Busy Week

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!