Wordless Wednesday

It's nearly impossible for me to be wordless. I can't believe it's Wednesday again. Fast week! So to get us in the Christmas spirit, here's a Christmas page. It's coming quick!

Wordless Wednesday - Again!

Wordless Wednesday - Almost!

I've seen this on other blogs, and I like the idea. It's the perfect time to load up a scrapbook page and let it do the talking. So, I'm going to try to follow that theory every Wednesday.

Here's today's Wordless Wednesday post:


ughhh - I think the rain is messing something up . . . it's not letting me upload a photo. So rather than stay up all night, I'll just do it tomorrow.

G'nite!

Happy Thanksgiving, Part 2

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Here's the 2nd half of our Thanksgiving Day. Squirt and Scooby were delighted to finally see their cousin, Richie and his sweet girlfriend, KP. We had tons of wonderful food! Uncle V made me giggle when he stuck his croissant in is pocket! What was up with that? According to him, he didn't have room on his plate for it, so it went in his pocket. Too funny! Kathy had the table set beautifully, and Papa Bear, myself, and Richie were assigned to the "grown-up" table with the siblings. She wanted Richie to spend time with his grandparents (which was a good idea!). Uncle V and Aunt Pat, Uncle Willie, Aunt Nettie, and Mama and Daddy were also seated at the big table. That left 2 open spots -- and Kathy said Papa Bear and myself would be dining at the grown-up table because we never sit with my parents. It was nice to hear them chit-chat, although it did get a little politically heavy. ha ha! And even though I have bought into Al Gore's global warming idea, they are all convinced "he's a crook." Me and Papa Bear had just seen a program on that the other night, but we just kept shoveling in our food and decided it best not to comment on that conversation. We had to be on our best behavior -- we were, after all, at the grown-up table. We actually got a good laugh when they started talking about the couple that somehow made it past White House security to attend a state dinner that President Obama hosted the other night. Other topics of conversation also included a story about a Timewarner employee who rode down the road, just past Uncle Willie's house, spotted what appeared to be a bear in the field, rode by, turned around, and confirmed that it was indeed a black bear. BEARS!?! In Midway?!? I was fascinated by that story. Sure hope my pups don't run across the big mean bear one night.

Happy Thanksgiving, Part 1

I have so much to be thankful for! It's a beautiful day and I'm blessed to have my family right here with me. Papa Bear (aka DH) got up at 5:00 a.m. this morning to get the fire going. Uncle V and Doug were here around 7:30, and my Dad pulled in around 9:30. It takes four men, sometimes even more, to cook the meat. ha ha! They like to sit out there and drink their beer and coffee and smoke keilbasa while they're at it so they can chow for lunch. Here's a few pictures showing what we've been up to the first part of the day:

Swirly Butt

About a month or two ago, we woke up one Saturday morning to find one of our Bradford Pear trees split. We have 4 perfectly-spaced Bradford Pears in the front yard, and now one is split. So DH checked into having them trimmed, and we found out that Bradford Pears usually only live a maximum of 15 years. I had no idea! Makes me sad! Now with one split, it's going to mess up the spacing on all of them. I think they all need to come down. Anyway, my point of all this is really not to talk about how the Bradford Pears are probably coming down before too long, but to show you a picture. Zoom in on Cocoa. Look at his swirly butt! I tell him all the time he has naturally curly hair like his mama, but he's really special because he has a swirly butt. So cute!
Not very many pups have perfectly swirled butts like he does. He just smiles when I tell him that!

Early Thanksgiving

My mil always cooks us a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. There have been years past where we have filled up at her house, only to go to my family gathering that evening and stuff ourselves silly again. The last several years, though, she has decided to have her Thanksgiving meal on the Sunday before, and it has worked out perfectly. I had every intention of taking lots of photos today, but sadly, I only snapped this one. I always get caught up in helping my mil in the kitchen and I forget to take any more pictures. I am glad I managed to get my fil here with the golden turkey. Isn't it a beauty?! It was us, my parents, and DH's aunt and uncle, Dick and Sharon. Here's what was on the menu:
Turkey (our contribution but mil cooked it to perfection!)
Dressing (this was outstanding!)
Gravy
Green Beans
Green Peas
Mashed Turnips (this was a first for me - probably wouldn't eat them again!)
Scalloped Potatoes (a healthy dish mil claims - it was very cheesy!)
Cranberry Sauce (nobody ever eats this!)
Corn Casserole (my contribution to the fabulous meal)
Cole Slaw (Sharon's contribution - it was yummy with pineapple in it!)
Pumpkin Pie (compliments of Food Lion deli mil said)
Rolls
Chocolate Pie (delish and another one of Sharon's contributions)
Blueberry Torte (the star of the dessert table - my mother's contribution)

