Happy Memorial Day!!

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my day off!! :) Even though it wasn't a true day off b/c I spent the first half of it cleaning my house - what I didn't finish last night. But I am satisfied. I stayed home most of the day with my family. I got to cook lunch and eat with my kids, which never happens cause we are usually on the go during the weekends and eat lunch on Sundays at Grandmas. I feel refreshed and relaxed!!

I am in the process of cooking my manicotti for my family (per their request) and am looking forward to a yummy home cooked family dinner!! yeah!!

Now to gear up for a short but busy week!!

and last but certainly not least....Thank you to the soldiers who have laid their lives down for our country so me and my family could enjoy the freedom we all love so dear!! Thank you!!

Rainy Sunday

Well, both kids rooms are painted and the trim up! YEAH!! All that's left is the hall, kitchen, living room and back bathroom...then the carpet and then a break while I decide what to do with the rest of the place! FINALLY!! So excited.

We had a ball tournament yesterday. I don't know what my deal was. I was so pumped to play yesterday but I got up in a SERIOUSLY pissy mood. I don't know why. I think it was in the air, because Shanna and Carson were both pissy, alot of my girls were whinier than usual and NONE of them seemed to want to play. That could be because we were playing like teams that are waaaaaaaayyyyyyy above us on skill level, but hey like the other parents were saying "its good practice". And it is good practice, but we have a tournament for the next two weekends. I didn't want to start our tournament weekends playing these teams ya know? and I am not even sure that all our parents realized this, but we have a tournament at our ball park next weekend and district the weekend after...sooo.....but I am excited for the girls because we do have some awesome games coming up that I am really looking forward to. :) We did get a tournament trophy yesterday though. Not sure how we managed that but we did. Our girls were so excited! They deserved a tournament trophy so much this year so I am excited that they finally got one!

I am in a much better mood this morning, I think I maybe just didn't sleep well the night before and after sleeping about 4 hours a night all week with Derek's hours last week it just caught up with me.

We went grocery shopping last night. In my attempt to be more on top of things at home, I spent last night clipping coupons, planning a menu and grocery shopping. Hot Saturday night with the husband huh? ha ha ha....So I get to cook this week! I haven't cooked in awhile and may be part of my problem. Cooking is my stress relief and I tend to get crabby when I go for awhile without doing it. So instead of the usual grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, mac n cheese and stuff for Memorial Day, I am making my husband's FAVORITE FAVORITE dish, My manacotti and crusy italian bread. He loves my manacotti. It was the first thing 'from scratch' I ever cooked for him and from that day on, he has NEVER said I could not cook. In fact, when he sees me cooking the kitchen and there are no boxes around, he gets all excited and wants to come taste. The best part of being in my kitchen is my kids. They LOVE to sit on the other side of the bar and ask questions "how do you know what to put in there?" "Why does it look so gross right now but taste so yummy later?" "When I get big will you show me how to cook?" So, this week, I am cooking almost every night. Shanna and Carson got excited when we got home with grocery bags. They like to help unload the groceries and this is usually what you hear "YYYEAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! Apples, Look Shanna, mom bought Apples!!" "ooohhh, oooohhh, Carson, look POPTARTS!! MY FAVORITE!" Its hilarious. You would think these kids starve and live on bologna and ketchup when I bring home groceries. :)

But today, today is housecleaning day. We are having family time tomorrow and not doing anything but staying home and spending time with our kids. So today, I have to get my house immaculate (which is going to be a miracle! Luckily, my mother-in-law has been painting for us and in between she will do laundry or my dishes or clean a room - I get on to her but I am SO grateful for her help. It was much needed since I have not had the energy the last two weeks to do it all alone and Derek's help is sometimes nonexistent).

So I am off to start in my bathroom and work my way back to the kids rooms so I can enjoy a TRUE day off tomorrow!! Happy Memorial Day everyone!

In Remembrance

Today is May 20th. Today is my dad's birthday. May he rest in peace. I miss you every day and now more than ever, I wish you were here. I hope your first birthday in Heaven is your best ever!! I love you.

okay, lets try this again!!!

Okay, lets try this again folks!! After hours of messing around with my previous blog...in my frustration I completely deleted it! GGRRRR...I know, I am not patient today. Mother nature is getting to me! Ha ha ha...So I am going to try to cutesify my blog again and start over!! Of course, I will have to repost the blogs I did this morning to show off what I was bragging about before, so if the old ones still show up on your dash board, I apologize! :)


So here we go!!

**EDITED TO ADD: Okay, so I played a little more and thanks to Ashley Jo for letting me know I can import my old blog posts into this one! YEAH! SO, I figured it out...go me...and therefore, my old posts are here too! Super excited! Now, to figure out the text and picture problem....which is really frustrating me**

okay....soooo mad

Yeah, I have been trying to "update" my blog look and try to familiarize myself with all this stuff...and in the process have thoroughly and probably permanently screwed my blog ALL UP. Talk about pissed! So after three hourse of making it worse, I quit. ANYONE OUT THERE...HELP!!!!!

I'M SO PROUD OF ME!!!

