Fabulous

Pressure washer. I can't believe I have lived 37 years without one. I blasted the patio yesterday, you know to get the bird poopies off, and it was freakin' incredible!
Who knew the patio was so dirty? I mean it made fast work of bird droppings as I had anticipated, but then it was lifting off ground in dirt that I really did not realize was there. It looks like the color of freshly poured concrete now. I am in love.

Hubs told me to buy a gas powered one and I said no because it will be too expensive, heavy, cumbersome, we don't need THAT much power....blah, blah, blah. Now I wish I had listened to him. (shhh. don't tell HIM that!) I bought a middle of the line electric one and it did great but I can only imagine what a hefty gas powered one would do!!!

I am so easily entertained it is scary.

Speaking bird poop....did you see the "How Clean is Your House" that was on one day last week. I don't know exactly which day because I TiVo it, however this woman in England had like 8 pet birds and did not keep them in a cage. Her house was COVERED in poop! Furniture, walls, counter tops... it was truly one of the most disgusting things I have seen. HOW do they live like that? I ask that every time I watch that show.

I feel the need to show some sewing, since my blog name "implies" that I might sew! Remember the predicament I was in because my block of the month square turned out 2.5" larger than it was supposed to be? Well, I made a pillow out of that block for my Mom for her birthday.
It matches the colors of her living room. So there you have it, I really did sew last week!

Party preparations are in full swing around here. I may not be back until after the party Saturday and then I will share photos!

Mr. Wind you have worn out your welcome

Wind? Seriously why don’t you leave me alone? It is blowing 40mph steady today. This is West Texas...flat and no trees, a combination that is perfectly condusive to getting beat to death by wind. We live in the country where it is even worse due to the fact that cotton is what is grown in this neck of the woods, and the crops have all been harvested...leaving 100’s of 1,000’s of acres of dirt fields surrounding us. The dirt that gets in those 40mph winds and blows into you window sills, your lipgloss....

That is one of my top 5 questions I will have for God when I get to Heaven “why, why with the wind?” I understand pollinating and seeds and whatever ...but tiny puffs of wind can carry seeds.

While we are on the topic...one of my other questions will be why hairy legs and armpits for the ladies? He could have taken care of that one for us. I mean we have to do the child bearing and all, he could of thrown us a bone on the hairy leg thing. I‘m just sayin’.

Followed by a little nudge to the elbow and “You meant for bodily noises to be funny, didn’t you?” He will admit to it and then, then all of you prissy proper girls who gasp & take offense at any indication of a bodily noise....yeah, the joke will be on you.

So it is Monday and the ha-yuge party is Saturday. The party is outside in the barn, but people will have to come in to use the restroom. We have a powder room right inside the door from the garage which is in the little hallway leading to the kitchen. Also in this hallway is the laundry room. Knowing people will be sizing up my laundry room, I did a total clean out of the laundry room yesterday. Top to bottom, washed the walls and everything. The walls in there did not "look" dirty but you should have seen the soapy water in the sink. Ewwwwww. It is all clean and fresh now...why don’t I do that more often? I might feel compelled to wash all walls in the house now. There may not be much sleep for me this week.

That then lead me to the hallway by the back door where the walls were DIRTY, yes I could see the smudges there...children leaning on & touching while taking shoes on and off, etc...ugh. Filthy beasts. So I washed down those walls too. Good grief! It looks like a new house again! Plain old soap and water, no "cleaners" folks. Worked like a charm.

I have not been able to get outside and clean the porch because of the dang wind. You might recall my issue with the darn birds pooping on the porch. Some sweet little finches or swallows or something have built nests on the porch and they don't do anything but poop all day! I have to clean the porch because what if people want to sit on the porch at the party?!?! I am all ready to clean once the wind stops blowing. I bought a heavy duty scrub brush and resigned myself to the fact that I will be scrubbing bird crap for HOURS one day this week.

Then I had a revelation. Pressure washer. OH yeah baby I went to Lowe’s this morning and got an 1800 PSI pressure washer. It is the “Tim the Tool Man” way to remove bird crap...except he would have gotten like 4800PSI!! I’ll have that nasty porch cleaned off in like 10 minutes. Those danged pooping birds better not show their faces while momma has the pressure washer fired up.

Well, I'm done now. I have wasted 3 minutes of your life and I am sure sorry about that but heck I feel better venting those little issues!

A little less talk and a lot more action

I had BIG plans today, plans for cleaning out & straightening up the garage and patio. But they are going to remain in the planning stage today I am afraid. The wind is out of control. I know you are thinking you pansy go work in the wind. Well unless you have ever lived in or visited West Texas, then you have no idea what I am talking about! I don't mean a breeze or a little gust now and then, no it would be better described as a constant gale force gust!!!

Any sweeping and tidying up of the patio today would result in me sweeping while a tornado of dust swirled around me! Not pleasant. Better luck tomorrow I guess. I could go work on the garage but I would have to keep the door shut.

