If I Had a Hammer

Explorers

2011-10-01T23:20:00.001-06:00

Today we went on a hike. We went in a cave and emerged from it covered in ocher dust. We picnicked on a mountain that over looked a sprawling valley. We peed in the woods and followed tarantulas and found fossils and chased children and played with cousins and ate sandwiches and came home filthy. Today was a good day.

Bananas

2011-09-30T16:55:00.001-06:00

This is Bananas. She's a garden spider in our Rosemary bush. My husband catches bugs for her and we all get to watch her wrap them up and eat them. We love Bananas.

Where I wish I was today

2011-09-29T13:51:00.001-06:00

Instead I'm at school. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do whatever we wanted all the time?

I accidentally erased these

2011-09-26T09:28:00.001-06:00

Haven't quite figured out all the ins and outs of my blogger app.

A cold and an exam

2011-09-25T14:06:00.001-06:00

I have a cold. I'm kind of a snot monster today. I'm drinking the Vitamin powder my mother in law brought me. Ira thought about helping himself to some. I also have an exam. My first exam in my abnormal psych class. The exam that will tell me how much to study for the next exam. It's an online exam... So the snot monster gets to stay home today and drink her vitamins and use toilet paper to wipe her nose and never get out of her pajamas. Hooray for the snot monster!

head hurts

2011-04-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

Is it bad when you take an exam and have no idea if you answered ANY questions correctly?

Meet my misery.

I question myself everyday.

Why did I take Chemistry? I could've taken Environmental Science.

The thought running through my head...

Please grade on a curve, please grade on a curve, please grade on a curve!

I wanted an A. I'd be happy with a B.

I'm praying for a C.

Birthday!

2011-03-28T17:16:00.000-06:00

Thirty-three years ago I emerged from my mothers loins! Gross right?

Well in celebration of my birthday I ditched 3 of my 4 classes. Maybe not the brightest idea but hey, it's my birthday.

My Awesome Hubby Got me this cupcake!

I make better cake, but the mocha frosting was outstanding!

Anyhoo, March has been a good month.

I've been invited to take honors classes at the community college and that will enable me to take honors classes at UNM in the fall.

My Boys report cards were awesome!

Grandma is still alive.

My husband is hilarious as ever.

The weather is warm enough to go for lovely walks.

I've been super productive with my jewelry making! I made some super cute post earrings this weekend.

I made molds of vintage buttons to make these. I like the way they came out. What do you think?

Working My Fingers To the Bone

2011-03-17T18:04:00.001-06:00

It’s Spring Break time, so of course I have a sinus infection. But most importantly I am getting to spend lots of time with my sweet boys! Yesterday we went to the library and watched a turtle demonstration, where an angry woman told everyone that turtles are not for children. I thought it was amusing because the presentation was in the children’s section of the library. Tuesday I took the boys to the zoo where we got to watch a male elephant hump a tractor tire. Unfortunately I was unable to get a photo as my camera only works sporadically. Monday we took the boys to the craft store which is always a good time. So I suppose that is my week in reverse. One of the things I’m most excited about this spring break is I finally had plenty of time to work on jewelry! Hooray for me. I’ll be uploading lots of new things over the next few days, so please take a look and tell me what you think.

NEW WALLET!!!

2011-03-04T13:58:00.001-07:00

It’s awesome. I’m in love with it.

Look at all those card slots. Also there are three pockets perfect for bills, checkbook, and receipts, and a zipper pocket for change!

Look for it here!

timewarp

2011-02-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

I fell into a time warp for the last few weeks. Homework, Kids, Grandma, and Husband's sometimes combine and cause a rift in the space time continuum. That's what happened to me. With this in mind I am posting a bunch of older photos I haven't looked at for awhile. Some cute, some weird, some pretty.

Mostly weird.

Mornings

2011-01-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Caring for the elderly and demented is rough.

I have classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:30 am.

Tuesday, Thursday, Late Friday mornings, and Saturday& Sunday Mornings

I take Grandma her breakfast and begin the hunt.

