going to the Tea Gardens. As soon as we stepped out of the car I think we knew the mistake we made... but we did it. For about 20 mins.

The entrance.. Lena was wearing leggings under her dress. She's so modest. When we got back in the car the leggings were off!!!

See the smiles.. as the pictures progess the smiles began to go away!! It was just too hot!




Lena with her leggings...



The stairs behind the girls going up to the large gazebo over looking the ponds and gardens. I didn't get a picture of that though. There were too many people and it was way too hot!

My Lena still smiling..



This is the opposite the entrance of the gardens



CC and Lena on one of the higher bridges. CC was so scared and could hardly smile.

CC took this picture of herself. Lena and I were off running because the bees kept chasing us for our drinks... CC thought it was funny.. me and Lena.. not so much!



Me with the waterfall behind me.. you just can't see the waterfall..



Smiles are going away...

Don't you just love the Sonic cups in every picture?

This the water fall. The water had just finished and of course I didn't get the camera out in time... so all you can see (if you really really look) is some trickling...



The girls just walking one of the stone bridges... Of course CC was scared...



Hot and tired...




On another bridge...



Me and Lena right after being chased by bees.. see... we're smiling we didn't get stung...



A picture of the largest bridge. The waterfall is to the right...



CC on the bridge to the gazebo where the first kiss took place...



It had these wooden planks so of course they were scared to walk on them..



The last picture of the day. We never made it to the gazebo...



Sunday morning I got up early and made banana bread for Emil. He had been begging me to make some, so I thought I'd get up early and make it.

The batter before going into the oven..



And the after. Ignore the wine. That was for the beef and mushrooms Emil and I made the night before..

I like the recipe for banana bread from my Betty Crocker cookbook. It turns out so moist. I like to add extra vanilla.. and I mean extra... and extra sugar and nuts, both pecans and walnuts. I also sprinkle a little extra sugar on top once it's in the loaf pan.



I still need to post pics of my weekend with my nephews. You would think by all the pics on this posting that I got the hang of pictures.. it's getting better but not at all easy. This posting took me two laptops, two hours and two drafts.. but I'm getting there.

A little bit of everything

I love love love this time of the morning. The house is quiet. Everyone's asleep. I hear faint breathing and occassional snores coming from their rooms. The birds are chirping outside, eating Luigi's food. And he's letting them! (Some gun dog!) Charlie has been fed...twice and had his water. The house is just still. Peaceful. I can think. Smell my coffee. Enjoy this time. My time. Once everyone start waking up it's a non-stop tornado blowing through here. Have you noticed no matter how much you .... there is Luigi jumping on the back door... anyway... it doesn't matter how often you sweep or wash dishes it is never finished. NEVER! I can sweep this kitchen five, six times a day and before I go to bed it ALWAYS needs another sweeping. Same thing with the dishes. I wash them as soon as we use them. But there are always dishes in the sink. How does this happen?



I am going (Luigi's back) to try to post more pics again. Ok.. now Luigi's fed and watered. Maybe I can get back to my post now. So I downloaded pics from my camera and I am going to try to put them all on here. This could be a long post. Unless someone wakes up or I get too frustrated trying!


I have been whining.. yes, whining is the appropriate word... for a rose bush. My husband would always tell me just wait, when we redo the front yard I'll get you one. Ok, I've been hearing this for five years.... when is the time going to come?!?!? Well, CC took matters into her own hands and one weekend while she was staying with my mom they went to a nursery. CC bought this beautiful rose bush for me with her own money she had saved up. That made it all the more special to me!

It's called a black velvet rose, coeur de dame, I think. The buds, after blooming, are red but the red continues to deepen and get darker until it almost looks so dark red it's black.




A close-up of the bloom. It's not yet "black" and I wish I would have gotten a picture of THAT bloom!



Well, I got two pretty roses from it. I decided to put it outside where it could get fresh air and sunlight. I noticed that the blooming had stopped. So I transfered it to a bigger pot. I don't want to put it in the ground yet in case we do move to a bigger house. I would then put it by my bedroom window! It means so much to me because Sierra bought it for me and it was one of the sweetest surprises I have ever had! So I transfered it to a bigger pot. I never saw another bloom from it however, it continues to grow new shiny leaves. It is always so exciting for me to see the new leaves coming up. I always think it is a new bud because they are such a dark red color. But new leaves are fine with me! I think the shock of the transfer is finally over!


This is what it looks like now!





