Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Crazy day!

Yesterday was the first day back to school after a week long spring break. I over slept....rushed to get ready.....made it to the school bus on-time somehow. Did my morning route, clocked in at the school....had homeroom, 1st & 2nd period and then my day was over.....my mom called.....her hand surgeon wanted to do surgery on her finger immediately!!!

So, I left work and headed up to the hospital.

They didn't get her into surgery until 5 1/2 hours later because she had had a cup of coffee at 8:15 and the anesthesiologist was afraid she would aspirate.

They had to go in and scrape the arthritis deposits that were pulling on the sheath...it is extremely painful.

She did good and is home and is supposed to be off work for 2 weeks.

This is the second time this year, I had to leave school during 2nd period to go to the hospital, for someone to have surgery. John had Staph in his finger back in September.

Crazy day!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Granola

Here is my granola recipe that you guys requested. This is good either on it's own as a snack or the way we like it around here.....on yogurt! Especially, Brown Cow Maple yogurt! Mmmhmmm!


GRANOLA


4 cups thick cut rolled oats
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tbsp. whole flax seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Mix all these together....set aside.

In a saucepan heat to boil:
1/2 cup plus 2 tsp. canola oil
1/2 cup wildflower raw honey
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

continue to boil for about 30 seconds stirring constantly, remove from heat add 1 tablespoon vanilla (be careful when adding vanilla because it will spit)

Add to oatmeal mixture and stir real good. Put in a greased pan and bake at 325* for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.



Take out of oven and add dried fruit...anything you want. I put in crasins & unsweetened dried bananas and/or pineapples. Stir it up real good. It will be very sticky!

Stir this every 5-10 minutes until cooled. Be careful not to let it clump together to much. (small clumps are good)

Really you can add any nut or fruit you wish. Play with the recipe and make it your own. Oh, make sure all nuts & seeds are unsalted.

Store in an airtight container and eat within 2 weeks!



Enjoy!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Big Fat Losers

We are BIG FAT LOSERS!!!!! We didn't win but we sure had fun playing at the casino!


:( sad faces 'cause we didn't hit any jackpots!

Paula Deen's restaurant and store were wonderful!! The food was delicious! We ate dinner and breakfast there the next day. Her signature hash brown casserole was delightful! The fried green tomatoes had a really good batter on them...they were my favorite. The squash casserole, butter beans and cornbread dressing were amazing! Mmmm....yummy!

I bought this butter bell at PD's store. I've wanted one since I saw my mom's.

When you left the restaurant...they say to you, Love & Best Dishes, Ya'll.



John & I were bored in the car....the drive home is flat and there is nothing to look at but farm land. So I taped him....at least we had luck somewhere! ;)

About 15 minutes after the video was taken we were talking about the girls and college, and their cars, etc. When a cop coming the opposite way passed us then turned around. John knew he was coming back for him. Sure enough, the lights came on, and he pulled him over! The sheriff was really young....he asked John where we were headed. John told him home that we had been celebrating our birthdays in Tunica. He asked if we had any luck.....John said, No, and apparently our streak of bad luck has continued on. He chuckled and said, Sir, I pulled you over for speeding, you were going 67 in a 55. John told him he didn't realize he was going that fast because we were talking about our girls in college. He said, well, it's not to bad....he took John's license, registration and insurance and went back to his car and ran a check. He came back and said, I'm giving you a warning, you're not what I'm looking for! We thanked him and drove off.

What did he mean John wasn't what he was looking for? 67 in a 55 isn't that bad? Wow! Our luck had changed!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spring Break

This week has been our spring break. John & I had plans for this week for months. Well, we knew we were going to do something but we never really decided on what to do. We talked Branson Missouri, Dallas, Texas, Shreveport, Louisiana and many others. We have been known to decide at the last minute and that is what we did this time. On Sunday we finally decided where we were going and we would leave Monday after we dropped Tori's car in the shop to get the CV joints replaced. (she was driving my car)

BUT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

You see Meg had come down to watch our animals and her car had been tripping a fuse causing her tail lights and dash board lights to go out! Not good! So John tried and tried to fix the thing Sunday night to no avail. We took the car to the shop the next day. Meg's light switch had to be replaced in the steering column.....that's what was blowing all the lights.