I am playing with my blog and trying to make it cuter...and look what I figured out!! I got a signature and I got it below my text!!! WOO HOO!! Look at me go!! I am soooo getting there!!

Martian March

Shanna had her dance recital last night...the SWEETEST THING EVER!!!! Her class did the martian march. I recorded it. She is on the back row and all the way to your left! Enjoy!!!

A little late on my picture!!

okay, so like 2 weeks ago when I was bragging on my $4 yard sale find that I love love love?? Here it is! Isn't it gorgeous!! I just love it! :) Go Me!! and I still can't figure out how to make my pictures go UNDER the text...any help??

Tuesday Tuesday

okay, not alot goin on today.

I did watch a new movie recently. The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was okay, not something I would watch over and over and it was LONG. But it was a good movie I reckon. A little wierd watching Brad Pitt walk around shooting people and stuff...and it was a little gory.

Shanna's dance recital is Friday. So excited! She is going to do a martian march. its so cute. I will post pics later!

Talk to you later!!

happy belated mother's day... :)

Sorry fellow bloggers...haven't had my computer all weekend. My boss had to work on a brief so I loaned to her while she was at the hospital with her hubby (he's okay now -bless his heart) so she could work on it.

I had the busiest weekend. I watched my little man play ball Friday night. I absolutely love the ball park. Have I mentioned that lately? ha ha ha...he did so good and we FINALLY beat a team that tends to cheat. Okay, the team doesn't, but the coaches are the kind that tend to bend the rules. They weren't happy that we beat them! and my little man hit the winning run in! I was so proud. They all did good. Of course, I worked the concession stand and watched the majority of the game from there. :( but its okay, I don't mind helping out when needed.
Saturday morning we got up at 3:00 a..m. and left for Memphis. We went to watch Pinks All Out. The boys were so excited. I thought it would be nice to get away and spend time with my boys. 3+ hour drive. LONG. and it was POURING DOWN RAIN. I am talking 10 buckets of rain per second. Horrible. Then we get a ticket b/c my tags expired two months ago and I had no clue. We didn't get the reminder in the mail (go figure). We finally get there and its still raining. Well, we were there aaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day. For like 16 hours of racing. That's alot. and the sun came out after the rain so we were all stinky and sunburned and then it got cold. Yeah, it was miserable but it was fun to watch, I have to admit. But I dreaded the forever long ride home and we were both so tired. I had to drive the last 1/2 of the way back b/c Derek about fell asleep behind the wheel. It was like 1:30 a.m. before we made it home. But Carson had a blast. But I have to admit not worthing missing my teams game on Saturday. They postponed last weekends game to this past Saturday but we had already bought my ticket, so I had to go. :( But its okay.

Then Mother's DAy! We had a lovely lazy day. My mother in law found a little baby turtle and gave it to Shanna. She loved him. She refused to let him go. So we ended up buying a 10 gallon tank (then we found out they carry salmonella - so we got a lid for the tank and come up with the rule that NO ONE TOUCHES THE TURTLE!). He's already spoiled. Got a big ole tank, a few rocks, a little swimming pool with a rock in it and everything!! She even named him Brock. Don't ask, I don't know - why would you name a turtle Brock? She's so silly.

Now, its Monday. the Monday from You Know Where!! But n e who...so that was my weekend. Hopin for a better week!! :) I know, this post is totally retarded and random!! ha ha ha! Talk to you later!!

Kids in the Kitchen!!

Okay, so like my biggest stress relieving hobby is cooking. I absolutely love to cook. LOVE IT. I love spending hours in my kitchen and I drool over other people's kitchens. Seriously. No exaggeration. Its my favorite room of everyone's house. You Tim Allen on Home Improvement? How he was with cars and tools?? Yeah, me with a kitchen and kitchen gadgets. My brother brought a breadmaker someone gave hime (practically BRAND NEW AND NEVER USED) to dirty santa last year as a "white elephant" (I KNOW RIGHT?!)...Needless to say, I got it and whenever ANYONE looked my way like they were going to take it, they got the bad stinkeye! ha ha ha...obsessed.

My kids absolutely love to be on the other side of the bar when I cook. Its how I grew up watching my aunt in her kitchen and I believe is why I love to cook. She used to watch us in the Summer and she was bound and determined to make me and my sister Ms. Susie Domestic so we spent every summer with her planting in her garden, cleaning house, learning how to cook, and learning how to sew. Cooking is the only thing that stuck. :)

Well, in my children's school, the Kindergarten apparently make cookbooks. My kids had different kindergarten teachers. My son made one for us last year and my daughter just brought hers home. I love them. This was the best idea and the perfect mother's day present!! The kids tell their teacher their most favorite recipe that their mommy's cook and the kids draw on a piece of paper and give the teacher their version of the recipe (which is hilarious!) and then they type up the actual recipe behind it! So, I thought I would share my kids recipes....and I reckon share two of my family's absolute faves with you!!

