Happy New Year!

May 2010 be everything that you want it to be!

Do you remember Heatmiser?

Well, Big Bad VooDoo Daddy has redone the song. I couldn't find a really good video of BBVD playing at the B.B. King Lounge, but I did find this. Thanks to Hubby's research, I have another "Christmas Music That Doesn't Suck" favorite.



Enjoy!!!

Merry Christmas...

from our house to yours.

OMG - are these people for real?!

My husband found this blog of stupid customer comments.

Beware it's addicting!

I'm continually amazed at how stupid people really are.

My favorite version of Silent Night

Emergency Appendectomy!

That's how my husband and I spent our entire Wednesday.

He woke up in the middle of the night not feeling too well. Thinking it was food poisoning or just an upset tummy, he took some of the pink stuff. Well that didn't work, so then he drank a glass of milk. Much to Hubby's dismay, the milk didn't work either and as a last resort, he tried Alka Seltzer. That wonderful combination of things came back to haunt him and I found him hugging the porcelain throne.

Hubby looked so pitiful!

I asked him which doctor he wanted to see...doc-in-the-box or our family physician. He opted for the family physician, so off we went later that morning for the first of three visits to medical facilities. On our way to his appointment, I asked him to explain his symptoms (no, I'm not a nurse, but I play one on tv) and said to him "what do you want to bet that you have appendicitis?" His response was a roll of the eyes and "I sure hope not." After seeing our doctor, she recommended that Hubby have an abdominal MRI done to rule out appendicitis. Guess what the MRI doctor said...he was 99.9% sure that Hubby's pain and other uncomfortable symptoms were due to his appendix, so off we went to the hospital.

I'm still amazed at the fact that the hospital got him from preop-surgery-recovery-home in less than 5 hours. AND the staff at the hospital was/are FANTASTIC. We cannot say enough wonderful things about them.

Through all of this, I am blessed to have such wonderful friends. I'm so thankful for the one who allowed my teenagers to hang at her house, then brought them home, for everyone sent prayers and offers to help and for the dear girlfriend who brought me dinner because she knew that I hadn't eaten all day. I couldn't have made it without you!!!

BTW - Hubby was disappointed when the doctor told him that he couldn't have his appendix to take home because they were sending it out for pathology. Where in the world would I have put THAT thing.

Something to think about...

I'm really impressed with this song.

There is more to Christmas than just packages dressed in pretty ribbons and bows.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to...

Home Depot I go.

Not exactly what I wanted to do right before Christmas, but our original kitchen faucet began spraying water from the side of the faucet. Very strange!

So, this is what we replaced it with.



I love it, but it had better last longer than 5 years!!!

Mary Did You Know?

This has to be one of my most favorite Christmas songs, right behind "Silent Night."

The Christmas Can-Can

One of my new favorite Christmas songs!

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...Christmas!

Yes, it snowed in No. Alabama overnight. Maybe the first of...dare I say...several snow events this winter. One can only hope!

Scott Calvin

This is what greets me every time I pull into the garage.

My Mom & Dad brought this to us one Christmas. If I'm not mistaken, it's one of my Dad's favorite movies. It's one of mine, too. My favorite scene is when the police officer is trying to get Santa to give him his real name.

Just one of those things that bring back happy and fun memories!

Make some happy memories this holiday season!!!

Solitude

What I'm Thankful for...

The other day I posted that I'm thankful for my children. That got me to thinking...I need to add to my list of what I'm thankful for.

So here it goes - I'm thankful for...


My wonderful husband, who loves and supports me no matter what and makes it possible for me to be a stay-at-home mom. Thank you sweetheart, here's to 20 more years and then some!!!

My health - Of course, I have some areas to work; but hey, who doesn't. Right? Overall, I'm in very good health.

My parents, who loved me enough to let me move back to Arizona when I graduated from high school to go to college. I know it was a very difficult decision because of Dad's health. I'm a better person for it and besides, they wouldn't have such a wonderful son-in-law and grandchildren. :-) Thank you!!!

My brother, who has always had the ability to make me laugh even when he was annoying the heck out of me. Not to mention, he married a wonderful lady that I love like my own sister. Thank you!!!

My husband's parents and brother who have entrusted me to love and take care of their son/brother and for welcoming me into the family all those years ago. Thank you!!!

My friends - Old and new - Without y'all, I just don't know what I'd do. Thank you!!!

These are the things that I'm thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for...

two beautiful, healthy, smart children.

A rare moment...getting along.

This is scary!

Can you imagine coming up on this?

Thank You!

To all those who serve and have served to protect us...THANK YOU!!!

To all who gave their lives to protect us...THANK YOU!!!

Happy Veteran's Day!

It's November, already?!

Wow! Where has the time gone?

Oh.

Wait.

Don't tell me.

I know this.