All of this is in preparation for a ha-yuge party we are having next weekend for the Marine. He ships out on March 10th for boot camp, so next weekend is our last hoo-rah for a while with him. The party is going to be outside and in the barn, thank goodness but again in West Texas the weather is completely unpredictable...so it could snow, ice, come a dust storm... you never know. Which means I need to have the house ha-yuge party ready in case a weather related plan B is needed.

Yikes. Do you do this when you are having a party...go into a whirlwind over drive mode? All of a sudden instead of just cleaning all of these ideas sprout in my brain, like....I need to organize my messy drawer full of recipes, I am going to clean out every cabinet in the house, make some curtains, plant an entire garden, re-arrange furniture, make chair covers in the dining room....on and on the ridiculousness goes!

Oh and add to that list organize the pantry. LOOK at this pantry! Cripes! Isn't that awesome! Saves $ too I bet because she always knows what she has. Unlike my pantry with the 4 bags of egg noodles and 2 extra bags of flour because I can't see what I have in that disheveled mess!

I know there is no possible way to accomplish that in a week and most importantly no one at the party is going to care about the state of my recipe drawer! I think as I start a "house wide party prep cleaning mission" my brain just goes into overdrive! So I have started a list of the things I want to do AFTER the party at a more leisurely rate.

Here is what I DID start this morning.
Uh-huh, sure enough I took a baby step and started my toxin free cleaning! Club Soda as window cleaner. Worked like a charm and cheap too. Club Soda is like $.50 a bottle!

Our new barstools arrived from JC Penney! I think I have aired my frustration with my barstools before...so here is the short version. When we bought our house we excitedly purchased 3 bar stools for the bar in the kitchen. We had not had a bar before and were pleased as punch with the thought of a bar to sit at in the kitchen. After a few months we wondered why the barstool situation was so uncomfortable....and then figured out that our "bar" was counter height and our stools were bar height. Leaving approx. 3" inches of clearance for your thighs and sitting up way too high to comfortably eat.

Very sad because they are nice heavy barstools and they match our breakfast table. I did eventually go back to the store where we bought them to see if they could order just the counter height bases for our stools. They contacted the manufacturer who said no they do not sell just the bases. Which I believe to be hogwash, of course they could sell just the bases, if they wanted to be kind and customer service oriented!


Those are the old barstools, nice sure, but useless to us. They never got sat in except by blonde rascal who could comfortably fit of course. I got tired of having barstools just to look at them, so I found some on JC Penney's website that I liked and ordered them.

I put the old ones on Craig's List and didn't get a response so I took them to a furniture consignment place. Keep your fingers crossed that those suckers will sell!

Here are the new ones

Do ya like them? I think they "say pull up a chair and visit a while" much more than those other bulky ill-fitting ones did! I am looking forward to eating breakfast there, chatting on the phone, making my grocery list...it has instantly gone from wasted to usable space.

Before I took that picture I cleaned the kitchen, take a good look since it does not look like this too often! Notice the sparkly clean club soda window!!!


Hubs and I rented 3:10 to Yuma last night. It was good. I actually stayed awake. Russell Crowe without his accent was kind of weird.

I have Chicken Spaghetti made and ready to slip in the oven for dinner so I guess I better get back to party prepping the house!

Weenie Birthday

On my last tagging of random facts I mentioned that I was a cat lover...until I got the dang weenie dog.


Today is Missy's 1st birthday! Look what has become of me...
Yes those ARE doggie cookies!
And yes the little dog gets a new handbag for her birthday!



Missy had a cookie, or two, for breakfast. Hey...it's her birthday!


Blonde rascal licked one to test it out. He is drawn by some sort of magnetic force to sprinkles. I read the label for pete's sake and they are made of flour and honey and yogurt, nothing weird. Don't call CPS and tell them I am feeding my child dog food.


After her breakfast of cookies,
she did a quality check on the craftsmanship of her new bag.



Someone else was not in a very celebratory mood...
"Birthday smirthday"

That someone who you might note is on the kitchen table again. Val is a tad bitter perhaps because we do not know when his birthday is. You see he is a bastard child. Very sad story indeed. Mom was an alley cat and dad a tom cat, a real love 'em and leave 'em type of guy. But let's not bring down our happy spirits this morning with such a woeful tale.



They did agree to share the back of the love seat this morning...
...as long as they did not have to look at each other!

I must add that the terribly cute ballet flats that I posted a picture of yesterday, were NOT $14. I was looking at the receipt last night and they were on sale for $11.99. DID YOU HEAR ME? $11.99. Clearly another trip to Target is in my immediate future.

Frenzy

The blonde rascal was indeed home sick again yesterday...so I am running around like crazy today doing any and all Monday-Weds. errands that did not take place. I have been out all morning, came home for lunch and now have to go do a few more things before getting the rascal from school.