WE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE TRIP!

Tori's car was swapped out for Meg's on Tuesday. We paid Adam(the mechanic) $300 for fixing Meg's car. We were hoping Tori's car would be done by Wednesday afternoon. Well, that morning Adam called us and said that Tori's rack and pinion steering needed to be replaced because the seals were blown out. It wouldn't be ready until Friday and it was going to cost $790!!!

UGH! $1090 in one week to our mechanic!

It hasn't been a bad break though. It has actually been relaxing. I've got to go to the gym with John everyday.....he is my personal, personal trainer! :) Both our daughters have been home and we have had homemade dinners and watched movies. We have been content just being with each other!

Then John said, "you know what.....screw it! I only get two weeks vacation a year....we are going!"
We are headed here.....to Tunica, Mississippi!! Maybe we will win that $1090 back that we shelled out to Adam.

I'm excited cause we are going to eat here....at this woman's restaurant!

I've been wanting to go to Tunica just to eat at her buffet. I heard it was AMAZING!!! So all diets are out the window!!! You know everything taste better with butter!

Wish us luck!!!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Doing it at Tramps

I'm not so good at 'Wordless Wednesday". I'm not real good at being....well, wordless. I want to explain what was going on in the photo the time it was taken! So I decided from now on, on Wednesday's I'd post a picture from the past.

The year was 1993. We were 22 & 24 years old. We were "Doing it at Tramps." Tramps was the name of the night club in town. We were hanging out with 4 other couple friends of ours (all whom have divorced and re-married since then). Crazy! This is one of our favorite photos of "us". I am not drunk, as I recall I had 1 White Russian and John had several beers.....he is the one that is drunk:). Good Times!!!

Monday, March 23, 2009

BIG BEN

Meet Big Ben!

Also known as.....Ben Ben, Benjamin, Benny, Fat Ben, Fatty!


This is our monster cat weighing in at a whopping 19 pounds!! He has the most gorgeous green eyes!! He only wants loving when he wants it. When you do love on him you will get a handful of hair! He will nibble your arm when you love on him.



Ben has an interesting life story. His time with us began the summer of 2005. That's when one of the teacher's I work with asked me if I'd want him. She could no longer take care of him and his giant poop in the litter box. (she only has 1 arm) Oh, I am a sucker for animals so I said, Yes before I even asked John. Of course when I did talk to John about it he said, yes!! Before Vicki had him (I think she had him 2 years) her sister Jackie had him for a few years....before that a student of Jackie's had him for a few years.....they rescued him from the pound!! So Ben Ben has been all over the place. We have no clue as to his real age. We can only assume.....he is between 10-14 years old!



Ben was freaked out when he first arrived at our home. John and the girls got to see him for about 2 minutes before he jetted into the culvert and stayed there for the next week! We thought for sure that he was going to die. We would go down everyday and give him fresh water and food. I guess he began to trust us 'cause he slowly came out.



He is an inside/outside cat. His bed is in the garage (equip with a heater) and that is where he spends most of his days....sleeping....either there or under my bed!! When he wants to come in he goes to the front door and sits at the glass until we see him. He does the same thing when he wants fresh food or water....once in, he runs to the door that leads out to the garage and meows until we let him out.....then he sits by his food and looks up at us and meows. Very smart cat!!!




He LOVES Tori & Meg!! Seriously, I have never seen a cat get so excited to see company. When they come home he wants in and rubs and loves on them. He loves to be picked up and held like a baby....purring the entire time.