What hunt?

The hunt for dirty bathmats and nightgowns.

She hides them.

You see, Grandma is accident prone.

We have bathmats in front of her bed to "catch" her morning accidents.

We have bathmats in front of her rocker for similar reasons.

If I don't search her room regularly

the whole house will begin to smell.

She can't smell it.

She does wear her special briefs most of the time.

She absolutely will not wear them to bed.

She gets up in the morning and well...

Gravity does the rest.

I'm just glad she has control of number 2.

But like I said,

caring for the elderly and demented is rough.

Scorpion

2011-01-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

Where did I just find a hibernating scorpion with my bare foot?

In my garage

In a bag of clothing

That I've been meaning to donate

That I stepped on.

My foot is tingling.

It's not that bad really.

Better then getting stung by an ant.

Now I'm too frightened to donate the clothes.

What if I end up donating a bag scorpion covered clothes?

I'm afraid my donation will now be going in the garbage.

Sigh.

It Took All Day

2011-01-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

No joke. I had over 20 pieces of jewelry that I had not photographed and uploaded on to my etsy shop. All day. Photographing. Editing. Entering. Uploading. It's finally done. Feedback on my new items please! I would really appreciate it! follow this link!

Our Gang

2011-01-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Last night my husband and I found ourselves absorbed in TCM's Little Rascals marathon. We were watching the 1931 series where a 3 year old Spanky McFarland stole the show. Now I don't know much about the Our Gang kids. I've heard they got financially screwed by the motion picture companies and never saw a royalty check, but no one can deny the appeal and hilarity of those sweet little faces

At 3 years old, little Spanky looked more like a one year old with a very advanced vocabulary. every time little Spanky appeared on screen I giggled and wanted to squeeze him. Of course this could be because he reminded me of this baby...

Who now look likes this big boy.

hello!

2010-12-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

The holidays are almost over and as of the day after Christmas, the baking has ceased. Well, not entirely. I still make bread weekly and sweet potato bran muffins, but that's it! Because too much of this....

I'm getting fat.

Recipe here

The first time I made this pie I found that I couldn't get the lemon slices thin enough, so when I set the lemon slices aside to soak the sugar for the suggested 24 hours they got a bit tough and chewy. That said the flavor was so amazing that I had to try again. When I made it the second time, I zested the lemons and cut off the pith instead, then sliced the lemon. I also squeezed the juice of an extra lemon in the sugar lemon mix. I took this to my BIL and SIL house for a Christmas gathering and it was a huge success. My FIL said it was the best lemon pie he had ever had. No joke.

I hope everyone has had a lovely Holiday!

Snow Day

2010-12-17T18:46:00.001-07:00

It snowed last night. I know I know, it's December, but I live in the desert so it's a treat when it snows. High desert by the way. Way different then the low kind. I worked in a tourist spot once, and people from cold places would say, "I thought it wasn't supposed to be cold in the desert?!?" I'd smile and inform them that they were thinking of Phoenix, not Albuquerque. It gets cold, but we don't get much snow.

The boys were so excited! they had to make a snowman and have a snowball fight. I made them warm biscuits and hot cocoa.

They had a two hour delay, but we kept them home anyway. It's the last day before Christmas break and we figured why not?

They were so happy!

Birthday Cake

2010-12-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

I made a cake for my mother in law.

It was her birthday.

It was a delicious cake.

I got the recipe HERE

I"m not saying how many candles were lit.

But it looked like a forest fire.

Let me introduce you to my Grandma

2010-12-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Grandma has dementia. She thinks it's funny to flip the bird.

She likes my boys. She eats a tub of margarine a week. She used to smoke.

Once upon a time she was sharp as a tack. She was one of the first females to be ordained an Episcopal Priest in the 1970's.

Now she sits in her room and knits all day long while watching TV.

She lives with us. It's not easy sometimes.

Sometimes she is like a broken record.