One day at Wal-Mart with my mom I found this hibiscus on sale for $5! I have never owned one before but I know they are beautiful. Infact when I bought this one there was not even one flower on it, just green and yellow leaves. I thought "What the heck? It's only $5!" Mom warned me that hibiscus are difficult plants and not to be disappointed if it dies on me, they get root-rot very easily. Well, a couple of days after I bought it the leaves started drooping, no flowers. Ok, great, mom was right, I killed it. Darn! I gave it a good watering. Texas was all ready experiencing 100 degree days. The next morning it perked right up. No flowers though. As soon as the leaves started looking a little down I give her some water and before too long she was blessing me with beautiful little buds about the size of my pinky finger in the mornings when I left for work.

When I came home she looked like this!!!!



I love my hibiscus. Again, if I knew for certain we we're upgrading to a bigger house I would plant her as well. But these are my first plants that haven't died. We are forming a relationship. I don't want to abandon them here if we move!


This beautiful bouquet is from my wonderful husband for out anniversary. We had fought that day, can't remember what for. See how meaningless those things can be? But it was our anniversary and I would LOVE to be able to tell you how many years, but I can never remember what year we got married in. I always have to look at my bracelet where he engraved the date and year on it for me. I am pretty sure it was 2002. We've been together 14 years and married for 7. So it has to be 2002..right? Anyway, we were arguing that day and he let me out at the house. We didn't speak that whole afternoon. I cooked dinner for him. It was something he liked but again, can't remember what. Then I went to be early. I had to wake up early for work, nothing romantic was going to happen. We hadn't even talked. I gave him his gifts, clothes and colognes and then I went to bed. When I woke up for work the next morning I found this one the table for me. I almost cried!!





I didn't yet have on my contacts or glasses so I all I could really make out was the roses. I said "Oh my God!" Then I noticed the card and said a louder "Oh my God!" Then finally I saw the cd's I had been wanting and again whining for forever and said "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" THEN the tears started! He is so wonderful! I love my papa bear so much! I could never and would never want to imagine my life with anyone else! He truly completes me and I love that I love him more and appreciate him more everyday...more than I did the day before.
A close up of my beautiful roses. I even have this as a screensaver on my phone.




How can I get my roses to look like this?






Last Saturday Emil hurt his knee playing soccer at my friend Lisa's house. He was playing with Lisa and Stas's son Jakob. This is not the day it actually happened...but you get the idea. He was playing soccer with a 7 year old. On a 7 yr olds backyard "soccer field" and he tore his miniscus.



Lisa called me and told me. He came home limping and moaning and groaning. I told him... you never go to the doctor. We have insurance for a reason. If you're not going to go I don't want to hear a word about it. All day Sunday he laid in bed. Monday he called me at work begging me to come home early and take him to the ER. I did. After x-rays they found he tore his miniscus.If it does not heal on its own in 4-6 weeks he will more than likely have to have surgery.




He is Emil and Luigi, the above mentioned door jumper, window knocker of a dog. Yes he is HUGE!! He weighs around 120 lbs! He is really just a big ol' baby!




Even Luigi like roses! This picture was taken by Sierra.




Try telling Luigi this is Sierra's bed! He pushes her off. I go check on them in the morning and this is what I see. Luigi on the bed.. Sierra on the floor!



And of course anyone who knows me.. knows my Charlie. He is nine years old this month. (Terrible..I know my cats birthday but can't remember my anniversary!) He's my baby boy, my angel, my sweetheart, my love.... he is mine!




I have a better picture of this, I need to find it. He is so fat that it is often more comfortable for him to lean against the wall to clean himself!!




Ok... I think I did good. My fingers ache. It took me about an hour. I got pictures on here. I was going to post more pics from our weekend with my nephews but I am too tired. Again, as usual, there HAS to be an easier way to put pics on my blog. I will keep working at it.

Family...

My sister and her two youngest children came this weekend. The boys are staying with me, one is 8 the other is 16. It's really fun for me because I have two girls and they both are relatively calm and quite, except for the couple of times a day they try to kill each other. I've always wanted boys and this is a nice little glimpse into how boys are, how they think, act.... it's fun! Last night we sang karaoke, ate pizza, played the Wii.... just hung out together. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. I'm dead tired this morning but it's been well worth it so far. And that was only their first night here.


Quin is singing "Rockstar." Can you believe he's only 16 and is over six feet tall?!?!?!



This is my sister, Lisa, the boys mom. Before she left we walked around Costco, ate hotdogs and people watched. Before Costco I took her to the model of the home that we are...ummm... let's say 75% sure we are going to buy. It was reallynice to spend time with her. I wish she lived here or would come visit more ofter. I really enjoy being with her and miss her terribly when she leaves.



