A Sailors Sweetie

Election Day 2012

2012-11-08T08:44:00.000-06:00

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” ~John Quincy Adams

Tuesday was the first time in years that I went to a polling place to cast my vote. As a Navy wife, I normally vote by absentee ballot. So this election day was very exciting for me; I got to stand in line for an hour because as you can see in this picture people in Precinct 55 are serious voters! The line all day long was minimum one hour wait at our polling place.

I received my ballot, looked it over, filled in the little boxes (messed up my first ballot by marking a vote for someone I didn't want to vote for & had to go report a "spoiled" ballot, sign for a new one & get back to business), explained the process to my girls and then inserted it into the ballot machine.

The ballot machine was thrilling or should I say...startling. After I figured it out & placed my ballot in the little feed tray it quickly snatched it from my fingertips giving me a jump, to say the least.

But, before I did feed it to the ballot machine the girls & I took a quick picture of us at our little vote booth area to mark a time in history for us.

Here we are all smiles, completely thrilled to be Americans, able to vote how we want, for who we want. I pray we will ALWAYS have that freedom and my children will be able to take their children with them as well!

I can't wait for the next election!

Here are a few of the interesting Facebook status lines people shared throughout the day that I noted:

“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” ~Abraham Lincoln

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” ~Theodore Roosevelt

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.” ~William E. Simon

"We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts--not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." ~Abraham Lincoln

"Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

"I met with those of our Society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy: 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against: 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side." — John Wesley

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves & the only way they could do this is by NOT voting." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

And to close with a word from God's Word:

and [Daniel] said:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him. (Daniel 2:20-22 NIV)

Owl Pellet Dissection

2012-11-05T08:01:00.000-06:00

What are Owl Pellets? I know you're wondering...
Let's have a look:

What is an owl pellet?
Owls are birds of prey. That means that they hunt the animals that they eat. After an owl eats the small rodents, birds, and bugs that are a part of its nightly diet, its stomach cannot digest the fur, bones, teeth, feathers, and insect shells from that food. These "extra" parts are formed into a tight PELLET inside the owl and are then are later SPIT UP by the owl. Pellets are usually about as big as an adult thumb and they are often dissected by students and scientist to help them learn exactly what owls eat and what kinds of small animals and bugs live in a particular area. If you get a chance to examine what is inside an owl pellet, you will be lucky, there is a lot to learn and it is surprisingly FUN!

A pellet is a mass of undigested remains of a meal that is coughed up by an owl after consuming its prey; formed by the contractions of the owl's gizzard.

Sounds interesting, huh??

The following are some photos we took during our dissecting of such during our class time at Classical Conversations last Friday:

This is our "map" we'll use to identify what we're finding:

(I don't know why it's uploading sideways but you get the idea.)

Here's what it looked like broken apart and ready for the "dig".

Here you see Chloe & Madeline have broken up the pellet and are now trying to clear out the pieces of skeleton to match up on their chart in order to determine what their owl ate. There is a lot of fur and stuff to dig through in order to find the "good stuff".

Yay!! They have found a little skull along with various other skeletal pieces they have already matched up on their paper map.

Lauren & Faith are having a great time now that they know it's not a stinky adventure.

It was a lot of fun (Faith was smiling before I got the camera on her, LOL) going through the pellets & learning about owls.

I highly recommend ordering some pellets of your own and looking through them with your kids.

Next week, we'll be doing something that will be a real stinker for sure so stay tuned!

Cocoa Time!

2012-10-31T12:16:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! Hot cocoa is one of our favorite winter treats.

I have a great recipe to share with you that makes a nice large batch.

Katie's Homemade Cocoa

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1/3 c. milk

Add all above ingredients in a medium sauce pot & use a whisk to blend into a nice paste. Heat over medium heat until slightly bubbly. Once little bubbles start to roll add:

4 c. milk

1.5 tsp. pure vanilla

Stir continually until the cocoa is very warm but not so hot that it's hard to sip for little ones.

I top it with whipped topping or marshmallows.

If you want a little something special you can add:

1 tsp. pure mint or peppermint extract for Peppermint Mocha

Pancakes & Syrup

2012-05-20T16:15:00.003-05:00

There's just nothing better than a plate of pancakes is there?