Big Ben has found his permanent address. We have found a loving companion. Good news too about the litter box issue.....Ben doesn't use one here (I hate them) I taught him to use the garden!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

It was all about ME

and I enjoyed every. single. moment! John made the day all about ME! He wanted it to be a day were I got pampered and he fully delivered.

We woke early and headed to the gym. I did a leg workout where I did 50 squats...I am paying for that now. My butt is so sore! Afterwards we went and had breakfast together at the Diner.

He made appointments for me to get a manicure & pedicure. Then took me across town where I got a new hair cut and blow dried straight by Rodger. (he is the only person I will let cut my hair)
We went out to dinner at Michelangelo's in Conway. I was in the mood for Italian. We started out with Italian Nachos as an appetizer. These nachos were the bomb.com! This is what it consisted of...Crispy wonton chips are topped with Italian Sausage, black olives, cherry peppers, tomatoes, green onions, parmesan, mozzarella, and our Asiago Cream Sauce. Delicious!!! They served dinner with this Focaccia Bread & we ordered Roasted Garlic Cream sauce to dip it in. YUM! I had Chicken Scaloppine and it was de-lish! Didn't take any more photos of food....at this point I was on my 2nd Martini. I was feeling pretty good!

My mom came to celebrate with us and my 6 year old nephew, Flynn. I finally got a picture of this snaggle tooth boy!! Love it!!
Flynn had us all cracking up at the table. He told us two jokes....and for him to remember these jokes and use appropriate facial expression and all while telling it made us laugh even harder. I'm going to try to video tape him telling the jokes because it is hysterical to watch him.

Here I am on my 3rd Martini, a limoncello. This one put me over the top. I was feeling pretty good at this point! I'm not huge on desserts so I told everyone not to bake anything. I got a piece of chocolate cake which John & Flynn ate because I'm not crazy about chocolate. I did eat some of the blueberry cheesecake and tiramisu we ordered.
My mom gave me Bella perfume and lotion from Mary Kay, Flynn gave me a Willow Tree angel...The Dancer. He actually hugged me and let me kiss him; although you can tell by the photo he hated it. My girls gave me 3 matching Fire King coffee cups and a Pyrex casserole dish with the lid both from the 1950's!! I was so excited! They know me so well!!!

It was a very memorable birthday! Thank you, John for pampering me all day. You ROCK!!!
I will probably wear my hair straight for a few days before I wash it. I hope it looks cute curly. Thank you for all the birthday wishes yesterday, everyone!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Happy Thursday, March 19th, the day my beautiful mother first saw this Earth not many years ago!
If it isn't completely obvious, this is Tori, Betty's daughter. 
I hacked into my Momma's account to let you all know she is another year older & still just as wonderful as ever. : )
Happy Birthday, Momma Bird!
May it be your best one yet.

Love you beaucoup!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Movies, Food, & Photobooths

Since I had the day off yesterday, John switched his day off so we can spend a full day together. What to do on a rainy day.....we decided on shopping, movies & great food!

We went to Kohl's...they had an amazing sale going on....but can you believe John nor I found anything we liked!!

So we headed to the theater.....we saw "Watchmen" first. This is NOT a movie you want to take your little ones to see. It was set back in 1985...superheros wearing costumes....there is one superhero man who is naked the entire time! Good thing his body was hot! There is a brutal scene between a man & a woman that was horrible; the movie was very bloody. But, all in all it was a very good movie!!!

We left the theater and went to have dinner at Copeland's. We were there for 2 hours, we slowly enjoyed our food and conversation. We never get dessert when we go out. This time we did! We got the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. OMG! It was huge!! I wish I would have taken a photo of it with my cell. We enjoyed this restaurant and will definitely go back! Especially for the cheesecake!


We headed back to the theater. We had 25 minutes before the showing so we got in the photobooth....that was fun! We hadn't done that in years.