We've been busy with work, school, band, stuff around the house and the like.

Speaking of busy, this past weekend we planted four, yes - four, trees. We had to replace a tulip poplar, which I loved, but just wasn't healthy. With the help of our son, Hubby and I planted these -
Yoshino Cherry Tree - We put this one in the front yard near the garage.

Hawthorn - This one went in the side yard.

Sugar Maple - This one is in our front yard. It's just a baby, but in time it will be a beautiful tree. The sugar maple we planted this weekend is in the back yard.

Red Maple - The back yard got this one.


I can't wait to see the Hawthorn and Cherry tree bloom in the spring! As an added bonus, the Hawthorn gets red berries to provide some winter interest and food for the birds.

Happy Fall, y'all!!!

Me + Sharp Knives =

This...

Ouch!!!

It looks much better than it did Monday night. Some days I just need to learn when to stop and let someone else take over.

However, the sweet potato oven fries were worth it!

2009 Hoover Invitational Marching Festival

Here's SHS's performance at the 2009 HIMF in Hoover, AL on Saturday, October 17th.



They were FANTASTIC!!!

The Band!

A clip from a couple of weeks ago of the high school band my son is a member of. At the beginning of the clip, he is the third tuba from the left. I lose track of him in this video as they move around, but I can pick him out when we watch them in person.

Last night at the Hoover Invitational, our band received all 1's (Superior rating). It made it worth sitting in the cold...45 degrees with a wind chill in the low 30's. Brrr... Remember I'm in North Alabama.

I love to watch this!!!

Smile!

Before...


After...
Well worth the wait to get them off!

Uh, huh

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Roll Tide!

This is what my daughter chose for her retainer! Like a true 'Bama girl!!!

Will post smile pictures soon. She's been under the weather and doesn't want to have her picture taken, but take it from me...she has a GORGEOUS smile!

Happiness

This one makes me smile. He looks so happy!

photo courtesy of SHS Band

I like this one because he's actually looking at the camera and NOT making a silly face.

photo courtesy of SHS Band

My Dad went to Moscow and all I got was...

this!
Apparently, Daddy told them to look somber while I was standing behind him making faces so the kids would laugh. It didn't work, so they look even more severe. LOL!

C's outfit is traditional Russian dress and she loves it!!! It's made of linen and embellished with really nice red and gold ribbons. The rabbit fur hat is actually Daddy's. He's always wanted one of them and guess what...he has one. It is really soft, but I'm not into wearing fur anything. *shudder*

Daddy brought S a really cool hat and t-shirt. The hat has a name, but for the life of me I can't remember it. Needless to say, he loves it.

My Favorite Season

Fall in Central Arizona

photo courtesy of Jim Cole, Photographer/Alamy

Band Pictures

Some pictures of the boy before the games. Not sure what this face is, but he looks happy!

His sister took this one as the band was waiting to march at pregame.

Taken with my cell phone while the band marched into the stadium before the game on 9/11/09.

How I spent my Sunday...

cooking and lounging.

Hubby and I made breakfasts and prepped dinner. Can't wait for dinner - the smoked chicken is always great. Hubby makes a mean smoked Turkey for Thanksgiving, too. I love fall because it means I get to have all my favorite dishes that are way too heavy for summer dining. Hmmm...may have to make some beef stew soon.

Did ya know...it's officially football season! Yippee...doing my Snoopy dance!!! In case you didn't know, I LOVE football season and if yesterday was any indication, it's gonna be a GREAT one. All but one of the teams I like to follow won yesterday and I'm pretty sure my dad turned the Oklahoma-BYU game off after OK flubbed it on the 3 yard line and Sam Bradford came out of the game with an injured shoulder. Sad day!

Hope that everyone is enjoying their long, holiday weekend. We sure are!

And so it begins...

FOOTBALL season that is. :)

I know what I'm going to be doing this Thursday - Monday and every weekend until February. Either watching it on tv or in person (SHS plays Decatur Friday night).

Woot!!!

Bedroom Redo!

As one of my many projects I had set about to do over the summer, I decided to redo the kids' rooms. I'm thrilled to say they are complete and turned out quite well.

I painted my son's room 'River Bank' green to go with the new bedding I just had to have. I saw this color scheme in PBteen's fall catalog and loved it, so I recreated it for him.


The girl picked out the color scheme and even though the photos don't really do the walls justice, I think it turned out well. The walls are 'Cornhusk Green'. At first, I didn't think it would work with the black/white/red decor, but it turned out great!


I love this picture. This was my daughter's final project in Art last year. She loves wolves! I'm just so impressed with her talent.

Goofing around!

The girl doing her 'creeper' face. I'm not sure why she has the empty cereal box on her head.

The boy enjoying a rice krispy treat. He eats constantly, but you'd never know it to look at him - tall and lanky.

The things that entertain us on a Saturday evening!