I went on a search a couple of years ago for the best recipe. It took a while but I believe I finally found one that met my critia. I don't like them to have a spongy texture & that's the main problem I was having with a bunch of the homemade recipes. I wanted them to be fluffy but not dried out.

Here's the result:

2c.flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
2 eggs
2c. buttermilk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (my added ingredient)

Mix all the dry ingredients, add the eggs, mix with a fork. Then add the buttermilk and vanilla; blend it all in nicely. The batter will be lumpy & that's good so don't stress about it not being smooth. Drop the batter by the 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot buttered skillet. When the cakes bubble and the edges dry, give 'em a flip. Then when they're nice & brown, remove 'em onto a waiting plate & put a big ol'pat of butter on top. Mmmm...GOOD!!

(If you find yourself with no buttermilk you can use this easy substitution of 1 Tbs. lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup whole milk.)

Also, I found this gem of a recipe at Southernplate.com. It's a website by Christy Jordan whose cookin is a lot like mine..I'm thinkin it's because we're both Texas gals and best yet..native Houstonians! Go wander over on her page, you'll love it!
Here's her original post link:

http://www.southernplate.com/2010/02/todays-post-our-best-pancakes-attitude-mules.html

Now you need something to put on top of them. I like to make my own pancake syrup. It only takes a few minutes to make and the best thing about it is you KNOW what's in it. I hate buying it, looking at the ingredients & not being able to pronounce most of the things the list on the bottle. I mean really...it's sugar, water and flavoring. You can make your own, it's delish and an added BONUS, your house will smell soooo good!!

This recipe makes one very large bottle of syrup:

2 1/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. corn syrup
2 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring*
2 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbs. real butter (NOT margarine)

In a deep saucepan, combine the sugars, water and corn syrup; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 7 minutes and stir frequently. Remove from heat; add in the extracts & butter.
Cool, then pour into a nice syrup bottle. Serve warm with your pancakes or waffles.

*if you do not have maple flavor, just use pure vanilla extract in it's place.

Breakfast Time!

2012-05-17T23:38:00.004-05:00

When the girls were little I was privileged to be apart of a wonderful group called Mothers Of Preschoolers aka, MOPS.

At MOPS I made life long friendships and one of those is with my friend, Cyndi Parra. Every meeting two of the tables were responsible for bringing breakfast items and one of these mornings my sweet friend Cyndi brought in a scrumptious casserole called French Vanilla Baked French Toast. It was so yummy...

Yesterday I mistakenly defrosted the loaf of Texas Toast which forced me to get on the ball & make some french toast which is the whole reason I bought that loaf of bread to begin with.

So...I got out my MOPS cookbook, looked up her recipe and got to making!

I didn't have any French Vanilla coffee creamer so I made some myself with a minor adjustment. I'll include that recipe next.

Cyndi's French Vanilla Baked French Toast

1 loaf French Bread (Texas Toast)
1 (16 oz) French Vanilla Coffee Creamer
7 eggs, divided
cinnamon & sugar

Prepare a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl scramble 2 of the eggs & the whole bottle of coffee creamer. Tear the bread into bite size pieces & dip each piece into the creamer mixture. Arrange pieces in your prepared pan. Once you've used up all the creamer mixture, scramble up the remaining 5 eggs in the empty bowl. Pour them evenly over the pieces of bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar. Bake in a 350* oven for 30 minutes. Serve with or without syrup.

(If you like, you can prepare this the night before you need it. Remember, if you're using a glass pan or a stoneware baker, just pop it in, THEN turn on the oven & let the pan preheat with the oven; this will keep it from breaking. Just add 10 minutes to the cooking time!)

Enjoy!

If you're like me & do not keep flavored coffee creamer on hand here's a quick fix that's just as good but does not include all the crazy ingredients like, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL or DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES. What in Sam hill is all that stuff??? Geesh...

Here's my take on it and you can make it any flavor you want! Instead of making Vanilla flavored for the baked french toast I used MAPLE flavoring (with a hint of vanilla) and it was yummy!

