inspired by...

Today's post is inspired by... a post I just read over at

Day by Day...My Life as a Busy Bee.

Thanks Suz for the idea!

The well has been running dry lately and

I guess I've stooped to stealin' ideas now. oh well.
Anyhoo...

A few years ago we went to Colorado Springs for our vacation. We had a

wonderful time. One of the things I was most excited about was the

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's a gorgeous zoo and we had a blast.

One of Miss Boo's favorite things were the giraffes.

And feeding them.

With her bare hands.

Pretty cool, huh?!

I'll bet you're wondering what in the world this has to do with Suz. Well...

I'm getting to that part. She did a post or two about

taking Flat Caroline out and getting some pics with her.

I'd heard of Flat Stanley before and knew this chick

had to be related. We've never been given a

Flat Whoever assignment, so we decided to make up our own

not-so-flat photo op. Boo loved the giraffes at the zoo so she bought a

cute little stuffed giraffe at the zoo's gift shop and appropriately

named him Crackers, after the crackers she fed the giraffes

at the zoo.

First we tried it like this.

Here Crackers is sitting on top of the Will Rogers

Shrine of the Sun that's on the zoo's property.

It's gorgeous up there!

It had better be since I about lost a lung climbing the

gumpteen zillion steps to the top of that silly thing!

This pic turned out cute.

But still it wasn't a favorite.

Leave it to the hubs to come up with this one!

This silly photo makes me smile every time I see it. It's just

so stinkin' cute! Don'tcha think?!

I can't see...put another quarter in!

nothing to fear

I have nothing to fear but fear itself....

....and spiders!

Spring has sprung, y'all.

Ick!

and the winner is....

I decided to go low tech and just deal with this with paper...

it's not like a had a hundred names or anything. So here's the deal.

I wrote everbody's names down and folded them up. Ta-da! Seee???

And then closed my eyes!

Yep... I didn't peek! Not even once!

I would'a had Boo come and draw a name for me,

but she's working on a research paper today,

so I took care of the honors myself.

And....Jill is the winner!

Yay, Jill! Email me with your address and I'll mail your goodies to ya! : )

a birthday and a giveaway

Happy bloggy birthday... to me! Wow! I've been blogging a year. Well, my first post wasn't really much to brag about, but it was a start. (you know..testing testing, one two three kinda stuff) I don't know all the reasons why I blog, just that I love it.

Whether I'm happy, sad, grieving, silly, afraid, or just weighed down...you guys come and read what I have to say. It's just crazy when I think about it, ya know?! Some posts stand out to me for various reasons. But these are the ones that mean the most to me because they pertain to the Life that I've received in having a relationship with God. Part one, two, three, four and five. I could keep linking all day to different posts that are important to me for this reason or that one. Or funny...to me anyway... I don't think I'm all that funny, although I try sometimes. lol But I think we'd all get bored! : ) Anyhoo...

And then there are all of you. I might as well just write everything down in a spiral notebook and shove it under the bed, if it weren't for you all. Like I've said before, I don't know all the reasons why I blog. Or why you all read the stuff I write for that matter. But I know I've gained so much from all of you. Thank you! Thanks for being much better bloggers than I ever will and making me laugh and cry and think in ways I never thought possible. And accepting me into your kind little sorority and being the best commenters a girl could ever ask for!

So! Now that I've gushed all over the place.... I have a little packet of goodies to give away to a chosen (I hate to use the word 'lucky') commenter. I wanted to give a little something back to the ones who've given so much to me through their kind words along this quirky little journey called blogging. So, I have a couple of fun prizes to give away today!

I couldn't decide what I wanted to give away. Like most people, my house is full. And everybody's house looks different so something to sit and look at might look great at one house and weird at another. So, something like that was out. And of course, whatever I chose needed to mail easily. And of course, be useful!