Even Luigi got in on the fun!!



I think the boys want to go ice skating today. I will take more pictures and try to post. I am really trying to get better at putting pics up on my blog. I find myself wanting to post more often. Watch out... I might start posting daily!!!

Changes

Last year I went to a weight loss seminar and the all day evaluation with the nutrionist, mental therapist, dietician, surgeon.. and everyone else under the moon. All I had to provide for the lap band surgery was a five year weight history and my ins would have paid the rest. I chickened out, like I had in 2007, and never went back. Now, another year later and another 15 pounds heavier I am going at it again. This time I think, I am pretty sure, I almost know I am going to go through with it. Mostly because I want to incorporate a healthier life style for my children and force them to develop healthier eating habits. I will post some before pictures... trust me.... there's a reason there aren't too many of me. Hopefully soon I will be able to post some "after" pics as well.

The girls are spending the night with my mom. This is the first night Emil and I have had alone in probably more than a year. What am I doing on the computer you might ask???? Well, I promised I would try to be more active on my blog....and Emil is on his "throne." So there you have it. And we have a friend coming over in about fifteen minutes.

I am going to post more pics here. The only reason I havent done more is because its so confusing. I cant figure it out and then I get frustrated!!!

Ok.. I think I want my Cinnabon (way to prepare for the Lap Band!) that Lisa brought back for me from her trip and make me some decaf coffee. Tomorrow will be a looooong day at work.

Excuse

Ok... I have an excuse. July 19 my husbands former business partner and really good friend got himself into some really hot, and I'm talking boiling, water with his "wife." And yes, the quotations are very necessary because anyone who knows her knows that a wife she is not..... no cooking, no cleaning, no working (at home domestically or outside), no interaction with the kids, going out alone at least three times a week leaving the hubby and kids at home, monthly shopping sprees that equate to someone working a very well paying full time job. She is absolutely worthless... but she's his wife, so I'll stop there. And yes, the dummies are back together. Anyway... she did some very very very bad things to him and he ended up staying with us for two weeks. Now, he was absolutely no bother at all. He cleaned up after himself, poor thing, he's used to cooking and cleaning for himself, and came in and out quietly and provided us with some good conversation. The first few days, well I should say the first week, was pretty hard for him. He could not eat, if he tried he threw up. Eventually she dropped most of what she did and he moved back in. However, he lost so much weight they had to go shopping for new clothes for him, and of course her also. So I guess she was happy for a day or two after that. Anyway.... I was so preoccupied with having him here and all their stupid drama, for lack of a better word. It was constantly back and forth like a yo-yo. I will drop it we will get back together. I will only drop part but we are over. I dropped everything and move back home. I signed something but not sure what and maybe I will move in with my mom. Ok.. for me this is stressful. Either you love someone and what to be with them or you don't. That's it. Good Lord!!! But he's back home with her, a big accomplishment?!?!???? I guess???? Who knows and right now.. who cares? If they knew they would "work things out" why drag my whole household into this. Oh well, we were friends, we helped him out, loved and cared for him while he was here, gave him good homecooked meals everyday and hopefully advice that he can ponder over and try to make a smart decision.
Now, what else..... Fourth of July was nice. We went to Lisa's house and ate fajitas, guacamole, sourcreme, rice, beans, flour tortillas and cheese. We drank something called Azul, obviously it was blue and very very good. I didn't expect for it to be good because, first, I don't drink and secondly, it looked similar to a wine cooler and I cannot finish one wine cooler with out feeling sick.....probably because I don't drink. I will post a pic of the Azul.
(I did it.. but I think it's more work than ti should be)

I did get that. But it was good. Nice taste and not too strong. Good for rookies like me. After dinner we went to Sonterra to watch a good 30 mins of fireworks. It was absolutely beautiful and I even got some good shots on my cell phone and made a nice screensaver for myself. However, wouldn't you know, just my luck, my camera battery died and I have a few shots on that one. If they are good enough I will post them here. But really, if you've seen fireworks once, you've seen 'em all.
Work is work... it still irks me. I am getting to the point that I really hate it. I am praying constantly for help to not let it drag me down and make me depressed. And it's definately working. I believe that if you trust in God to hear your prayers, give him your problems whole-heartedly and truly allow him to solve them he will. You just need to be ready for what he gives you, even if it's not what you wanted. In the end it ALWAYS works out for the best.
I can't believe I have been blogging this long. I guess I needed to do this when the former business partner was here. Whew.... what a release! But then again, the hubby, both girls, the cat and the dog are asleep and the house is completely still and quiet! How often does that happen?