So I have been couped up playing nurse (a job I would not trade for ALL the fame & fortune in the world by the way) for the past 3 days. Wiping his nose, dispensing medicine, soothing and basically fulfilling his every wish of "more Gatorade" or "I want some Jell-O" with some sanitizing & laundry thrown in and then dropping into bed at night.

A little stir crazy myself, I am glad to be back in the routine. And truth be told the little fella was glad to be going back to school. We are down to that 2 year old box of freezer burned corn dogs so I must head off to the grocery store now! And I might add that my Mom's b-day is Saturday and I have not made much less mailed her present!!

To sooth my frazzled self I had to, no seriously "had" to, go to Target this morning. I needed a few things and... ahem... came out with a little more than I needed like these....
No, they were not on the list but seriously $14 for some SASSY ballet flats? (I read these were "out" this season...phooey on that!) I wish I could marry Target.

Tomorrow is a special birthday at our house and lots of projects will be underway for the weekend so come back to visit!!

Stuff

Here it is Tuesday and where did the weekend go?

Friday morning we noticed the microwave making a zapping noise and could smell burnt wire. Not good, but come lunch time I had to heat up my soup....right?....so I thought I'd see what might happen if I used the microwave one more time. Well it heated up my soup just dandy... but it melted a dadgum hole right through the top of the microwave on the inside! Fascinating sure, yet lucky I did not burn the house down!

I found an appliance store that carried the exact same model. The microwave is built in, so we spent Friday evening discombobulating it all and putting the new one in. It was good because I got to clean out all the lint and dust that was in the vents around the oven. Squeaky clean.

Yesterday was holiday for blonde rascal but much to his dismay he was sick. There has been a lot of this respiratory flu like stuff going around. He had a fever all day yesterday and was downright miserable. He climbed into our bed yesterday morning, when he woke up, and stayed there all day. He wanted me in bed with him ALL day. Which of course I obliged because there will come a day when he won't want me hovering over him! So we cuddled and he rested.

I did manage to squeeze in some laundry, vacuuming, opening the windows to let some fresh air circulate and of course some Lysol on the surfaces blondie had been touching. I couldn't accomplish much before a little voice would say "Mommy come get in bed with me"...oh sigh, that sweet child.

I had him stay home today. No fever but lots of congestion. This is the first day he has missed all year. He seems better but is still moving slow. We did a little more recuperating in bed this morning, watching "How Clean is Your House?" I just cannot get enough of that show!! Do people REALLY live like that? How is that possible?? Even blonde rascal was grossed out.

Kim and Aggie clean those NASTY houses for the most part with vinegar, baking soda and lemons. Which reminded me that I need to finish my book.

The book is great, very simple. However it does not flow in a logical order, in my humble opinion, so I need to go back and mark the relevant pages with the recipes & how tos. I also did not find soap, like what they recommend in the book, at my local health nut place. I may need to order some stuff on line.

We are in the midst of a blatant disregard for authority situation at our house. Yes, it involves...




...Val the petulant 12 year old diabetic cat.

From day one when Val was a spaztic & frisky kitten he was not allowed on any surface that would be eaten off of (kitchen table) or anywhere food would be prepared (any kitchen counter) no matter what!

Cats are known to be hard headed and not particularly fond of doing ANYTHING you want them to do, so the water squirt bottle was put to use for his training. It worked and for the past 12 years Val has stayed off of the places he was not supposed to be.

In the past 2 weeks there has all of a sudden been a lapse in his memory and he been obsessed with sitting on the kitchen table! I reprimand him, push him off, he scowls at me and then not 2 minutes later he is back up, with a really irritated look on his face.

This morning for instance...

It was 7:00, the sun not up yet but as soon as I opened the blinds and turned my back, there he goes.


I give him a tongue lashing and push him off the table. Then 20 minutes later...

he is ignoring me.

This keeps up for an hour! Me push him off the table, "BAD kitty! NO!", him jump back up as soon as I am out of the room!


"Are you talking to me?"


Followed by...


"WHAT?"



Then comes the moment he had been waiting for all morning....

"Ahhh sunshine."

Wish me luck as I deal with this cantankerous cat. I think I will have to dust off the squirt bottle and retrain that evil fur ball in the morning. I am highly offended by animals ON the kitchen table...nasty!

Hopefully my boy will feel better in the morning and be able to go to school. Taking 2 days out of the weekly schedule kind of puts a kink in things! I have a dr. appt. in the morning, need to finish AND mail a b-day present, we are getting low on vittles, my hiney needs to be on the treadmill, we are out of crazy expensive diabetic cat food...and the list goes on and on.

Looking Good

It's like a new haircut, it makes me feel so good. It's a new banner and it ROCKS! I can brag about it because I did not do it. No, you see I am not talented or computer savvy enough to pull that off! But Shabbee Chick Amber on the other hand, she is very talented and savvy.