So without further ado, here's my recipe:

Vanilla Coffee Creamer

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
28oz whole milk
2 Tbs. pure vanilla (or 1 1/2 Tbs MAPLE flavoring & 1/2 Tbs. vanilla)

In a large bowl pour the can of sweet milk. Be sure & scrape the can good of all that yumminess but DO NOT throw it away. After it's all in the big bowl add the flavoring; mix well. Now get that empty sweet milk can & fill it up with milk, add to bowl & repeat one more time; that should give you 28 ounces. Mix well with a wire whisk & serve with coffee or in a recipe like the one above. Keep refrigerated.

This recipes yields 4 cups of creamer. (you'll need 2 cups for the baked french toast)

Military BRATS

2012-04-01T14:27:00.002-05:00

April is the month of the military child. Here are some funny insights to the fun, sometimes crazy & adventurous life our kids (and us) lead.

Enjoy!
You know you are a military brat if you . . .
. . . are amazed at people who have never left their hometown or have lived in the same place for more than 3 years.
. . . answer the question "where are you from" with "I'm kinda from all over the place."
. . . are able to imitate others' speech patterns easily.
. . . always wish you were back at the last place you were stationed even 20 years later.
. . . are initially confused when asked where you are from, and answer "I was born in TX but we moved here from CA and before that we lived in FL."
. . . can call up actual memories of a country while you're in geography class.
. . . cannot speak the language of the country in which you were born.
. . . can still convert foreign currency in your head.
. . can talk to anyone and everyone from anywhere and everywhere.
. . . find that everywhere you go, you see someone you went to school with.
. . . are brought to tears by military music.
. . . know the words and tune to military march songs.
. . . meet another military brat sometime somewhere and are instantly bonded.
. . . can identify ranks and duty stations by the stickers on a car's bumper or windshield.
. . . conceal your father's rank because once people find out he has stars they'll never treat you the same.
. . knew the rank and name of the kid next door's father before meeting the kid next door.
. . . remember that every room you've ever had was stark white and you couldn't put nail holes in the walls.
. . . . didn't save things so you wouldn't go over the weight allowance of the next move.
. . . had your introductory speech prepared and memorized for your first day at a new school.
. . . feel more at home on a military base than in town even though you've been a civilian for 26 years.
. . hear the sound of freedom when military aircraft fly by, while civilians complain about the noise.
. . . had classes interrupted by the roar of an entire wing of jets taking off in pairs
. . . feared turning 21 because they would take your ID card away.
. . . at age 22 are trying to find someone in the military to marry so you can get a new I.D. card.
. . . don't feel quite right seeing military personnel younger than you.
. . . enjoy seeing guys in fatigues on city streets because it makes you feel "at home".
. . get nostalgic when seeing O.D. Green or Navy Dungarees.
. . . feel more comfortable living near a military base and get bummed-out when a base gets closed.
. . . get the itch to move every 3-4 years and forever feel like the outsider in the civilian world.
. . . give someone a break because they are in the military.
. . . are going to a grocery store but call it the commissary.
…you go into culture shock upon returning to the States.
. . . graduated from a high school that you only attended for a year.
. . . had a supply of C-Rations or MRE’s that you traded with your friends.
. . . had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in a mess hall.
. . . had a job delivering the Stars and Stripes.
. . . thought it was normal to have the newspaper editorial staff's names include their military ranks.
. . . have been asked just where in New York APO is.
. . . have to explain that being born in Germany does not make you German.
. . . have USAA as your insurance company.
. . . keep bumping into people all over the world who know friends that you haven't seen in years.
. . . have siblings who were born in various foreign lands or U.S. states.
. . . panic when you can't find your ID or passport.
. . . put your hand over your heart at 5 p.m. knowing the flag was coming down. . . somewhere.
. . . feel the need to stand up and recite the national anthem at the start of movies.
. . . remember being able to watch the Super Bowl or World Series live on TV at 2 am.
. . . start a major portion of your conversations with "when I was in. . .
. . . thought all pens had "US Government" printed on them.

Our son & his friends April 2007. This was his farewell party at NAS Lemoore, CA.