Kindergarten 2007-2008 - Carson's Recipe: Carson actually said my lasagna, but I buy a frozen one more often than I actually do one from scractch, so I gave up my manicotti recipe (which my mom couldn't believe, cause I used to refuse to share it, but since I have my dads top secret chocolate pie recipe and am the only one with it, I decided it was okay ha ha ha!):

LASAGNA, BY CARSON
Cheese
Noodles
Sauce

I'm not sure, but I think she buys it at Wal-Mart. She puts it in the oven. She cooks it at 300 degrees for 3 hours. She takes it out and lets it cool. We eat it with bread. ***side note from me- he has colored around his recipe with the phrase "salt is good. Tamatos are good with salt. Yum!!! Good!!!" My son eats tomatoes like women eat chocolate! He loves them. They are his fave!***

MANACOTTI

Boil manacottie noodles as directed on the box. Cook 1 lb of pork sausage and crumble. Mix the sausage with a large container of ricotta cheeese. Mix in 1 egg, garlic powder and oregano (to taste, a little or a lot, doesn't matter). Stuff the noodles with the mixture and place in a large lasagna pan. Pour 1 jar of pasta sauce over noodles (I use Prego Ricotta Parmesan). Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling. Sprinkle mozzerella cheese on top and cook until melted. YUM YUM YUM. Awesome with crusty italian bread.

now under this recipes, hes colored a picture of salt and tomatoes and wrote yum yum yum yum yum down the page! ha ha ha...he's so silly.

Now for Shanna....she absolutely loves my biscuits and gravy. Its a knockoff of cracker barrells. I won't eat biscuits and gravy unless it is from cracker barrell or I make it. I am too picky. :)

BISCUITS AND GRAVY by SHANNA

Get flour as big as two spoons.
4 eggs
2 inches of water
Mix with mixing spoon. Slap biscuits with your hand. PUt in 5 degree oven for 7 minutes. Chop biscuits.

Gravy
Take a little bit of pepper and hardly any salt and put in a little pan on stove. Cook for 5 minutes.

how hilarious is that! ha ha ha...and of course she drew me in my apron and some funky hat (which I don't wear hats, so not sure where she came up with that!)

SAwmill Gravy

1/2 lb ground pork sausage
3 1/4 c. milk
1/8 tsp dried italian seasoning
1/4 c. butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring it until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove sausage with a spoon leaving the drippings (that's how I do it, you are supposed to leave only 1 tbsp drippings but I use a big ole skillet) Melt butter with drippings in skillet over low heat. Whisk flour until smoothg. Cook, whisking constantly 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Stir in sausage, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Sooooo yummy. :)

ENJOY!!

Opportunity knocks...to answer the door, or pretend I'm not home?

Its been a busy, wet, long couple of days.

We had a ball tournament Friday and SAturday. I was pumped about the tournament. Friday night we lost (because the ump was a lazy tard). I love softball. If you can't tell and it makes me IRATE when we have a dumb umpire. UGH. Read your rule book and take off the sunglasses that are obviously hindering your freaking vision! okay, nuff of that!

So Saturday morning, I get up super early and go yard saling at this nice neighborhood yardsale. I scored the most beautiful fake pearl and diamond bracelet for $4! I will get a pic of it later. Its gorgeous. I was so proud :)

We get to the ball park at about 9:30 a.m. and it is storming. So of course they call of the games. No big deal, I have a bunch of stuff do at home. We go to Home Depot and bought the paint for Sha Bug's room. We go have dinner at Grandma's Saturday night to make up for the next day when we wouldn't be having the usual lunch with her. While we are there, I about die I start hurting so bad. Not sure what the deal was, but it was miserable. So I ended up in bed early and all day Sunday. I didn't get squat done.

Today, however, I was presented with an opportunity. It is really flattering that I was offered this but I am not sure I can handle it. It may (as much as I hate to admit this) be too much. However, I have gotten completely positive feedback from my few family members I trust completely and confided in...I am pondering the decision tonight even though I kina already sorta accepted. I will give more details later when everything is done in stone. However, in order to be on top of this my hubby just asks that I get on top of everything at home. Which I am not.

So in my attempts to prove that I am Super Mom (which I so am not, but would love to be) I have attempted the impossible tonight. My desk in my room. Which I swear has been literally BURIED under paper, receipts, miscellaneous junk, mail, and anything and everything you could think from the last 5 months. I have not even attempted to clean my desk in months. It just kept getting worse and worse and I kept putting it off. So, I decided tonight, I will become organized. So to keep me motivated, I am going to set a goal for my self at least weekly. We will see how long this last, but it is my goal to be completely OCD and on top of every aspect of my life. I want to be organized like a stay at home wife and mom, but be everything else too. :) My son told me once I was supermom and I about cried because I knew it was so far from the truth. And with DAd's death and everything going on around me, I have just felt completely fallen through the cracks. So, I am shaping up! :) Wish me luck!

So far, you can now see my desk, I have gotten rid of the trash and enourmous amount of dust on everything...I am serious when I say I have avoided this part of my room like the plague....and I have three 2 feet tall stack of papers to go through and sort and place or whatever....FUN FUN FUN...I have fun night ahead of me tomorrow since there is no ball games! WOO HOO....