Every time I post a recipe for something fast and simple, I get great comments about how wonderful it sounds to get the job done quickly. So how's this?! I have a wonderful cookbook by Dawn Hall. I have several of her cookbooks and she's an amazing lady with an incredible story of the work God has done in her life. And her recipes are yummy too! I have to tell ya, I was tempted to keep this cookbook for myself... so that's real luuuuv, y'all! : )

And because I'm not just about feeding the body but the soul as well, I have this wonderful book by Andrew Murray. It has 365 devotions in it... so it will take a year to use it up. That's pretty cool. I love Andrew Murray! Another title of his that I love is in my sidebar. His writings are so concise and rich!

So these are my giveaways! Just leave me a comment anytime today through Saturday and I'll draw a name or do the random.org thing or something and pick a winner and post it sometime on Sunday!

How does that sound? Don't forget to leave a comment so your name can be entered to win!

tomorrow is the big day

Well, I can't believe I've been blogging for almost a year.

But I have. And tomorrow is the big day!

My little bloggy's first birthday!

I know some people thing of it as an anniversary, but I don't feel married to my blog. But I did give birth to it.

And try to nurture it and take good care of it.

Ok...it's not a plant, but you get the idea.

Come back and visit tomorrow for a bit of a stroll down memory lane and a little giveaway too.

See ya!

you know it's bad when it's worse than that

I had 'fun' today. Let me set the stage. I'm at the doctors office.

Flat on my back. I'm not exactly relaxed.

Like I can relax when she's doing that!

But the fact that I couldn't relax wasn't helping and she was having trouble seeing what she needed to see.

And it's not what you're thinking either!

I was at the dentist!!! I like my dentist.

I like her a lot. But she's doing a new screening.

It sounded like a good idea so I went on ahead with it.

I was not a happy girl.

I found out I have a very strong tongue and it doesn't like to be pushed out of the way so a light can be shoved what feels like all the way down my throat.

Imagine that!

A defense mechanism to being choked gagged while flat on my back. Who knew!

I sat up after it was finally over and thought to myself....

this is worse than a trip to the gyn!

My girlie doctor will be so proud.

She's moving up!

busy week and a little something yummy

We had a busy week during spring break. That's why you didn't see much of me. We also celebrated a birthday (a couple of times). And had some cump-ny too. The IL's visited and we had a wonderful visit. I took them out to eat for lunches on Thursday and Friday. And we also enjoyed a little bit of local fun. We went to a fun factory that has tours. And on Friday, they took Boo to the mall to walk around. She enjoyed some one on one time with them. And I took the afternoon to do some important stuff like reading some blogs folding clothes.

I also made big dinners Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. Well kinda anyway. Wednesday I made turkey burgers. It's not exactly a big meal, but it makes six patties and I didn't have to freeze the extras like I do when I make it for 'just us'. And Friday night I made roasted chicken and veggies with rice. It was all very good. Oh yes.. and birthday cake.

And Thursday night I just made a roast. Well...not just a roast. But the best roast ever! There's a story behind The. Best. Roast. Ever. One day early in my married life, I was visiting a friend. She and I would hang out all day sometimes in her kitchen while she did this or that.. or worked on a craft project or something. It was a fun time for us and sometimes I don't know if we realized it or not. Anyway... one day I was over there and after a while I mentioned I was beginning to get hungry. Now this girl has always been sort of the grandmotherly type, or maybe she's just a good southern girl, because she always had a little something on hand if the munchies set in. So she proceeded to tell me my 'options' from her freezer. And one of them was roast. I kinda just sat there. Roast??? Well. ok. I guess.

I had eaten my fair share of roast growing up and I was not too impressed with it, to tell you the truth. The gravy was always kinda watery and the meat wasn't always tender and it was a bit of a hassle to make. So when she said roast, it didn't conjure up the best images.

But my options were few that day. So I decided I would have to could handle the roast. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't stop raving about this roast! And of course, asked her how to make it. Because if roast could taste like that, then I wanted a piece of that action for myself! To my delight, the recipe isn't hard at all. And *gasp*...I can make it in the crock pot. Love. It!