The Cool, The Good and The Disgusting!

The Cool - Hubby captured our resident heron relaxing by the lake Thursday evening.


The Good - One of our three garden spiders and the biggest by far. She's close to 3.5 inches long and her abdomen is as big as my thumb. Definitely want to give her a wide berth!!!


The Disgusting - While I was capturing the garden spiders with the camera, I smelled something dead in the front flower bed. It took me a couple of times walking through the front flower bed, but I found the source of the stench! It was a deceased (thank goodness) copperhead behind my hydrangea. While I'm very much aware of the fact that we do have snakes in our yard due to the lake, but I frightened me to know that just a couple of days before I had been working in said flower bed.

Note to self - I must be more careful when working in the yard.

Marching season begins...

tonight!!!

I'm soooo excited about this. Excited because my youngest will be marching carrying one of the largest instruments in the band - the tube/sousaphone. I'm still not sure why he picked that particular instrument to play, but this is his fourth year of playing and first year marching and loves it! I'm very proud of him and all that he's accomplished.

I will post a picture of him in his uniform later, but I'm sure he'll be handsome. 'Cuz ya know there's nothing more handsome than a guy in uniform. :)

Tranquility

photo courtesy AFP/Gabriel Bouys

Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

Sister Blog

Hey, I've set up a cooking blog to share all my favorite recipes. I hope that you'll visit.

Wondering why...

some people are unwilling to step up to the plate.

I received a phone call from my former boss this afternoon asking how to program the school's phones. WTF?!?!?! I'm thinking why isn't she having her bookkeeper/secretary handling this, since the woman knows everything anyway (no love lost there). However being the nice, polite person that I am, I told my former employer where to find said information because heaven knows I purged all that irrelevant information. She thanked me and hung up.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting at the computer wondering why she felt it necessary to call and ask me something that one of her current employees could've handled.

Who knows and I've already wasted too much time pondering it.

I'm not there and I'm NOT going back!!! I'm thoroughly enjoying being at home and have several projects underway, not to mention the fact that I'm swamped with stuff for Band and preparing for the kiddos I'll be keeping come January.

Funny...I'm much busier now than I was when I was employed outside the home.

Summer's over...

the kids head back to school tomorrow and I don't have to go back to work. Yeah!!!

While I'm excited about this, I'm also a little sad. You see...beginning tomorrow, Hubby and I will be the parents of not one, but TWO high school students.

Our daughter will be a junior and our son will be a freshman. Where does the time go?!

We are going to be so busy this fall between getting the girl jump started on college preparations and the boy's marching band. I am looking forward to having to be at every football game, not only to see my boy march, but to see how good/bad our football team is. And...the girl is now officially hooked on football. I'm sooooo excited about this because for the longest time during my favorite time of year she would go hibernate upstairs while we were all downstairs whooping and hollering at the game on television. I knew she'd come around!

Here's to a very productive, fun fall!!!

Simply...

This is repulsive...

the Octomom has signed a deal for a reality show featuring her children.

I am not a fan of reality shows. While there are a lot of people out there who find them entertaining, I find them stupid, demeaning and just down-right cruel. So, I don't waste brain cells or time watching them.

I want to know who thought this was a good idea. Glorifying the fact that this single mom used in-vitro multiple times, that no one (i.e. medical community) saw fit to stop her and now, she's going to get paid for it. STUPID!!! Personally, the doctor who performed the last IV should have his/her license permanently revoked! It is my understanding that IV provides couples who have trouble becoming pregnant an opportunity to have children of their own, not to allow an unmarried mom of 6 to expand her family to 14.

I wonder if she'll have to repay all that welfare money she received. Probably not!

*stepping off my soap box now

Cobbler Queen

...that's me!

Over the past few weeks, I've made at least one a week.

The latest one, nectarine-blueberry cobbler, has to be the biggest hit.

Once every few months, Hubby has to bring in breakfast for the Thursday morning meeting. He's not a big fan of doughnuts and the only doughnut shop that his co-workers will eat at is Krispy Kreme. Ick!!! So, I offered (a while back) to make breakfast goodies for them. You'd think that these guys have never had home-cooked foods the way they inhale the stuff Hubby brings in.

Anyhoo...this week I decided that I'd break the mold of muffins & breakfast breads and send in a cobbler. Oh my!!! Hubby called me after the morning meeting to tell me that the cobbler was gone and there were only a few oatmeal-cranberry cookies left. Hubby even said that he liked the nectarine-blueberry combo better than plain blueberry.

Here's my recipe:

Fill a 9x13x3 baking dish half way with sliced (or chunked) nectarines, then add 2 cups fresh/frozen blueberries. Stir in 1.5 cups sugar (or to taste) and 4 tablespoons instant tapioca. Dot with butter and cover with a single pie crust rolled out to cover the pan completely. Prick pie crust to vent and bake @ 400 for 45-50 minutes.