As Rachel Ray would say - YUMM! Or is that - YUMMO? I tried not to overdo it, but it was soooooo good. I'm just thankful I have a few days to recover before we do it all again on Thursday. Of course, DH will be smoking the turkey for Thanksgiving Day, along with Chicken Quarters and Ribs (he'll have help from the men folk in the family). I love meat cooked on the smoker, but honestly, is there anything better than a golden turkey fresh out of the oven? It was fabulous. I jotted down mil's Dressing recipe as she recited it from memory (she doesn't really go by a "written" recipe). I'm surprised that I haven't ever asked for it before. My kids love it, we love it, it really is so good. I'm hoping to start a recipe blog and this will definitely be one of the first recipes I post. She didn't give me exact measurements, so I'll just have to wing it on that part. The Blueberry Torte will be making an appearance on the recipe blog too. It was exceptional today. That's always been a Christmas dessert that my mother has made, but everyone loves it so much, she's started making it for other occasions too. There's nothing any better. Ahhh - I love the kickoff to the Holidays!

Pintos and Collard Greens

I took Teeter's advice and fixed my pintos in the crock with a big ole' ham hock. They simmered all day long and I must admit, the ham hock did wonders for my pintos. My mama can fix pintos like nobody's business, though. I have asked her time and time again EXACTLY how she fixes them, and it's still very vague to me. I know it involves side meat and cooking them for hours and hours, but beyond that, it's still a mystery to me. Same with collard greens. I had some in the freezer that I cooked up tonight. Again, somewhat of a mystery to me on how to make them taste like my mama's. I'm pretty sure side meat (or maybe fatback?) is used when she makes collards, but I'm really not sure. Squirt and I ate them, but they weren't as good as Mammaw's. Meanwhile, darling hubby and Scooby elected to eat leftover spaghetti.

So, with the mystery that surrounds pintos and collards like my mama's -- it's made me think that I would like to start a recipe blog. Wouldn't that be fun? I would post some treasured family recipes, and then have my mama and darling hubby's mama be "guest" bloggers and post some of their recipes. I could even have friends be guest bloggers and post some of their recipes. Wonder if I could keep it up? I've done pretty good at getting this blog back on track . . . I may just give it a try. We'll see. Alright - 20 till 11 - it's night-night time!

We Must Be Crazy

So, Squirt decided it would be a good idea to get up at 3:30 this morning to see the meteorite shower. Did you even know there was going to be a meteorite shower? I didn't think so. Anyway, me, Squirt, and Scooby got up a little after 3:30 and trudged out to the patio to see what we could see. It really was a beautiful night (morning!) to see stars, but we didn't last long. It was cold outside. Scooby came in after about 3 minutes. I didn't blame her. I was secretly ready to go in too, but I wasn't going to leave Squirt out there in the wild. I did see one shortly after, then I was ready to go in. After about 5 or 6 more minutes, Squirt announced he was going back to bed, so I followed suite. So, between the 3 of us, we saw one. I'm sure I'm going to be a zombie today -- but I wouldn't trade these middle of the night meetings with my babies for anything in the world. It's worth it!

Happy V Day to My V

Seems like a lifetime ago when you were called up to Desert Storm. So glad those days are over.

Thoughts and Prayers

I guess every community goes through this, but it just seems like there's been a lot of sadness and death this past summer and fall for our little community. We got news this morning that Squirt's old buddy, G-Man, lost his dad to cancer. G-Man is a junior like Squirt, and has an older brother and a younger brother. His dad was sick for less than a year. It just seems unfair. Right here with the holidays coming up soon. They are definitely in my thoughts and prayers.

We also heard today that a sweet sweet lady in our community is not doing well at all. She has been battling cancer for several years and has put up such a fight. Squirt played baseball with her oldest son a few years ago, and Scooby played basketball (yeap - Scooby DID play basketball once upon a time for one little season) with her younger son. Her husband was Scooby's coach, and Mammaw and Pawpaw have known them for years from racing and think the world of them. I just hate to hear that she's not doing good.