I emailed Amber and told her that my blog's coif, if you will, was dull and well honestly it just sucked. Then I gave her this rambling, random, dis-jointed list of what I wanted in a banner and BLAM-O less than 24 hours later she fired this SO CUTE banner right off to me! She is so good she nailed it right on the head, just what I was looking for.

3 cheers for Amber! Hip-hip-hooray!!! Thank you Amber! Even if you don't need a new banner go visit her anyway. Seriously. Let me tell you why. First of all she is funny. Then she is an awesome mom. You should see the after school treats she whips up for her girls, incredible I tell you! (I sometimes think of her as I give blonde rascal a bag of chips & some yogurt after school...blech) Lastly her house is simply charming, you'll love looking at it.

Geez, the new me has sooo much more to say, but Blogger is acting up and not wanting to save. So in order to save me a lot of potential frustration I'll post this and come back later with my usual nonsense.

Lo and behold I have been tagged again!

The last time I was tagged I boldly stated that I thought it was fun and heck I could rattle off random facts for hours. Well apparently I was on a roll then but have unfortunately slept since then, and am now drawing a blank.

I have been tagged by Vickie from Australia!!! How can I deny a tagging from someone with such a cool accent? And the city she lives in is called Humpty Doo! That makes me laugh...I wish I lived somewhere with a fun name! I have always wanted to visit Australia and now I have a friend there! (Vickie can I stay with you in Humpty Doo??)

On a side note, blonde rascal can do a pretty good Australian accent. Sometimes much to my delight he will answer the phone with an enthusiastic "Eh-low mate!" usually when he knows it is daddy calling. He does a top notch British accent. He struggles with the Irish a bit, but that one is tricky you know. This all has nothing to do with me being tagged...just wanted to let you know my son is brilliant, or it may be more appropriate to say he is a character.

7 more random things...

1. I took my first puff of a cigarette when I was 8! My friend Stacey Price, the little harlot, her parent's smoked. So for whatever stupid reason one day she took one of her mom's cigs and we lit it up! Thankfully it was an isolated incident and I did not become a chain smoker at 8 years old, or ever in my life. Sure a few times in college I would take a puff just for giggles...but I am so much more refined now. I no longer do things just to amuse myself. Well there was this time but that was SO last year and I have matured since then.

2. I am an optimist to the core. Half full baby, the glass is always half full.

3. We went to Las Vegas on our honeymoon. On our flight we told the flight attendant that we had just gotten married. She then gets on the intercom and tells everyone that drinks are on the house in celebration of our marriage! That was quite the "festive" flight let me tell you. I love Southwest Airlines!

4. I have lived in Cleveland, OH, Houston, TX and now Lubbock, TX

5. I hate raisins.

6. One of my most embarrassing moments was at the apartments hubs and I lived in when we first got married. The apartments did not have washer/dryer hookups in the individual units so I would do the laundry in the facilities on the property. I was doing laundry one day and this nice fellow was doing his at the same time. So we struck up a friendly conversation, passing the time as we did our washing/drying/folding. I was wearing some some OLD, old, worn out, cut off sweat pants that the drawstring had come out of years before and a t-shirt.

I get back to the apt. from my laundry doing and notice that my drawstring-less cut off sweats must have slipped a little, leaving the top of my sweats and my t-shirt separated by a good 5 inches. Luckily filling in the gap were my pink flowered cotton Hanes-Her-Way's! It was my sincere prayer the rest time we lived in that apt. complex that I would never see that man who witnessed my gross wardrobe malfunction!

7. I was a dyed in the wool cat lover. "No dog will ever live IN my house" I had been known to say. Nope, dogs belonged outside where even then they were bothersome enough. Cats are low maintenance and big attitude, which is such an entertaining combination. Cat lover for life I was, that is until we got this little queen of hearts last Spring...








Now I am a miniature long-haired Dachshund (who sleeps in our bed at night) AND cat lover.


Well that is it, I am all out of random facts. Oh the things I would tell you if my parents and m-i-l were not reading my blog! Kidding, I'm KIDDING! I am an open book and sleep well at night with my clean conscience!!!

By the way.....Tag! YOU are it!

I CAN LINK NOW!!!!

I did not have a link icon, which HIGHLY irritated me as I have discussed before, but I fixed it!!!!!!

I was using Safari as my browser. In doing a little research in the past I had read that Firefox would correct the problem. Well, I am an imbecile and thought that all sounded too technical.

This morning I asked hubs what Firefox was and he said a browser. Of course HE uses it on his computer, "it is much better than Safari." Then it all sort of clicked for me! DUH! So I downloaded the free version of Firefox and opened my blog...WAAA LAAAA! I have a completely new tool bar with tons of options, including freaking linking!!!!!! Hello....bold, italic, colors...it goes on and on. Stupid Safari hindered my blogging!

I have stepped up a notch in the blog world.