Now that you're probably slobbering all over the keyboard, I'll tell you how it's done! : )


These are the two key ingredients! Tony's Creole Seasoning and

two pouches of McCormick's brown gravy mix. That's it.

Well, except for the roast and potatoes, that is! You put the roast in the crock pot.

I trim the meat of the weird layer of fat on the bottom of the roast.

I didn't do that in my younger days. But I do now. And

if it's a big roast, it might be a good idea to cut it in half

because of cooking it in the crock pot and core temperatures

and the 'danger zone' and all that junk.

Anyhoo...

You put the roast in and sprinkle some Tony's on it. If you're more liberal

with it, the whole thing will have more zip, since this is a spicy seasoning.

But also keep in mind, it's mostly salt. So... use it accordingly.

I tend to do a light sprinkle and it just adds that little something

special without fire shooting off anybody's tongue or anything.

Then you cut up some potatoes and put them around the roast. After that you mix up the gravy mixes with water in a shaker container (or put it in a measuring cup and stir with a fork to get out most of the clumps etc) and pour it over the meat and potatoes. I then refill the container with water and pour over it all until the gravy just about covers most of the stuff in the crock pot. I know this runs against all the crock pot wisdom that's out there about not needing to add liquids bla bla bla. But hello..you're making dinner and gravy too! Put it on high for a little while to kick start the cooking and then turn it to low 'all day'... or 8 or so hours.

Here's what I do when it's time to eat. I take out the meat and potatoes and put them in a dish and cover them with foil to keep them warm and let the meat 'rest'. Then ladle some of the gravy into a sauce pan and start bringing it to a boil. While that's happening, I take some cornstarch and water and mix that together... probably about 1 1/2 tablespoons of each...I'm just guessing...and pour that into the gravy and stir with a whisk. It will thicken up pretty quickly.

I usually make dinner rolls to take advantage of the deee-lish gravy. And a salad or steamed broccoli is nice to go along side. Gather the fam. Your dinner is ready!

Can I come over?

just poppin' in

Just poppin' in to let ya know I did a little bit of house work on the ole bloggy.

I hadn't updated my blog roll in ages.

I have a few new readers. Or two.

And I wanted you to be included in my updated list!

And it's always fun to find new blogs.

And these are a few more I enjoy...

so here ya go.

she's part Irish, ya know

This is a picture of Miss Boo at 14 days.

Sometimes I think she hasn't changed very much in the face. Sure, she's gotten more mature and grown some hair, but sometimes I go in a kiss her on the nose while she's drying her hair with a towel because I can cover up the hair and it's like she's a baby again. **awwww!!!**

She has always been a funny girl. When she was probably a little less than two, I bought a set of magnetic letters for her, thinking she'd stick them to the frig and stay out my way while I made dinner. Well... she couldn't care less about sticking them on anything. Instead she'd bring the letters to me one by one and say wha'dat? I'd tell her it's an R. It's an M. It's an S. On and on it would go. One day she came to me with a C and asked me what it was. I told her it was a C. She said looks like a G and walked away.

When she was old enough to understand her birthday and other holidays, she realized having a birthday on St. Patrick's Day was a mixed bag. For one thing, she had to wear green to school every year on her birthday.. lest she be pinched. Which she hated because her favorite color was and is pink, of course. But the thing we had a hard time helping her understand was the fact that being born on St. Pat's does NOT make her part Irish.

She still doesn't believe us. I'm kidding! sorta.

why do I do this?

Somebody asked me the other day why I do this blog thing. I honestly didn't know the exact reason why. I thought about it for a long time before I took the plunge, so to speak. I knew I saw a community out there that I wanted to be a part of. It looked too fun for one thing. And I also saw some very real faith out there too. There were certain stories I gravitated toward and wondered if I had anything to contribute. I guess there are several reasons why I do this...

One of the reasons is because sometimes it's nice to have someone to share things with. The kind of stuff that sometimes makes IRL (in real life) friends uncomfortable. An example of that would be grief.