We saw "Last house on the left". We thought that this was going to be a scary movie. It wasn't scary at all. It too had a scene that was disturbing. I hate scenes where men hurt women or in this case, young girls. Turns my stomach. Especially since I have daughter's. Overall this was surprisingly a really good movie. Everyone who walked out of the theater was saying how messed up it was. This was NOT a kid movie either.

John wanted to go for three movies but I knew I would fall asleep. It was after 9 and we had an hour drive home. It was a great day!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

What the heck???

What the heck is going on with the weather??? Just this past weekend it was in the 80's! Absolutely beautiful out! Tori and I took Reeses downtown and walked the trail by the river.
It was a beautiful, warm, windy, relaxing stroll. We were excited about the weather getting warmer and being able to take walks like these. We were planning different out door activities.

But now the weather is blustery cold!!! I'm talking COLD!!! The high is going to be 36 today....rainy and windy with the chance of sleet in my town. Where my girls live they have a greater chance of sleet turning to snow!! SNOW?!! Seriously!

I wish this darn weather would make up it's freaking mind! I'm tired of shorts one day and my winter coat the next!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Holy Basil

On any weekend you can go to Whole Foods in Little Rock and as soon as you walk up there is a wonderful kind gentleman grilling something outside. He always has the best grilled veggies and his potato soup is out of this world! They always have samples to try all over the store as well.

This weekend Meg & Tori came across a Tea. They insisted I try it....I did and oh my....it was good. So good we all decided to purchase a box along with some Agave Nectar to sweeten it.



Not only is this tea delicious, it relieves stress and energizes you!! The aroma is wonderful. It's caffeine free which is perfect for at night and it has healing powers. The Tulsi Tea is recognized as one of India's most sacred herbs because of its health benefits and healing properties. It is also known as Holy Basil. Here are some of the advantages of drinking this tea:
  1. Helping boost your respiratory system*
  2. Supporting your healthy vision*
  3. Delivering you antioxidant protection against free radicals*
  4. Helping you alleviate minor discomfort and irritation*
  5. Providing you with a calming effect and stress relief*
  6. Helping bolster your immune system*
  7. Aiding you in enhancing your stamina*
  8. Helping you promote a healthy metabolism*
  9. Boosting your digestive system health*
  10. Helping you maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range*
  11. Providing you with skeletal and joint support*
  12. Aiding you in supporting normal cholesterol levels*

The Tulsi Plant....isn't it beautiful?!!


It really does relieve your stress! I have had several cups and always get a feeling of tranquility while I'm drinking it.

I love this company because of their values and missions and their vision....oh and it's organic!!! Go check them out at Organic India. You won't be disappointed!!

Namaste

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Silly Man

John & I were excited that Beverly Hills Chihuahua was coming out on video or DVD whatever it's called. Yes, even though we no longer have children living at home we still watch the "kid" movies that come out. Sometimes we even go to the theater. Like when "Monster House" came out....the theater was so quiet because all the kiddos were scared....it's fun to watch kid movies and listen to the kids reactions.



So John went to SAMS the other day and picked up a copy of the Chihuahua movie. Picture this ok....he looks at movie, puts movie in cart, continues to shop.....goes to check out, picks up movie and puts on belt......puts movie in car.....at home puts movie on counter for me to see when I get home!

When I get home I see this.......
I said, "What's this?" He looked for a second and said, Thats the....oh, man I got the wrong movie?! How the heck did you confuse Chihuahua's with Golden Retriever's honey? LOL!!!

What a dork!!!!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

My Old Man

I was told a few months back by John that he wanted NO surprises....no party etc....just a nice quiet dinner with the 3 women in his life. Well, I didn't give him a huge party like I wanted...but, I was in cahoots with his parents...they came in to surprise him!

John had to work a mandatory mid-shift the night before his birthday. So I got up that morning and decorated the tree out front with black streamers, black balloons and the "Lordy Lordy John is 40" sign I made a few days before.
He pulled up and I was waiting outside with the camera....he gave me the appropriate response that I knew John would give. HA! I made him stand in front of it so I could get a picture before the wind messed it up.

