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!