Thoughts and prayers are being lifted for these two families.

Bulls in a China Shop

So I forgot to tell you how it went at the vet's office Thursday afternoon.

First off - I can't manage them both by myself. They are huge and not used to being on a leash, so Scooby came along with me. Cocoa would NOT go through the door. Not sure why - he's never whimpered when he's gotten a shot, but he was determined to not go in. Roxie was busy sniffing bushes outside and finally decides to go in . . . once she's in, Cocoa decides it's safe and follows her. Then the nice ladies at the vet's office try to weigh the hellions on the big walk-on scales . . . I had to drag Cocoa on the scales where he proceeded to drop to his belly and pee all over himself. When it was Roxie's turn, she just hopped right up there and looked around. They both were scared to death during the actual exam. I had to scratch noses and bellies and behind ears to keep them calm and happy. And the really fun part (ha!) was when I was paying to leave, they were all over the place and knocking stuff down. I thought I had a good hold on Cocoa's leash, but he jerked, and made me knock my purse off the counter - so then all my junk that I carry around in my bag was scattered on the office floor. Lipstick tubes and antibacterial gel went rolling around everywhere! Uggghhhhh! Then . . . THEN the ride home . . . Scooby's in the backseat with both of them . . . Cocoa is right in the middle - paws on the console -- trying to get to the front seat to me. He had his head all over my cheek and neck. He loves his Mama. Such a big baby! Meanwhile, being the little princess that she is, Roxie sat politely in the backseat and just looked out the window. Thank goodness we have another year (hopefully - if I can keep them well!) before we have to create chaos at the vet's office again.

Happy Friday!

Whoooo hooooooo! We've made it to another Friday. It seems like it's been a busy week . . . maybe it really hasn't been, I only remember having to go somewhere 2 nights this week, but I really wanted to stay home tonight. Scooby didn't have cheer practice tonight (yippeee!) and Squirt wanted to stay in because he takes the SAT tomorrow. So, Mama here fixed homemade pizza and dang, was it ever good. I used 2 of my $1 frozen pizza doughs from Chef Smart (really, where else can you get a restaurant-quality pizza dough for a $1?), and lots of pizza toppings from Aldi (another awesome buy). On one, I had pepperoni, red onion, mushrooms, green peppers, and cheese (all from Aldi). On the other one, I had cheese, fresh pineapple (99 cents for a fresh pineapple from Aldi!), and ham. We have a truckload of ham that we are trying to eat our way through. It made an awesome pizza topping. I'm freezing the rest in individual packets to do something with it later. And Teeter had told me just the other day that I needed a hambone to season pintos -- I now have a hambone! I'm so excited! I bought a bag of pintos at Aldi the other day too just so I can do that one day next week. Anyway, back to the pizza. IT was fabulous and we put a hurtin' on it. It was delish!

In other news, we are so thankful Durango is recovering from his head injury at football practice the other night. Squirt said he was at school for a little while today which is certainly a good sign. Durango and Squirt go way back . . . all the way to Midway Daycare. I have a picture of them with the Wild Twins being rolled out to the playground in a baby bed. It's the funniest picture ever. My, how those boys have grown! And, of course, Squirt and Durango played football together at Midway where they won 3 county championships in a row. Good times! So glad he's feeling better!

Off to go watch a little bit of tv with Darling Husband. I don't even know what comes on on a Friday night. We'll probably be tuning in to Planet Green. ha! ha!

Roasted (Toasted?) Pumpkin Seeds

Mamaw has been carving and scooping pumpkins like crazy here lately. Well, not really carving them, but she has gotten several pumpkins from our neighbor down the road and has been cooking them and freezing the pulp. Is it pumpkin pulp? pumpkin guts? Whatever it is -- she is cooking it and freezing it for Thanksgiving pumpkin pies. So anyway, I decided it would be neat to roast (or is it toast?) pumpkin seeds. I had gotten a cookbook recently from my Aunt Barbara that had a recipe for pumpkin seeds. I mentioned it to Darling Husband and he got really excited. Apparently his mom used to roast (or toast - whatever it is?!) pumpkin seeds, and he said they were really really good. So here they are. Super easy to do . . . I think next time I want to try the spicy recipe I found. But for now, here's the simple, basic recipe:

Pumpkin seeds
2 tsp. butter, melted
pinch of salt

mix pumpkin seeds with butter and salt, spread in a single layer in a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes at 300.