Now I can say that for Valentine's dinner I made this and if you have not made it yet, you are missing out.

Whhhheeeeeee! That is cool. I am going to go play some more now. No telling what the heck else I was missing out on.

My Most Favorite Valentine's Day

Oh geez, I got my pictures inserted all out of order. Sorry, Jack has nothing to do with my most favorite Valentine's Day ever.

Valentine's Day 2000. I was 6 months pregnant with blonde rascal. We had tickets to see Elton John in concert. Just Sir Elton and his piano. No band, just raw talent. Sure, throw in some crazy sunglasses and sparkly jackets too!

It was incredible. The man is good I'm telling ya. All the songs you know and love with his incredible piano playing.

Hubs, who was still a police officer (homicide detective) at the time, got paged about an hour into the concert. Somebody murdered on Valentine's Day? During our date??? They are dead, can't the investigating WAIT until after the concert???

Hubs had another officer come pick him up so I would have the car to drive home...alone...from our date. Hubs kissed me and went off to look at dead people.

I was sad, fat, alone...but those emotions all passed because Elton was soooo good and entertaining.

Then that crazy bedazzled Elton said "Are there any pregnant women in the audience?" and I was thinking WHA... HE is talking to me!!! It sounded like maybe 3 people responded including myself but it was hard to tell with the arena being sold out. I yelled "WOOOO-HOOOO" and started clapping. Elton then said "This song is dedicated to your unborn child" .....oh my gosh Elton just threw me a bone because he knows I am sad and alone at this awesome concert while my Valentine is off tracking down some butt head criminal!!!

So he proceeded to sing "Blessed" which I had never heard, but it is now one of my all time favorites. I have it on my i-pod and it still gives me chills....

"I know you're still a dream/your eyes might be green/or the bluest that I've ever seen/Anyway you'll be blessed/And you, you'll be blessed/You'll have the best/I promise you that/I'll pick a star from the sky/Pull your name from a hat/I promise you that you'll be blessed"

I was spellbound, in my emotional pregnant state the beautiful words of his song washed over me like a wave. The tears rolled down my checks and I am sure I would have been described as a glowing pregnant woman at that moment!

And yes he was correct, my boy is blessed...and I am even more blessed by having him.

In case you are wondering, it was not a murder. A death yes, but natural causes. No foul play. So hubs came back to the concert and got to hear the last 2 songs.

There you have it, my favorite Valentine's Day just me and Elton John...oh and hubs too for a few hours of that evening anyway!



Now back to this...


We went to a restaurant last month in Buffalo Gap, TX. "Huh?" you say, yes it is a SMALL town! But they have a family owned steakhouse there called Perini Ranch Steakhouse. It had to have been one of the best meals I have had, topped only by an Italian restaurant in Chicago that was divine. Anyway a delicious meal at the Perini Ranch followed by bread pudding. Hub's aunt and uncle were with us and they had both eaten there before and insisted that we get the bread pudding. We were all miserably stuffed but they AND the waitress said we could not miss out on the bread pudding. So hubs and I split one.

For the love of all things sacred...I don't think I have ever been that close to euphoria. That was the best, most incredible dessert ever created. A taste bud amusement park! I said I could have bathed it it!!!

So that is what I am making for hubs for dessert this here Valentine's day! I bought the recipe book at the ranch just for this dish! Don't worry, blonde rascal gets his own little Valentine cake and vanilla ice cream with sprinkles.

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce:
2 eggs
2T. melted butter
2T. vanilla
2 1/2 C. milk
2C. sugar
2C. sourdough bread, cut into 1" cubes.
1/3C. chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325. Beat eggs, add the butter, vanilla and milk. Gradually add the sugar and mix thoroughly until the sugar is dissolved. Place bread cubes in the bottom of 9" round baking dish. Pour liquid over bread, making sure the pieces are fully saturated. Sprinkle pecans over the bread and push them down into the bread. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Serves 8-10.
Whiskey Sauce:
1/2C. sugar
1 stick butter
1/2C. cream
1/4C. Jack Daniels
Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat until mixture reaches a low rolling boil. Pour a small amount over individual servings of bread pudding.
(Edited to say I cooked for 50 minutes, but next time will cook for and hour or more if needed. Also I just poured the sauce all over the pudding instead of following the directions. Whoa, that was too much so next time I will just pour a little over each serving)
Then say a prayer because it is all going directly to your ass!

The Heartbreak Kid

There he is Mr. Stud Muffin Jr. before school this morning. He is man enough to wear pink! He is so dang cute, if I do say so myself, my little Valentine!

I am going up to school this afternoon for his party. If I catch wind of any hanky panky today, those love sick little 2nd grade girls trying to plant some smooches on him on the playground and such, oh boy I will have to give 'em a stern talking to. Yes siree, I have NOT met a 2nd grade girl yet who is worthy of the blonde rascal!



If his GQ good looks don't get them....


then his psychedelic dance moves from the 60's will!