Sunday Visit

2011-05-23T11:06:00.001-05:00

My cousin, Brooke, and her sweet little family came to visit us Sunday evening. So of course that meant we needed something yummy for supper time!

On the menu:
Grilled porkchops
Au gratin potatoes
French sliced green beans
Strawberry cake

Believe it or not, I've never made au gratin potatoes before. I found a recipe that looked simple enough & it gave me a chance to use my new food processor for slicing & grating. I knew I liked my food processor but now I seriously LOVE it.

Here's the recipe & picture of the potatoes. They got rave reviews from all so I thought I'd share it here.

Ingredients
8 russet potatoes, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced into rings
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 + 2 tablespoons butter
1/4 + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 cups shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese
2 tsp. garlic powder
Paprika

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 baker.

2.Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish.Sprinkle generously with salt & pepper. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper generously again.

3.In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour, salt, garlic powder and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk and heavy cream. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes, sprinkle with paprika and cover the dish with aluminum foil.

4.Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes covered; remove foil & bake for 5 more minutes.

Next recipe is one my hair stylist told me a customer brought by to him and thought I'd like it. I didn't love it but the family did.

Ingredients:

1 Strawberry box cake (ingredients to make it according to package directions)
1 can of strawberry pie filling
1 can strawberry frosting
1 container whipped topping

Directions:

1. Prepare cake according to package directions for a 9x13 cake. Let cake cool. (I forgot to take a picture of the cake. So here's one of the box mix.)

2. Spread pie filling on top of completely cooled cake.

3. Mix the can of strawberry flavored frosting & tub of whipped topping together.

4. Spread frosting gently & evenly using a small spreader.

5. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Wordless Wednesday....

2011-05-18T22:58:00.001-05:00

Motherhood...

2011-04-06T14:38:00.001-05:00

"You are blessed with an amazing gift of motherhood. With homeschooling as a bonus. Your reward may not be a paycheck at the end of the week, nor is it a gold medal at the end of the race. It is so much more! The fruits of your labor will be eternal". ~ Jenn

Lauren, Chloe, Cecelia & Isaiah showing off the ribbons they won last year at Field Day for Homeschoolers.

Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers

2011-04-06T00:53:00.001-05:00

Today I had the privilege to read the most wonderful book to my daughter Chloe. It was called, Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America.

The story tells of Lady Bird's childhood, how she got her name from her nanny, the loss of her mother, the sweet friend she found in her Aunt Effie who came to live with her & Papa after mother's death. Dearest Aunt Effie is responsible for "sowing the seed" of love for wildflowers in Lady Bird. It follows her to college, courtship, marriage, becoming First Lady & how she helped to beautify our highways by eliminating billboards and seeding wildflowers.

The real bonus in the book is the chart of wildflowers on the last page, and then to have your child find them on the pages, as they are woven thoughout the splendid illustrations. More fun to be had in the illustrations is all the wildlife hidden in woods. I think that was Chloe's favorite part.

I have to admit I got teary-eyed reading this book to her. (Thank God my tender hearted Chloe was thoughtful enough to get up right away and get her mommy a tissue, I love that girl!) The wonderful description of my beloved Texas hill country was so vivid & made me so "homesick" to be there, especially right now, after all....it's BLUEBONNET TIME and I know the trails are smelling sweet.

1, 2, 3 Cake

2011-04-03T22:05:00.001-05:00

My wonderful friend Kathy McCullough told me about this quick & easy way to use my old bananas. I make it often now.

Here goes:

1 yellow box cake
2 eggs
3 bananas (I use up to 5 bananas, gives it more flavor)

Then to finish it off with complete yumminess here is my icing recipe:

1 c. butter (2 sticks) room temperture
3 c. powder sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 TBS. heavy whipping cream

Cream butter & sugar together on low for a couple of minutes to blend then on high to mix well.
Add vanilla & 2 TBS. heavy cream; mix for 2 minutes. Test it for spreading consistency before adding another TBS of cream.

Pioneer Woman meets Katie Dean!