That was easy enough!

Jillian's 30 Day Shred

I bought this DVD back in July right before I went on vacation and never got around to doing it until this past month. I've got to share my results!

First off, I had heard of Jillian Michaels but didn't know much about her. I knew she was a trainer on the Biggest Loser, and since buying this DVD, I have started watching that. She is brutal on the show. She really is. I'm a decent regular to the gym, so I knew it would be challenging, but was sure I was up to the challenge.

HA! I had no idea how brutal Jillian can truly be. For 30 days I have diligently completed a 25-minute workout. I did Level 1 for 10 days; Level 2 for 10 days, and Level 3 for 10 days. I'm not even sure which level I would say is the hardest . . . they were all brutal in their own special way. I would be dripping with sweat when I finished it. I knew I had to be doing something right!

First off, I did not alter my eating at all. I tried to be sensible like I usually do, but did not count points or follow any diet plan. I ate pizza when I wanted pizza, I had honeybun cake when I wanted honeybun cake (I'll have to tell you about this cake in a different post!). I did step it up in the gym during my lunch hour workouts on some days. I had tacked on 10 extra minutes to my usual 30 minutes. That's the only change I made aside from doing this Shred for 30 days.

With that being said, here are the numbers:

Weight loss - 4 lbs. not huge at all - but I'm ok with it considering I truly did eat what I wanted to eat. This actually is unofficial -- the Wii batteries are dead, so this is based on my other scale.

Inches lost:
waist - 3"
hips - 1/2"
upper arms - -1/4"
chest - -2" (had to be those planks!)
thighs - 1 1/2" (i can visibly see this!)

So I think, if I did my math right - overall 7 1/4" lost. Actually that's only counting 1 arm and 1 leg -- I'm assuming I lost the same in both. LOL! I am very happy with this and know that if I would really watch what I'm eating and continue with the dvd, I could really slim up some more. I can tell in my clothes -- pulling out winter clothes from last year -- they fit much better.

So, even though this dvd was VERY hard to do every single night, I would have to say it is worth it. I'm planning to do it again -- probably not every night -- but at least 3-4 times a week.

A Fan for Life

Dang! I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged! It's my favorite time of year and it is flying by! I absolutely love fall! We have stayed extremely busy it seems -- especially this weekend! DH (darling husband) surprised me with David Cook tickets and so off we went to Greensboro this past Friday night to see my man. He was awesome. Really, he was so down-to-earth and personable . . . as if I weren't a huge fan already -- now I'm a fan for life.

This guy, Ryan Star, opened for him. Apparently Ryan was a rock star reality show a year or so ago and placed 3rd I believe (based on what people were telling us).

He was pretty good, but of course, I was holding out for my man. And he finally snuck out and was "testing" the drums while Ryan was finishing up. He was so cute!

I got tons of great pictures -- here's a few of my favorites. I swear - look! - he was looking right at me.




He was just fantastic! Money well spent!

First Day of School

Look at those faces - pure delight! I forgot to take my traditional picture of them eating breakfast, but I did get this one (as well as a decent one minus the goofy faces!). I fixed them bacon, eggs, and toast this morning, so I think that got the morning off to a good start.

Then tonight, I was gently reminded that now that they are back in school and packing a lunch every day, they need some apple bread to take for snack. So, being the good mother that I am, I baked them a loaf of apple bread. But, of course, smelling it bake for an hour, we all had to have a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. Here it is after we each had a slice. It's half gone! Guess I'll be baking more later this week. Squirt has to have his apple bread.

Frozen Caramel Frappuccino

Oh. My. Gosh. This is so so SO good! Me and the kids LOVE Starbucks coffee drinks, but obviously can't afford to go and indulge very often. I found this recipe online about a year or so ago and decided to pull it out tonight and fix us all a treat. Every Sunday, DH fixes us a nice breakfast and we almost always have coffee. With it being summer and being so hot, we haven't drank much coffee, so we always have about half a pot left over. I've started freezing the coffee in an ice tray and making coffee cubes. Those came in really handy tonight for our coffee drinks. Here's the recipe if you are interested:

Frozen Frappuccino (makes 1 drink)

3 oz. coffee
2 T. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 c. ice (I use my frozen coffee cubes)
3 T. caramel sundae topping (or chocolate syrup if you want a chocolate version)

Get out your Magic Bullet and . . . huh? You don't have a Magic Bullet? Well run out and get one NOW. I love my Magic Bullet. I make awesome salsa with that thing, but I'll save that for another post.