I will be back this afternoon with the story of my most favorite Valentine's Day ever. It involves me and Elton John. Stay tuned!

Sometimes, I crack myself up

2 posts in one day? Wow, that is nuts. However, since blonde rascal woke me up at 5:30am this morning due to a bad dream, after which I could not go back to sleep, my post from this morning could almost be classified as yesterday.

Anyhoo~ check this out. I cleaned out my scrapbooking stuff and hubs cleaned out his closet. He had a small collection of Tommy Bahama items that he had never worn, and since that line of clothing starts out as expensive I thought I should give it a shot on E-bay. I hate clutter and storing stuff just because I "might need it"~ huh-uh I won't need it. So E-bay is a great friend of mine! By the way Creative Memories stuff is ALWAYS a sure sell on E-bay. FYI.

Anyway a little cleaning out and I am $257 richer, thanks to E-bay and all the people of the world who want my clutter!
So this is how I spent my morning...
packing up the E-bay spoils.

Actually first thing this morning I went to the gym, ran by the store to pick up mailing supplies and then spent the rest of the morning packing and addressing. By the time I am finished it is noon and I realize I am STILL in my stinky gym clothes.

I have been to a few blogs...preppy, sassy, cute Mom blogs...where they post pictures of what they are wearing that day. Now I am not hating, in fact their blogs are quite entertaining and I like seeing what they are wearing because I need all the help I can get!! The pictures have descriptions like..."Cashmere twin set from J.Crew"..."7 for all mankind jeans" and then they show some hip cute shoes and matching purse.

I snickered as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and decided to post what I was wearing at noon...

A smelly Nike shirt, blue hoodie and sweaty head band.

Some equally smelly I am sure, but dang comfortable Nike Shox

And I finish off the ensemble with some horribly unflattering but runner friendly shorts!


That's me in a nutshell folks, always a picture of grace and style....oh wait, I mean laziness and cheap clothes!! teehee teehee!

There, now I fit in with the cool bloggers. Except I bet they don't smell when they post their "outfits" for the day. Don't be too alarmed....I DID go take a shower after that.

Except my after shower outfit was really no better. It consisted of some, at least, 5 year old worn out Target black velour sweatpants and a pink long sleeve, old, Old Navy t-shirt! Not a good look. Frumpy housewife comes to mind! Geez, have I no shame? I better go study some more trendy mom blogs....

Kissing up to the teacher

In an effort to be the favorite mom in blonde rascal's class (hey- just being honest here) I made both the teacher AND the student teacher one of these...

for Valentine's Day.

Oh my gosh isn't that the cutest fabric? Got it at the quilt store. It is a tissue holder, for those kleenex pocket packs, to go in your purse. And I threw in a little antibacterial hand lotion since those sweet underpaid teachers so lovingly deal with our germy kids.

People all over blog land have made them but I used the tutorial on stardustshoes.blogspot.com. Let me tell you it was easy, easy beyond all belief. And quick, and honestly probably cheaper than a nasty box of chocolates from Wal-Mart.

I will be at the class party on Thursday keeping my eyes peeled for a cuter teacher present. IF there is one, there may have to be a "smackdown" in the parking lot after school between me and the cuter present mom. I'm just sayin.

Tag...I'm it!

My buddy Kristen, at The Lewis Family, tagged me with 7 random facts about myself. So here they are in no particular order...

1. My biggest pet peeve in the entire world is littering. I mean who do you think you are? Do you throw trash on the floor at your house? Especially while driving, if I witness littering, it makes me want to say horrible cuss words that I would normally never imagine uttering!

2. If I were stranded on a desert island I would take books, and more books. I could do nothing but read until I take my last breath and be deliriously happy about it. I have my Mom to thank for that love. She fostered that joy by reading to me and taking me to the library as a child. (thanks Mom!)

3. If I did NOT have morals & scruples AND a husband & children whom I adore more than life itself, I would be in the Mafia.

4. I like the smell of WD-40.

5. I do not retain information very well ...history, geography, events...but I can name song titles and artists from the 80’s. Sometimes hubs will pull up an 80’s playlist on i-tunes and quiz me. Often he just looks at me wondering how and why I would know these songs.

6. My hips are double jointed. If the Mafia thing did not pan out, then I could be a circus act!

7. Very few people truly irritate me. The one character trait that I honestly cannot stomach is arrogance. Otherwise, I find most quirks in people interesting and usually always entertaining to me in some way.

I am now supposed to tag other people but it seems to me that on the majority of blogs I read they have been tagged recently. So if you have NOT been tagged and you are reading this, then tag you are it!!! Truthfully I kind of dreaded this assignment, but seriously once I got started, man I think I could go on and on! Who wants to read 698 random facts about me?!?!?