2011-03-09T11:25:00.001-06:00

I had the pleasure meeting a nice lady I've been following for the past couple of years on her blog, Ree Dummond aka: The Pionner Woman.
For those of you who do not know of her, she was a fancy city slicker from California who fell in love with a real cowboy from eastern Oklahoma. He asked her to marry him & he swept her away to his beautiful working cattle ranch.

She missed her family, friends & city, but loved her cowboy who she lovingly refers to as "Marlboro Man", and decided the best way to keep in touch and up-to-date with them was through a blog. She posted pictures of her adventures on the ranch, learning to cook and well telling some funny jokes & stories along the way. What started out as a blog for family & friends exploded into a readership of...well...I know it's in the hundred thousands. On her FB fan page she has over 222,000 people following her! Wow!! She also homeschools 4 kids & takes some amazing pictures.

So here's how my awesome Friday night went last week:

Here we are all waiting like a herd of cattle lookin' for the shoot.

Teena, myself, Allison & her precious little Levi aka; Future Marlboro Man. Allsion made that onesie special for the occasion. It has a cute little cowboy & his playful pup. She couldn't fit the whole "Marlboro Man" on it so went with "Future MM". I think this was a good choice since most people would think she's already giving the boy cigarettes like the kid over in Indonesia. She's not. So hold off on the calls to CPS, she's a great mom with a funny sense of humor who wanted The Pioneer Woman to laugh (and she did).

While there waiting in the muddle I decided to post my wait to the mobile Facebook and found a friend who was waiting over in the children's section there in the back corner of photo #1. Here's me & Shawna:

Finally the moment we'd all been waiting for! She comes out first for a little Q&A. At first I wasn't too keen on this thinking, "What on earth do you people NOT know about her? She blogs pretty much everything & she's written a cookbook & her love story." Still, we had a Q&A and not to my surprise, it was a short one.

She brought her oldest daughter along for the road trip & well looks like she's gonna need to help Mama haul the cool gifts people brought as well.

Now it's our turn!! Here are the up close & personal pictures!

Teena

Ree checkin' out the precious baby Levi's shirt; Future MM

Allsion & Levi

Now it's Shawna, Ryan & Ashley's turn to say howdy!

As you can see here, Ree took a shine to Ryan. He was the only kid who asked her a question during the Q&A and she was most impressed.

And I think he got the coolest autograph too!

Now it's my turn to have my cookbook signed. Yay!!

A close up please!

And the final picture.....what we were all there for....the book signing..

I met several ladies the next night at a fundraiser for our friends the Dickinson's and they had NO CLUE who The Pioneer Woman was...I almost fell right outta my chair! So being the "helpful & friendly" gal I am, I moseyed right on over to each table & shared with them all what I knew & loved about Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman of eastern Oklahoma.

Now why don't you moseye on over yourself and have a looksey?

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Chocolate Syrup & Fun Teacher

2011-02-22T19:44:00.001-06:00

Today I found a new blog site that I was very impressed with and found a super recipe for homemade chocolate syrup for milk or sundaes.
It was easy to make, very rich and the kids all approved after sampling it in a glass of cold milk.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 c. cocoa
1 c. water
2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix the cocoa powder and the water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Be careful not to let it get too hot and boil over! Add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a clean glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months, but trust me it will be gone before then. Yields two cups.

The result is very rich, so I only use a teaspoon for a glass of chocolate milk.

I also found a cool new teaching resource site with all sorts of things like free worksheets, coloring pages, flashcards, songs for kids, educational videos, fun activities & teacher tools.

Go here and check it out:

http://www.havefunteaching.com/

Sunday Fun-day

2011-02-20T20:57:00.001-06:00

Today has been a great day. It's Sunday fun-day for us. Church was great & afterward we came home for lunch and just fended for ourselves. I decided to take on a new chili recipe I found on Rachael Ray's website called BBQ Chili.
I added a little to it, if you really know me you know I rarely follow a recipe exactly.

So here's the link to Rachael's recipe:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3189

~I didn't have thick sliced bacon so I used 6 slices of regular.
I used 3 palmfuls (3TBS) of chili powder
~1 half palmful (1/2 TBS) cumin powder
I put in the whole bottle of beer
We always have petite diced tomatoes in our chili so I drained an extra large can of those & put them in last.