Back to the coffee drink -- mix all ingredients in your Magic Bullet (or whatever you have!). Top with whipped topping (Redi-Whip) and drizzle with caramel (or chocolate syrup for a chocolate drink). Honestly, this is as good or BETTER than that coffee chain place that charges like $5 for one of these. Try it, you'll love it!

Squirt and Scooby love the chocolate version -- even though it always gives Scooby a tummy ache. She thinks it's worth it. I personally have to have the caramel. It's to die for! And Squirt took a picture of them tonight, so look for them on his blog.

Happy Saturday!

It's been a weird weather day around here today! It started out rainy and dreary . . . then it cleared up and was super hot . . . then it got all dark and poured rain . . . then it cleared off again. And now it's clouding up AGAIN!

My Scoob didn't make the middle school softball team but she's ok with it and I am too. It would have been nice, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Maybe she'll follow in Squirt's footsteps and make it her last year at middle school.

Can't believe this is the last Saturday before school starts. Sigh . . . it's been filled with cleaning house and doing laundry. Squirt washed his car and Scooby attempted to clean out her closet. Everybody is just kinda doing their own thing around here this afternoon.


So here's a little page I did the other night when I was feeling all sad . . . thinking about summer almost being over and school getting ready to crank up. I took these pictures at the beach.
Time sure flies and I can't believe school is almost here.

Time to Get Back at It!

So my buddy is now blogging, making his mama look bad! I'm sure he's going to be way better than I am at keeping his blog updated. Not sure what I've been so busy with this past summer, but I've been busy with something apparently.

So, really quick post here . . . here is Squirt's blog if you want to follow along:
www.imjustawesome.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, I'm gonna scoot -- gotta run! Good luck to Scooby (affectionately referred to as 4-eyed Scoob in her brother's blog)! Sure hope you make that middle school team! But if it's not meant to be, that's ok too! You do me so proud regardless! And you do too, 4-eyed Squirt! Love those babies of mine!

I'll be back soon with a little more detailed post!

The Terrible Two's

Well, hopefully not! The pups turned two on Monday. Hopefully they are settling down and growing up a little bit! Time will certainly tell! Meanwhile, here's some pictures from the birthday celebration that Scooby so carefully coordinates!
Here is the birthday cake -- errr - leftover mashed potatoes.













Cocoa is such a ham! And Roxie is obviously thrilled. Here they are posing in their Barney birthday hats:












What's left of the birthday party hats:


And then a little layout I did showcasing last year's birthday pictures:


I think we've created a tradition! Pups are going to expect a birthday party every year!

The Ped Egg

This is what I got for Mother's Day. I LOVE IT! I have the most disgusting, dry, cracked heels ever and this thing actually takes care of that. I've used it twice, and my heels are nice and smooth. I always end up fussing at David and the kids for getting me something really expensive every year for Mother's Day. Not that I don't love things they've given me -- but we just don't need to spend the money. But this year, they came up with this. AND even better - they got it at Walmart so they didn't even have to pay s&h. I absolutely love it!

Have I mentioned I love my Ped Egg?

My Life Will Never Be the Same

and here's why:


I'm so proud of him, but dang it sure was hard to let him walk out that door with car keys in his hands. I ask him if he wanted to go for a drive by himself, and he said "kinda." So I told him he could drive "around the block" (meaning - out one curvy road, right on another curvy country road, then right back on our road). He ended up going to Mammaw's and Pawpaw's to show them his license. Right after he walked out the door, Darling Hubby said, "I can't believe your letting him go. Do you not realize it's going to storm any minute?" Well then I was a nervous wreck. Ready to throw up the grilled chicken sandwich I had had for supper. I told him I was going to hop in the Durango and follow him -- he wouldn't let me. I told him I was going to call Mama and tell her Squirt was on the way and have him call when he got there -- again, he wouldn't let me. But it's funny that HE was the one that wasn't quite ready to turn him loose. Thankfully, Squirt made it to Mammaw & Pawpaw's without incident, and before the heavy rain came. I have never been more thankful in my whole life than when I heard that car door slam when he pulled back in the garage.

So in honor of Squirt getting his license, here's a page I did a while back before he had even gotten his learner's permit. He was driving the big ole' Lumina out in the field.