It is such an honor

My sweet, blonde, adorable, mischievous 7 year old son....


yes there he is! Mr. royal silliness, himself, in a cheesy self-portrait. Whenever I download pictures onto my computer there is always a large selection of blonde rascal self-portraits for my viewing pleasure.

Anywhoo, hubs got home from work the other night and we were all in the kitchen talking and blonde rascal, out of the blue, declares that he is going to get a t-shirt made that says "My Mom can burp louder than your Mom!"

Could he not have chosen....my mom can quilt better....or my mom knows more Bible verses....or my mom is a better cook...or my mom's IQ is higher? I mean, the possibilities are endless and I get burping recognition.

I should mention that I laughed with glee when he said that and felt most victorious...or ashamed...or proud... or alarmed.

Oh well, I guess I should be proud of my accomplishments and take the accolades that are bestowed upon me!

My sewing room is a war zone

I go into my sewing room after lunch yesterday. I was resigned to the fact that I would have to go to the quilt store and get them to figure out why my BOM block was the wrong size, but I thought I would give it one more shot, using my own brainpower.

I start to piddle around in the sewing room, getting ready to get down to business and look who hops up on the table to visit....

It is Mr. Grumpy, who I might add is now SITTING on my Thimbleberries directions. And impaling himself on my pins! He gets insulin shots 2x a day, so needles are nothing but a thing for him now.


Well guess who that makes reeeaaallllllyyyy jealous?
Yep, none other than Missy the attention hog. The barking/hissing grudge match gets under way.


All the while I am standing there, scratching my head, talking to myself, measuring & re-measuring, trying to figure out the problem.

Missy gets all beside herself and goes into full on pest mode.



This is followed by many rapid fire slaps to Missy’s forehead.

POW!


The grumpy feline then jumps down and proceeds to hop over and onto anything that he thinks might get him away from spaz-o puppy. Spaz-o puppy is always up for a game of chase with a kitty, unfortunately puppy Missy’s legs are 4” long. So now short legs is running through stacks of stuff, knocking stuff over all while attempting to keep up with the agile and more graceful cat.

At this point here is how I felt about the ruckus...



I am just about to declare the sewing room an animal free zone!!!


Despite all of that... a lightbulb came on in my head and I figured out why my block was off. The directions say about each half square triangle...”press open to form a 3.5” half square triangle”. Which, in all of my novice ways, assumed was the finished size. My triangle software requires you to enter the “finished” size. I entered 3.5” but that is obviously not the finished size! After seam allowances the finished size would be 3”....and therein lied the problem.

Needless to say I bought another kit today for $1 and am starting over! That is much easier than ripping seams & trimming the block I already made. I was relieved that I finally figured it all out on my own. Now I know that when using my triangle software I must put on my thinking cap and make sure I can figure out the correct finished size of the half square triangle! Math and I have NEVER gotten along....maybe I should give up this hobby while I am ahead!

On a much more entertaining note...hubs took 3 of our horses to the equine dentist (don't ask me, I just live here) this weekend. One of them had an abscess and had to have a tooth pulled.

Fast forward to yesterday when blonde rascal and I had our dentist appt. We get called back to the exam rooms and I tell the hygienist "blonde rascal lost a molar and we brought it to show you". I pull the horse molar, which you will be relieved to know IS in a ziplock bag, out of my purse and show the hygienist.

She shrieks and laughs and then grabs it, becoming quite interested in it. She said Mr. Horse did not practice good oral hygiene. She then ran off and showed it to the other hygienist and a few patients.

Horse teeth, now that is fun!

Forgive me treadmill...

for I have sinned.

Between that and pizza, it wasn't pretty yesterday. But I paid my penance, oh yes I did. I ran a 5K this morning. Sure that sounds really cool but in actuality it is only 3.1 miles. HOWEVER I was on the treadmill for 3.8 miles but you have to subtract my walking warm up and my 2 minutes of walking at 2.9 miles to baby an aching hip and drink.......so I ran about 3.3 miles. Uh-huh, kept on going past the 5K finish line. You see if you push past the finish line, then the finish line gets easier... in my mind anyway!

So there, I am abolished of all guilt from the Super Bowl eating frenzy.

I have to agree with Red Geranium Cottage Sharon, who commented on my previous post, the commercials were not as funny as I have seen in the past. But it was a good game right at the very end. I always feel sorry for the losing team as they solemnly walk back to the locker room. Cheer up Tom Brady, you have a freakin' supermodel as a girlfriend!!!!!

Today blonde rascal and I have a dentist appt. after school. We get our teeth cleaned at the same time. They always finish with him first and then the hygienist who is cleaning my teeth lets him watch and press buttons and get stuff for her. They are great, makes the little toot like going.

Good gosh it is back in the sewing room for me today. Thimbleberries club is tomorrow and I think I should finish my blocks! There are 4 of them. I want to be one of the geeks who can raise their hand when they ask who finished the blocks!