It slow simmered on the stovetop for several hours & my goodness did it smell heavenly in the house. Wow!
The end result was tantalizing. We girls gave it a 5 out of 5 star rating however the guys gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating because they said even though it was really good, it didn't have a lot of heat to it. They're right, this chili is not a heat setter but has incredible flavor for a mild chili which was exactly what I was looking for.

Daddy & Chloe were buddies today. She rode with him to church in his truck then right after they hotfooted it over to Lowes for more plywood for our garage shelves. She was most interested in watching the Lowes man operate the giant saw however got a bigger treat when she was able to ride the shopping cart around the store all by herself. (No pictures of that, I was at home, remember?)
Another big deal today was; When Chloe & daddy made this trip to Lowes they forgot something on the counter they had paid for so another trip had to be made. This trip was made on the motorcycle & Chloe was so excited because she's grown over the winter months & now can touch the foot pegs while holding on to daddy so she made the trip back to Lowes on the back of the bike! Wooo Hoo!! I was gone to the BX (Base Exchange) so there is not a picture of this milestone either.

Now our cats give us a lot of joy & one of our funny pictures of the day is featuring Graci, Jimbo's cat.
It's not "Black Friday" but she's in line already!

After our wonderful supper time, we kicked back in front of the television and watched Extreme Home Makeover, made some popcorn with our new air popper then watched the new season of The Amazing Race.

It's not looking too good for our Oklahoma cowboys, Jet & Cord, but we're still cheering them on & will until Phil says, "Jet & Cord, I'm sorry but you have been eliminated from the race." We're also cheering for Margie & Luke, Flight Time & Big Easy (Harlem Globetrotters), and Kisha & Jenn.

Never Say Never

2011-02-19T23:23:00.001-06:00

Lots to blog about today:

This morning I made a new waffle recipe. I watched Rachael Ray make it on her show. I thought, "wow! that looks easy & I have all those ingredients", so I tried it. Was okay but not anything to spectacular. Keith & the girls liked it alright but didn't give rave reviews so I think, we'll find another waffle recipe to try.

This afternoon, we cleared out the front corner of the garage. Keith built some shelves & I must say, he did a great job! Can't wait to see what else he comes up with using his new tools. Now, I just have to get out there, unpack the rest of our boxes we've had out there since the move here from CA in April of 2007! Yikes!

Also this afternoon, I took Lauren to a birthday party at the Warren Theatre in Moore. She had a great time with friends while at the party & watching the movie; Never Say Never~The Justin Bieber Story.

Chloe, being the big Justin Bieber fan, would have been absolutely heartbroken if I had not taken her to see the movie when her sister saw it so we stayed for the movie as well. We all loved it. Was a great memory to make with my girls.

Jimbo came home from his debate tourney with 2 trophies in hand! He's so great at debate, it's one of his gifts. Notice the year "98" on them? They are "recycled" trophies to save money for the club. This made us laugh & well...just makes for a great story. He placed 2nd in DEX & Top Speaker {the bigger of the 2}. We're so proud of him.

I'm back!

2010-11-12T19:42:00.001-06:00

I've been slacking on my blog & have decided it's time to get back in the loop.

Today it was just an easy going lazy daisy day here at the Graham home. We declared it pajama day, watched movies & ate leftover stew for lunch & supper. Yum!

I did a bunch of recipe research & wrote out several new recipes to try that look super yummy & best of all EASY.

I'm on the hunt for canning jars & have got a couple of leads from some friends who said they had some to give me. That will be a blessing if I can actually get my hands on them.

My plans is to use them for "Gifts from a Jar", homemade Christmas gifts for family & friends this year.

This is very exciting but I need to get on the ball because Christmas will be here before we know it.

Now for some real excitement! Thanks to our friends, D'dee & Landon, we now have a Lego table (aka train table) for the girls room. They love it & it has been a wonderful addtion to their room.

That's all for now folks.

Garden Fun

2010-04-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

Just a few of the good times we had today during garden time & after.

They loved the wheel barrow...most kids do right?? LOL

She said she was going to get some sun....I think this is the redneck tanning bed??