And yet, I wouldn't say that this blog is about grief. I have my moments, but that's not really who I am. And my IRL friends know that. But still there are times when I feel the need to share things or have an outlet but I wouldn't necessarily want to burden an IRL friend, if that makes sense. I know sometimes when I am having a Bub moment, I feel like I'm dumping on them or I don't want them to feel like they don't know what to say. Even though that's ok. And yet I've taken this journey of grief and God has shown me a thing or two about it... and beautifully carried me places I didn't even know I could go. And He continues to give me more of Himself in this process.

Sometimes God has things to say. Maybe about grief. Maybe about life. Or about a verse I've been reading. Or a certain topic. I try to be open to what He wants to say and often use this as a way to put down 'on paper' the things God is showing me. And I think that's pretty amazing.

But other days, I'm in a funny mood. Not that I'm all that funny, mind you. But you know what I mean. Sometimes when life happens, God lets us see the funny side of it. And that's pretty cool too.

And other days I'm stressed out or needing God and it feels better just to come here and say so. Some days I'm just in a tizzy about the crazy lady at Walmart, ya know?

And still other days... wow I sound a little scattered. Sometimes I wonder about my 'blog voice'. I feel like such a serious writer saying that. Which makes me laugh. **pause LOL** Ok... where was I.. oh yes... I read other people's blogs and they seem to have a more consistent voice. And then I read mine and I feel like I'm all over the place. Am I?

Anyway...that's who I am. And why I do this. Who are you? Why do you do this?

oh how times have changed

The hubs has been programming since his early teens. So it's no surprise that we've had at least one computer in our house from the very beginning.

I can remember going to now defunkt Comp USA and standing there and standing there because his mouse or his keyboard died and the selection of a new one just about drove me nuts. What's the big deal??? You read the box. You find one. You buy it. Done! I stood off to the side and displayed my best eye rolls and audible sighs many a time while he painstakingly selected his replacement whatever.

Well... this morning my keyboard broke.

We went to Best Buy to check out replacements. It was almost like The Three Bears. This one is too gummy... this one is too clicky.... this one is shaped weird... this one has the delete key in the wrong (!!!) place.

And the hubs is standing off to the side laughing at me. Every time this happens, he loooves to recall how I used to get all upset at the time he took way back then. Now I understand. Oh, how times have changed.

a kitty with a view

Now that we've had some (not today) warm days, she's been interested

in getting off her furry blanket on the couch and checking out her favorite windows..

from her favorite lazy spots.

She seems to like this one spot in the hallway.

She can look this way and see out a window...

She can look that way and see out a window.....

yes my house is small. : )

And she can also check for squirrels and birdies

and the occasional bunny from here too.

The unspoken rule in the house is don't put your silverware

on the table. Appetizing, huh?

a moment of silence please

We heard the most awful sound coming from our daughter's room Friday night. Oh NO! she said. We both panicked...thinking there had to be loss of limb... or at least some blood. But it turned out to be worse than we expected. Her Nintendo DS Lite.... her constant companion for over 2 years BROKE. To say she was bummed was an understatement. She didn't even know what to do with herself. She does do other things..but DS is her 'go to' fun thing when school pressures are off and she can have a little fun and relaxation.

So this did not float her groove... or whatever. I'm soo hip.



We thought about burying it in the backyard with a 21 Beanie Baby salute. But decided on a more casual approach. Boo put it in the china cabinet. So right now it's on display with other sentimental, treasured items. We went first thing Saturday morning to replace said DS. We're so thankful they're plentiful now. When we got her first one... it was a Christmas present and Daddyman drove to another city to snag the last pink one we could find on the planet.

But the only problem is... it doesn't come in pink anymore! Gasp! I know! She didn't want navy blue or red. And Daddyman has a white one. So she chose a rose colored one.

Dear Nintendo,

Although I'm thankful you're keeping up with demand and even coming out with new colors, the rose colored DS looks like dirt water compared to her old pink DS. Not the prettiest color... especially for girls... who like PINK. It's not pink. That is all.