I may have to go in for some remedial help on my BOM block that is too dadgum big. I saw a sign last week when I was in the quilt store that they are hiring. I should get a job and then maybe I could learn something. The only catch is I have to be off by 3:00 and won't work weekends! Dang retail, they just don't agree with those hours.

The wind is blowing a gazillion mph again today. The high is supposed to be 70 today and then tomorrow I think 40. What?

Sunday stuff

I am just racing in to say hello! I am about to get in the shower and get ready for church...but putting that off as long as possible while I sip my coffee!

Hubs is out of town and will be back today. Yesterday morning blonde rascal and I ran some errands early. We came home and worked in the back yard, cleaning it up a little.

That was followed by a animated round of catch with the football. Blonde rascal made many spectacular catches while diving and rolling in the grass! I can no longer do that, I did not want to go to the ER, so I followed my catches up with some excessive celebration. The weather was gorgeous and it was fun being out there with my boy, giggling and being terribly silly!

Then it was down to business. I was in the sewing room to complete my BOM for this month.

And I'll be dadburned if it is not too BIG! WHat in the name of heck is wrong with me?!?!? Even with the final seam allowances added in, I think it is off. I was frustrated and too tired to think too hard about it yesterday so it is back to the drawing board this afternoon! It must be the triangle software!!! Even though those squares are the right size?! I don't know...I will look at it again this afternoon with fresh eyes.

I did cut out the blocks for Thimbleberries but did not put them together.

oopps well, hello...a few hours have passed! I ran out of time, and we are back from church now!


Since hubs was out of town, there was a slumber party last night.
This involves blonde rascal piling any & all blankets and pillows on the bed.

And then you know who gets thrown in the mix.


Then all sorts of wrestling and silliness and growling and craziness commences!


Today is the Super Bowl and luckily no one in our household is a football fan. However the S.B. must be watched....for the commercials! Oh and the snacks! We are going to have pizza and snack on some spinach artichoke dip WITH baked chips!The baked chips will allow me some peace of mind as I eat every bite of that dip! It would be cool to see N.E. go undefeated....but I love NY....the city that is, so actually it makes NO difference to me who wins. I am in for the food.

Oh dear me if there is more laundry to do today. Laundry, figuring out what the crap is wrong with my block and eating. That is what is in store for my Sunday.

Let me tell you about MY man.

Last night we had a date. A date that hubs planned 100% even down to arranging for m-i-l to babysit. He even TOLD me to go buy something to wear! Yes he did! We had a double date with hubs' boss and his girlfriend. Hubs' boss is lots of fun so it was not like a dreaded work thing. We had dinner at a fantastic steak house and then went to see "The Ten Tenors" who are here in concert this weekend. I had not heard of them before, but they were fantastic and very entertaining. I also might add they are Australian and in their 20's-mid 30's. Talented young cute Australian men...it makes any concert better!!!

They sang some opera, as tenors would, but it was not like BEING at the opera. They also sang some BeeGee's....HELLO I love me some Gibb Brothers!!!! They busted out some classic dance moves for that medley and got lots of laughs and cheers. And being that, none other than, Freddy Mercury was a tenor they cranked out "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a tribute to Queen. That was good fun right there, folks! Really entertaining!

My guy is sweet, so sweet to me! I appreciate him and loved our date last night.

I'll stop being sappy now.

Blonde rascal spent the night with m-i-l, which means she also kindly took him to school...which also means I am here in my jammies sipping coffee all leisurely like! I decided to take the day off from the gym and enjoy my quiet morning! Ahhhhh...

It will be somewhat short lived leisure though because the errands are calling and the pantry is empty and the wind blew HARD this week. And when the wind blows HARD in West Texas, which is unfortunately quite often, then the dust comes too...



These pictures don't capture it well, but it was a sunny cloudless day with nothing but dust blowing through the air!
This was mild as there has been times when we cannot see the barns.

When I moved here, from Houston, to go to college I sometimes wondered if I was on another planet. I remember walking across campus and the wind would blow a zillion mph and the sky would fill with dirt. Not a good time for contact wearers or asthma sufferers or those who like clean cars.

So add to the list today...vaccum out the window sills on my westward facing windows!

I am reading "Skin" by Ted Dekker and it is CRAZY good. I started it yesterday and will finish today. I can't put it down. It is creepy, weird, scary and I am loving it. He is a Christian author but it is not all cheesy like...."After the entire town was murdered Paul and Annie went to the potluck at the Baptist church and sang hymns"... oh no, no, no. It is good and intense, just without cussing and sex!

I also got "Clean House, Clean Planet" by Karen Logan which I had ordered in preparation for eliminating toxic cleaners from my house. Jeepers, you can imagine the toxic stuff WE expose our families to, in our own homes, from cleaning products. The book is good. Very basic. She gives simple recipes and clear instructions on how to prepare, store and use these natural cleaners. I have read about half of the book so I will report back after I have finished it and put some of the concoctions to the test!

Happy Friday!