Ciao!!!

Blueberries

My daughter and I went blueberry picking this morning! What a gorgeous morning (although a little on the warm side) it was.

The bushes were loaded!

As an added bonus, we found a little nest with two eggs not much bigger than the blueberries that had fallen in to the nest.

We ended up with a couple of gallons of blueberries. I'm in the process of putting them up for use through the winter months. Yum!!!

Relief

photo courtesy of wickerman@flicker.com

It's done...I've turned in my letter of resignation at school. It wasn't an easy decision for me because while I loved my job and my co-workers, I disliked being dumped on and how discipline issues were handled.

I am going to enjoy the next few months (my favorite time of year, late summer and fall) getting ready for my new endeavor. I will be taking care of a co-worker's twins beginning in January. I'll have the same schedule as I did working in the school system, only I'll be at home and getting paid for it. :)

*sigh

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Take time out today to remember why we celebrate July 4th and all of those who serve or have served our country.

Home again...

home again!

Jiggidy jig!!!

Just spent 10 days in Destin, Florida! While it was a wonderful and relaxing time, it is sooooo good to be home.

This is where I want to be...

Sunday Simplicity

My Hubby, The Luthier (finale')

It's finished...the boy's birthday gift! It turned out gorgeous, if I do say so myself and I do.

I'm so proud of Hubby. He's very talented!!!

*Sigh*

I'm finding pleasure in the mundane today.

It's been a wonderful day. Hubby and I went to Costco to pick up a few items, but other than that, we've been hanging at home.

I find that I'm most at peace when I'm home. I thoroughly enjoy putzing around the house doing a little of this and that. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

I believe that this is why I'm ready to be a SAHM again. This past school year has been a true test of my patience and abilities. While I enjoy being part of the hustle and bustle that is school, I have not enjoyed being pulled in 100s of different directions.

It is time for a change.

I am ready.

This fall, I will not be returning to the elementary school where I have worked for the past three years. I'm going to spend it preparing for my new job in January, which will be that of nanny (in my home) for a dear friend who is having twins in September. What better job than to get paid for staying home and caring for two little angels. The best part is since my friend is a teacher I will have the same schedule that I have now. I'm so excited.

Wish me luck in this new endeavor that I'm about to embark upon (it's been quite awhile since I've had little ones in the house). :)

Friday Rants!

Okay...I don't normally rant about poor service at restaurants. I just don't go back. I figure that by not giving them future business I'm hurting them where it counts, in the cash register.

However, today I feel it necessary to rant about one of my favorite eateries...McAlister's Deli. I don't know why, but I love this place. Normally, I can count on GREAT food and WONDERFUL service.

That being said...

Today, the kids and I met Hubby for lunch at the aforementioned restaurant. Should've known something was up when the boy ordered a bacon spud and was told (after I paid for our meals) that they had no baked potatoes. What?!?! Baked potatoes of all different varieties are a major portion of their menu. Stupid!!!! Anyway, the boy was okay with that and ordered a french dip with mashed potatoes. We gather our beverages and find a table to wait on our order.

Well, the girl's and my meals come, but Hubby's and the boy's don't. I give them 5 minutes to bring them before I go up to inquire where said meals are. "Oh, they'll be right out" is what I was told. So, I waited 5 more minutes and sent Hubby up to the counter to inquire. He saw both of the meals on the counter ready to go out, but no mashed potatoes. He asks why and was told that they were out of them. Ummm...couldn't someone have come to us and explained the situation. We're reasonable people. However, the young person at the counter gave Hubby some song & dance story about how there were lots of people waiting on their meals, too. The restaurant wasn't even 1/3 full and there was NO ONE waiting to place an order. He asked to see the manager, who apologized for the wait and had the staff make up fresh sandwiches and refunded our entire meal.

While the refunded meal was great, I would have rather had better service.

It will be a while before we go back, if we ever do.

Grandma's Curio

My parents came to visit us this past week and they brought my grandmother's curio cabinet with them. I am so excited about it!!! Mom also picked out some pieces from Grandma's purple glass collection for me.

Some history...

Purple glass was manufactured between 1880 and 1914. The manufacturing process included the addition of manganese to produce clear glass. However when this glass was exposed to the ultra-violet rays of the sun, it turned to an amethyst color. This process was used until 1914 when World War I cut off the supply of manganese from Germany. Most of my pieces are a light amethyst, but some can achieve a deep purple color depending on how much manganese was added to a particular batch.

I'm not sure if I exposed my pieces to the sun if they'd darken. Hmmm...maybe I'll try it with one of the smaller ones.

We had a wonderful visit with Mom & Dad. I'm so glad that they were able to come visit...even if it did take them two days to drive across Texas. They didn't go home that way, however.