Sincerely,
Boo's mom

grocery day... in pictures-edited : )

Monday was grocery day, as usual. As I was putting everything away, I glanced down at the trash can. This is what I saw: a paper plate wrapper. Yes, I keep paper plates in the cupboard. I started doing that when Bub was sick, and we use still use them every now and then. But I guess... to redeem my wasteful ways, there is the Arm and Hammer Essentials concentrate package. Pour the concentrated liquid in an empty pump bottle and add water.... I haven't tried it yet. I hope I like it. It's much cheaper than Greenworks. Struck me funny. I wonder if Ed Begley's trashcan looks like this?! Edited to add: Maybe I should say.. I doubt Ed Begley's trash can looks like this! (besides, he would put the little piece of cardboard in the recycle bin too LOL)




Check out what happens when the hubby adds his Apple Jacks to the grocery list. : ) I took this pic from my computer screen. I have these little windows that I can open for groceries and other errands. Cuts down on the lists that get lost in the shuffle!


This isn't really a wordless Wednesday... but perhaps it comes close. : )

six in six

I've been tagged by Kathleen at Sassy Granny. It's called Six in Six. And it's the sixth picture in the sixth folder of your photos. (I actually counted from the bottom since the sixth from the top is a pic I wasn't interested in posting) : )

This sounded fun, but I was a bit slow in following along. This is one of my favorite pics of our kitty, Annabelle. She is a total mess. In the photo, she's cuddled in one of her favorite spots. She'll stand around watching me make up the bed so she can jump up there and make little paw prints across it while making a bee line for that one spot. She can curl up and still face the big window and see outside. The ultimate for a lazy cat, I would think.


I'm never very good at figuring out who to tag next, so if this sounds fun... then tag, you're it!

it's like they have a different word for everything

When my hubby and I were dating and engaged, he traveled for a work a good bit. And not to.. you know.. Skankyville, USA. where just about evvvvery business trip in America MUST take place No, he got to travel to Germany. More than once. And for weeks at at time. Which of course meant.. getting to see the country on the weekends.

Do you know.. that silly guy never took a single picture. I know. He didn't take a picture of this castle or of the signs all over the place that read "danger for your life. don't go to Turkey". Come on... how could you NOT take a picture of that stuff. I still don't know.

But anyway...travel has it's ups and it's downs. One of those downs, is of course, foraging for food. And in a foreign country, it's especially difficult, since they don't use English all over the place..except for the warnings about Turkey.. and kinda sorta on some road signs... evidently einfahrt and ausfahrt or something like that have nothing whatsoever to do with...um bodily functions...but exiting and entering the autobahn or something. Who knew!

Now where was I... oh yes... menus! The foreign menu. The bane of the business traveler's existence. Do you think that word is 'chicken' or something else??? On one trip with a co-worker, this guy fussed and complained about the menu. To which my husband wittily replied it's like they have a different word for everything! So true.

***insert awkward segway segue here*** and then we had kids. And boy do they say some weird things. I remember when both the kids were very small, we were putting them to bed. I was reading and praying with Miss Boo while Daddyman was doing the same with Bub. Suddenly an exasperated hubby came into Boo's room asking for the book "All the Things That You Need". I assured him that we did not own such a book. But Bub was very persistent. So we started searching the bookcase. We finally figured it out.. it was "All the Thinks You Can Think" by Dr. Seuss. A tad different.

We also liked to eat at Chick-fil- a and on days that Bub's counts were good, sometimes we would treat ourselves to some chicken. Bub always called bbq sauce 'baa-q' sauce. It was so stinkin' cute! And then one day we were sitting down at the table and he asked for BARbeque sauce. We corrected him and asked him if he meant baaa-q sauce. His reply was "no, BooBoo toe me it was barbeque sauce". Thanks BooBoo.