I don't know why but the girls insisted that I wash my hands before making them something for supper. LOL

This is what happens when you leave a 6 year old outside with the sprinkler on...I didn't get a picture of the finished product...it was priceless.

Row to hoe~Part 2

2010-04-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

After moving the box we lined the ground with some special lining that will hopefully keep grass & weeds from growing up in there.

Here they are spreading the dirt....we had 35 bags of 1 cubit feet & 5 bags of 2 cubic feet. Lots of spreading going on here.

And more spreading....look how full it's getting...

The fun begins! I've already got the tomatoes in now I'm working on the pepper plants. I put in yellow & red bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, and hot cherry peppers & cayenne peppers. For the tomatoes I did 3 plants of Big Boys which yield 16oz fruits & 3 Patio grape tomatoes. Yummy!

Here it is all finished! I have Texas sweet yellow onions & red onions, Japanese eggplant, straightneck yellow squash, zucchini squash, cauliflower, cucumbers, strawberries & watermelon.

It's gonna be a great summer!

A Row to Hoe~Part 1

2010-04-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

We came home from church, changed clothes, had a light lunch & got to work!

Lets see the fun...

Here is daddy & Chloe cutting the lumber for the raised garden box.

Safety first! She was so excited that her swim goggles matched her new gloves.

Jimbo cut the sod from the 8x4 area to transfer to the backyard.

Making sure the measurements are good for the area Jimbo has cleared for the box.

Lauren playing gymnast on the box before we move it to its permanent home on the side of the house.

Garden Time!!

2010-04-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

We made our list and checked it twice then headed on over to Lowes for some lumber for a raised bed for our first garden & lots of great plants. We had even made a stop for a cutie pie picture with our little Bugga.

She had the best time at Lowes. There's just no other kid as great as Chloe when we need to do some shopping. She is just fun all the time.

Here we are loaded up and heading home. Tomorrow after church I'll post more pictures after we've got our raised bed built, filled with dirt, and planted. Here's what we're planting this year:

Better Boy 16oz tomatoes, Patio grape tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, Red onions, Texas Sweet yellow onions, Straight Neck yellow squash, Zucchini squash, Red & Yellow Bell Peppers, Banana peppers, Jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, Japanese Eggplant, Cauliflower, watermelon (red & yellow), pumpkin, cantaloupe, strawberries.

Herbs in pots:
Cilantro, oregano, sweet basil, thyme, rosemary & parsley.

Wheels on the bus....

2010-04-10T21:43:00.000-05:00

Public transportation....doesn't sound like much fun does it? I mean you imagine, cranky bus drivers, stinky, dirty buses, no air conditioning, gum on your shoes, yucky people. The list goes on and on, right?

Well, meet CART~Cleveland Area Rapid Transit! Our public transportation in Norman, Ok. We made a little visit there on Friday with our NAHE (Norman Area Home Educators) group & was guided around by our great friend, Chris.

Here Chris is telling us about all the cool facts about CART, for instance; our public transportation is owned and operated by The University of Oklahoma. All OU students ride for free! How cool is that? It's only 50 cents for adults, 25 cents for kids six years old & up, free for kids under six.

Pulic transportation is already considered a "Green" thing to do but did you know that CART vehicles are fueled by either compressed natural gas or biodiesel. How cool is that?

Here's a great group of cutie's waiting at one of the many covered bus stops in our fine city.

Chloe was very happy to be able to drop her quarter in while Mr. Al, our wonderful driver looked on.

We're ready to see the town Mr.Al!

We even stopped & picked up some REAL OU students in the heart of the campus & took them out to the National Weather Center for their next class.

It was a great adventure, we got to tour the CART offices, see the bus barn, the place where the bus drivers pick up their keys & important info before starting a shift, took a nice ride with our guide Chris & learned just how cool riding the bus can be in Norman.

We learned about 'froggy' Friday! Which means everyone should 'hop' on board the trolley for the 2nd Friday Circuit of Art! Experience live music on board the route and get off the trolley for even more art throughout Norman! 6 - 10 p.m. beginning near Republic Bank & Trust and Copelin's Office Center. There are lots of free craft make & takes for the kids & some yummy snacks to be had as well.