Sometimes she can carry a conversation.

She can't remember that conversation for more then 5 minutes.

Incontinence is a bitch.

My house smells funny now.

But mostly,

I'm glad she is with us.

I'm glad we can take care of her now.

We might not be able to do it forever, but we will do it as long as we can.

A rock and a sleigh bell

2010-12-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

My children have a lot of stuff. Their rooms are littered with Gears, action figures, crayons, etc. They have so much they don't play with, it's hard to think of things to get them for Christmas. Other then games for the Wii and DS, I was at a loss when family asked what they might like for gifts. The other day I asked them what they would like for Cristmas, their reply... Chad my oldest would like a rock. A big one from the mountain. David my youngest (making his Pop-eye the sailor man face above) wants a sleigh bell. Not just any sleigh bell, one from Santa's sleigh. This is what they asked for. Boy did I luck out this year.

Thanksgiving Dessert

2010-11-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving is over and everything was delicious. In fact, wish I was still eating. For dessert this year I made an amazing Maple Nutmeg Cream Pie. I wish I could eat it every day but my muffin tops say no! Seriously, if you ever want to try something that tastes perfect for the season, but is different from the usual suspects (pumpkin, apple, sweet potato pie) this is the way to go. The custard is so creamy, the maple flavor divine, and the nutmeg is a perfect accent. I want another so bad.

Cat on a hot tin roof ORIGINAL trailer 1958

2010-11-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

I registered for my next semesters classes this week. I will be a busy girl. The only way I could wrangle my schedule was to start my classes at 7:30 in the morning. I'm not real thrilled about this because, well, I'm a sleeper. If I don't get my 8 hours I am not happy. On top of that I am also a night owl. I may end up being one cranky lady next semester, but we shall see.

I just finished reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for a school report. I'm writing a comparison paper on the written play vs. the movie. I love the movie and I love Tennessee Williams. Street Car Named Desire, Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it doesn't gt much better then that!

The Winner Is....

2010-11-06T19:28:00.000-06:00

I assigned numbers for all the entries and ran the numbers through a random number generator and the winner of the ring is...

SignePling!!!!!!

Check out her beautiful blog and enjoy!

Halloween....

2010-11-05T10:34:00.001-06:00

Halloween...

David the vampire

Mmmmm.

Chad the zombie a la George Romero

Who will eat who first????

And yeah. That's my vacuum handle in the background.

By the time I put them to bed they had both had so much candy they were twitching and foaming at the mouth. When I was little my mom and dad just let me have at it and eat as much candy as I could. I carry on the tradition of creating cavities and sugar comas with my children every Halloween. It's probably the only night of the year you get to hear the words, "Okay! Two more pieces of candy then bedtime!"

Candy candy candy!!!!!

2010-11-02T11:00:00.004-06:00

So now that I have devoured a years worth of candy in one day, I've been thinking about how to make the candies I so love. Where do I turn for this knowledge? Who will I ask about the culinary delight that is candy? Google of course! (Think about this... What did you do before google? I had to sit for days not knowing something then head to the library... Or call my dad.)

So here's what I found...

Recipe for homemade Almond Joy

at THIS fabulous blog

Yummy yummy yummy! Homemade Butterfinger!

Here!

My personal favorite bar.

Mmmmmmmm

Mars Bar

Could it be possible? I have such a hard time finding these treats

that making them sounds fun!

This looks amazing. Homemade

Twix!

Please remember to enter my GIVEAWAY!
Click on the link and enter! I think only three or four people have entered
so the odds are in your favor!

Petroglyphs

2010-10-28T15:23:00.000-06:00

Just a five minute walk from my house and I'm at the petroglyphs. I figured this out last month which is really stupid because I've lived here for five years. Where was my head? I always thought you had to drive three miles down the road to get the trails at Rinconada Canyon, but no. You just have to walk a block and a half and cross the street. Now I know.

Remember to Join my giveaway!

only two people are entered right now so odds are in your favor!

Click here!