One day a few years ago, we were out and saw some public displays of affection... or P.D.A.'s, if you will. So of course, the hubs and I are saying "PDA PDA PDA"!. We're so mature. Later on, Boo Boo thought she saw something and started running around yelling "FBI FBI FBI"! So now and forever more... PDA's are affectionately known around our house as FBI's.

But in order to keep the record straight.... Enjoy!

birthdays

Miss Boo has a birthday coming up. And she'll be 14! ...when did that happen???? She's supposed to be..you know.. like 9 or 10... not in the teens.

We've celebrated many birthdays in our family. And under many different circumstances. We celebrated when she turned one. A friend of mine made a pink strawberry cake that looked like a castle. Her invitations said come celebrate with us; our princess is turning one. We had pink and white balloons. She ate cake. Too stinkin' precious.

And then we started having 'friend' parties. Not quite so precious. We had some parties at home and others 'out'. I finally understood the delight that is... all I have to do is show up and bring a cake and 'they' will do the rest. Nice.

Several years ago she wanted to have a slumber party. Um.. no. But we compromised. I let her have a pajama party. Yes, the girls wore their pajamas and brought their pillows, but they didn't stay the night. Genius, I tell ya. They ate pizza and had a great time. I printed out cootie catchers with mixer type questions (that I created) on them, and the girls folded them and played with each other and got to know each other better. I am NOT into competitive games, especially at a party. So that was a big success. And I bought fabric markers and the girls drew pictures on white pillow cases since it was a 'pajama party' and then WENT HOME. It was a lot of fun. Especially the they went home part. We did all the fun stuff and I never had to tell anybody to get quiet and go to sleep. Didn't I tell ya.. genius!

Another year we had a luau theme.... with leis for the girls and they ate everything off toothpicks on flowered plates. Exotic enough... if you're like ten. We played some mixer type games then too. The girls had a ball.

The first birthday she had while Bub was sick was at the Little Gym. We chose an away from home party because Bub was in isolation and could not be around people or go places at that time. And he didn't get to be there. He was bummed but handled it so well. He handled many things amazingly well. I have to remind myself that he was THREE when he did these things sometimes. Anyhoo... the Little Gym party was such a success we decided to do it again the next year. It was a less hopeful time for us.. as we knew at that point, he was terminal. We chose to have the party there because we didn't know if we'd have a dying little one at home. Thankfully he was still feeling pretty well. We dosed him with Tylenol and Advil and he played with the rest of the kids. That makes me cry to think about it. He was just being a kid. He didn't get to do that very much while he was sick. It was pretty much the last 'fun' thing he got to do. From then on, he began to decline and we lost him three weeks later. (We had her party there the following year as well. A bittersweet ending to the 'Little Gym years'.)

I am thrilled my girl is growing up faster than I can imagine. But every event.. every day.. every milestone... has other memories for us right now. Some days are hard. Like I said yesterday.. I'm needing God. Which is good.

I'm hungry

I've done laundry and dishes

and cleaned house.

I went to the library too. Nothing big.

But sometimes life is hard.

I'm just hungry for God today...

praying.

worshiping.

touching little story

This weekend was just a mish-mash of things. First off, Miss Boo was off at a youth conference. Ugh. Pass the Geritol. At least I don't feel old when I say that. I guess by the time I get used to her being that old, she'll be even older. *sigh*

We took her to the church very early. Like 8. Kinda unheard of for us to be that put together that early in the morning on a Saturday. Soccer moms.. you have my sympathies. We decided to get some breakfast and then head out to a big box computer/appliance super store kinda joint because the hubs needed a piece for his computer and I needed to look for a couple of things.

So off we went to Chick-fil-a. Yum. I got a wrap and some little cinnamon roll dealies they've got. We decided to share the 'dessert'. We were each pulling pieces off to eat and yum yumming along the way. Suddenly I spied a nice little puddle of icing and mistakenly stupidly said ooooh, look at THAT? My hubby replied by quickly scooping it up with his finger, eating it and saying "you snooze you lose, lady!".

Touching I tell ya.