Also, for the next couple of Saturdays in April Ride CART for free tickets to the OU softball games at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Ride the Apartment Loop beginning at noon for the tickets. Take the whole family!

We will be attending the OU vs. TX game next Saturday! Who wants to join us?

Sew Fun!

2010-04-08T13:09:00.000-05:00

Lauren's sparked interest in sewing has truly warmed my heart and it has encouraged me to turn to the love of it myself.

This morning I taught her about the needle, threader, measuring of thread, how to sew a button & the importance of tying knots in your thread. I remember my Nanaw teaching me these things when I was about her age. I would sit in her floor and make clothes for my Barbie. She had this big jar of buttons that I was free to use and always had a nice scrap pile for me to select from.

This morning I cut off some denim jeans for shorts & she had her seamstress "hat" on & immediately asked me if she could make a jacket for her Webkinz. Too cute!

Here's a little of her adventure:

She's concentrating really hard here so she doesn't stick herself with the needle. She has on her thimble though! Go girl!!

Here's the finish products. She made a jacket for Webkinz & a pillow for them too. Good job Sissy!

Now wait a minute....I thought that jacket was for a Webkinz....Sweet Sophie is such a good sport. We love her so much.

Suprise Party!!

2010-04-05T13:47:00.000-05:00

Here's our beautiful Aunt Dorothy. She is 80 years young! We had a huge surpise party for her at Cimarron Steak House in OKC with tons of family & close friends. It was so much fun but it always is when Keiths family gathers together. I love them all so much!

The whole gang!

This was the "young cousins" table. As you can see, all girls!

Uncle Randy, Aunt Ann, Mom & Dad Graham (side note: Randy is dad's brother)

My yummy steak dinner~no I was NOT able to eat all of this...are you serious?!? LOL

Aunt Dorothy with her two great sons; Lynn & Larry

With her grandkids~Bailey, Angela & Steffani

With her GREAT grandkids~Colton, Cade, Chloe, Josh & Andrew

Best lookin' couple there! Saved the best for last~

Seriously??

2010-04-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

My truck was broken into AGAIN and this time they took my brand new stereo I had for less than a month. I was so shocked & MAD! Why do people do that? This was the second break in on my truck in the last year of living in my brand new neighborhood.

Thanks to USAA though, I have a new replacement that is even better than my original system & this one came with a removable face plate so if they steal this one it will be useless without it. Yay!!!

Oh my....

2010-04-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

It's been WEEKS since I've written anything. Uggg...

So here's what has been going on with us. I'll just post some pictures & blog about them to catch you all up.

This was one of the most happiest days in my life~ I inherited this beautiful sewing machine from my precious Nanaw, my mother's mother. I have so many cherished memories of & from this treasure. I learned how to sew on it, wore many many outfits that were lovingly made on it & I must confess, everytime I walk by it, I touch it and can just FEEL the love & connection I had with my beautiful Nanaw. Now this amazing machine will be the center of our home during our homeschooling & well, just living life. I will post pictures soon of our first outfits that will be made for summer time; DRESSES!!

This is the 100th Singer Anniversary Sewing Machine made in 1955. It was (and still is known as) the best straight stitch machine Singer ever made. It has been beautifully restored by Keith's cousin, David Bullock. I cried when he brought it back to me, I had so much pride, my heart was full & just overflowing with awe at the fact that it pretty much looks like it did the day my Nanaw brought it home. I know she was beaming with pride when she did.

Thank you David for caring so much about my machine & putting all the love & effort you did in restoring it for me.

My pride & joy!

The Featherweight 221 (222 has a free arm that makes sewing cuffs & pant legs much easier) came in a standard black model made in the U.S. Those made before World War II (and apparently a few after the war) had an attractive "Egyptian Scrollwork" pattern on the faceplate, while most of those made after the war had a simple, striated pattern of vertical stripes. They were further decorated with gold decals and the Singer name, but nowhere do they say "Featherweight" on them.

As you can see, mine has the "Egyptian Scrollwork" on it & was made after WWII.