Every chance I got I would make some crack about him being my "old man". All in good fun of course....my time is coming.....soon. yikes!


After he had his nap, we got ready and headed up to the girls home in Conway. We went and celebrated by having dinner at Mike's Place.
Me & my Old Man! Who doesn't look 40!!!


Reading the card that Tori & Meg made for him. It was hilarious!!! For his birthday they are taking him out on a Daddy/Daughter date to dinner and shopping for some new clothes for him!


Front of card!



After the restaurant we all went back to the girls house for cake. Meg & Tori made John a homemade Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Cake! OH YUM!!!

John's parents, John & my mom watching the girls put the candles on the cake. They wanted to do the numbers 40 but could only find a 4.....so they went with just a few candles.They made a 40 in the middle of the cake out of jimmies or sprinkles as some call them.


Couldn't have to many candles....it would have melted the cake!


John with his parents, Brad & Nell.


With his babies....the girls who gave him all that Grey in his beard. I absolutely adore this photo!! I am going to have to print and frame this one...maybe on a canvas.

My love. I hope your 40th birthday was wonderful!

"Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me." Sarah Bernhardt

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Big 4-0

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!!

The Big 40!!!


I hear you smile & laugh more after 40....actually, I didn't hear that I just made it up because it went well with this cute picture.


You make goofy faces...like this one after 40.

After 40 you need a bib while you eat.



Here's a fun poem for you, love.


Over The Hill At Forty
So it's your fortieth birthday;
Four decades have gone and passed.
They say when you get older,
Time goes twice as fast.
I wouldn't know, of course,
Since I am still quite young,
But for you, the music is over;
Your last song has been sung.
You're just over the hill at forty;
You went down without a fight.
Time rushes on, and soon
That "hill" will be out of sight!
Happy Birthday Anyway!


Hey you might be 40 but your still young enough to ride a bike!

You're just as sexy now to me as you were when you were 17.

I love you, babe! Hope this birthday is the best one yet!!!! 3

Monday, March 2, 2009

Slim & Sculpt

I bought this Slim & Sculpt Pilates DVD hoping this will be "IT".....the "IT" workout that will help me lose these damn stubborn 10 pounds!!! I'm a freaking yo-yo I tell ya! A month ago I was almost at my goal weight.

WTF happened???? I think it's called "portion control"!!! I. Don't. Have. Any. & either does John. That's my problem....we love to cook for each other and try out new restaurants; but we don't know when to put the fork down! We eat super healthy...organic when possible. We just eat to much!!! Ugh.....

I'm hoping to be sore tomorrow!!! That's a good sign that you worked all the right muscles!!!

Oh size 6.......I want you back!!!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Feather & BBS

My friend and aide from my old bus route 500 gave me this last week to inspire me. She was affected as well when I had to switch routes. This is the poem that came with the feather.

An Angels Touch.... To Inspire A feather fell to earth today, and made my heart rejoice; It's words of inspiration came to lift me with its voice: "You have the will to reach your goals, To be your very best; to walk Life's path with head held high, to pass each trying test." "Have faith that you are not alone, He keeps you in His sight; Inspiring you along the way, To reach Life's greatest height."

The feather is hanging nicely on the rear view mirror in my car. Thank You, Ms. Diane for being such a wonderful friend!!!

It's already March 1st! Here is my scripture for the blog bible study.

Proverbs 15:15
All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

Our attitudes color our whole personality. We cannot always choose what happens to us, but we can choose our attitudes towards each situation. The secret to a cheerful heart is filling our minds with thoughts that are true, pure, and lovely, with thoughts that dwell on the good thing in life. This was Paul's secret as he faced imprisonment, and it can be ours as we face the struggles of daily living.

It's our choice what we let enter our mind and what we choose to dwell on. Sometimes we need to examine ourselves and make some changes!