Easter Dozen

 



1. How do you feel about the marshmallow Easter Peeps?

Blechk.  My kids love them and their Grandmother buys them for them anytime she can find them.  Did you know that have Peeps for 4th of July?  And Christmas?  Of course, being teenagers, they have the common sense not to eat them ALL at once.  Really.  Seriously. 

2. Chickens are notoriously nervous creatures. When you are nervous, what is the best way to calm down?

Nervous?  Who me?  That's a lie.  I have never been nervous in my life.  And if you ask my mom, whatever she says is a lie.

 3. People say, "April showers bring May flowers." Do you enjoy Spring rains?

As long as the rain occurs when my school kids are home with their parents, why yes I enjoy spring rains.  During the school day?  Not so much.  Inside recess?  Not at all. 

 

4. When I was randomly flipping through TV channels this week, I saw a show in which tattoo parlor employees received tattoos of a co-worker's face on their bodies. I can't imagine having a portrait of a colleague tattooed on me. But if someone forced you to receive a portrait tattoo (face only) of anyone, who would it be? Why?

You can't make me, I won't do it.  

5. Would you rather have a tattoo (any kind) or a nose ring?

 See number 4. 

6. Do you have any special plans for Easter?

Off to Granny's we go!  My job is to bring frog eye salad along with cheese and crackers.  

7. Cadbury Eggs or Reese Eggs?

Reese, baby.  REESE.

8. What was the last thing/person you took a picture of?

CYO convention kids this past weekend. 

It's a lie.  I am in this picture.  Duh.

9. What book are you reading now, or what was the last one?

The Wednesday Sisters.  Group of young mothers who meet in the park and 'grow' up together.  I just started it Monday night, but it left me wishing for a snow day so I could read my life away.  

10. What do you think is the most difficult task when it comes to Spring cleaning?

Getting started. Cleaning seems overrated.  Reading a book is a much better choice. 

11. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?

 Actual rubber thongs?  Oooohhhhhh.  I love those shoes.  Unfortunately, my feet, legs, butt and back do not love those shoes.  I own none. 

12. Which color makes you happiest?
I have always loved purple.  I don't wear it but I do love it.  When I was 5, my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I responded, "A big, purple dog."  And I still have that purple dog.  

But one time someone who doesn't love this dog as much as me let it rest against the heat register. It's a good thing that I am in tune with this dog or it could have burned up.  And even maybe the house.  

And one time, my mom was re-wallpapering her bedroom and she let me choose the wallpaper.  Yep.  I chose purple and white checked.  IT was a real small check and it was completely beautiful.  The best part--she bought a purple bed spread.  I loveloveloved that room.  Too bad I don't have a picture of that room except in my mind.  Just sayin'.  

Food on Friday

Ha!  Here I am again....Food on Friday.  3 in a row. 

You know, if people on the street wouldn't comment about how much they love my recipe posts, then I wouldn't be so motivated to do them.  You know, it's like laughing at me in the lounge at lunch--it simply fuels my fire. 

This week I am sharing a recipe that millions of my readers already make on a pretty regular basis.  OK.  Maybe not millions of my readers but ALL my teacher friends make them because they are instant comfort food.  INSTANT.


Remember last week how I commented about my fame due to my super fantastic sloppy joes?  In the right circles (my brain), I am very famous for my rice krispy treats.  I have a certain greenhouse owner and his male offspring who will do just about ANYTHING for a pan of my rice krispy treats.  One time, I took a pan over and nobody was home, so I left it on the counter.  He arrived home first and hid them from his family. It wasn't until the pan was almost gone that his secret was discovered.  

THE HAYS CREW'S RICE KRISPY TREATS

4 tbsp. REAL LIVE butter--no subs

16 oz. mini marshmallows (fresh is best)

9 cups of rice krispies

Ok.  This is important.  Put your marshmallows in a microwaveable bowl and place the butter on top.  Microwave for 1 minute.  

This is what it looks like after 1 minute in my microwave:

Now stirstirstir.  

Put the mixture back in the microwave for 1 minute.  Mine looks like this after minute 2:

Now stirstirstir.  

Add the cereal all at once.

Now stir.  And stir.  And stir some more.  Really until the cereal is covered.

I use my commercial grade cookie sheet, but a 9 x 13 pan is also fine.  They are thicker in a 9 x 13 pan and my people like to be able to walk by and grab a handful of rice krispy treat.  It's considered finger food at our house.  I also spray my pan with baking spray.  Coach really appreciates me for it. 

You could smash them down in the pan, and make them look all uniform and pretty.  But that just burns daylight.  Just eat.  

The best part....is that this person showed up just in time to share some with a hot cup of coffee and a lot of laughter. 

Life's all good.  Just sayin'.

Laughter

They say that laughter is great medicine.  I am not sick or anything, but I do like to laugh.  And every time I see this commercial, I just crack up.  Out loud laughter.  Every time.  Just sayin'.

Randomness

This gal is actually the host this week!  Thanks so much for stepping in to help Lid out....

The theme is Spring . . . and any other random questions that crept in.

1.  What is your favorite sign of Spring?
I have several.  Kids at recess without coats.  People walking in the early evening.  Flowers.  Time change.  The smell of the food cooking on the grill.  Buds and then blooms on the neighbor's dogwood tree.  

2.  Did you remember to spring forward on March 14?  If not, how did it impact your day?
Oh I remembered.  I had been counting down to the day.  I love to spring forward!
 
3.  If soil, time, talent and climate were no problem, what vegetable would you plant in a garden this year?
My husband is helping me with this one.  First, I wanted to say 'celery'.  He claims that celery isn't a vegetable.  Then, he starts shooting off his mouth.  'Beetabegas'.  Thanks, Cliff.  'Pineapple'.  'Cucumbers'.  'Tomatoes'.  I am not asking him for his assistance again.  

4.  If soil, time, talent and climate were no problem, what fruit would you plant?
 Strawberries and pineapple. 

5.  What is your least favorite insect?
This one is too easy.  Flies.  I hate flies.  They mulitply like, well, like flies and as soon as I get my fly swatter out, they disappear.  I hate the dang things.  
 
6.  March 22 was World Water Day. To celebrate, here are some water questions. Do you drink bottled water? If so, what brand?
I buy bottled water for event purposes.  Events like track meets, shopping trips or long car trips.  I usually buy whatever is on sale.  Aquafina is my favorite but more often than not, I buy Best Choice. 

7.  Have you ever been somewhere that it was not safe to drink the local water? If so, how did you handle that?
Um.  NO.

8.  How many glasses of water do you drink per day?
Let's just cut to the chase...I drink around a gallon of water a day.  Yeah, I know, I'm a big drinker.  While I am in confession mode, I also put away 3/4 of a pot of coffee each morning and if it's a not-so-good day, I have been known to indulge in Diet Coke(s).  

9.  March 24 is the birthday of Harry Houdini.  Have you ever watched a professional magic show? Share.
 Never watched a live one and unless Coach gets a wild hair and takes us to Vegas, probably I won't ever see a live magic show. 

10.  Have you ever been a participant in a professional magic show (up on stage!)?
No.

11. March 24 is also the birthday of Steve McQueen and Clyde Barrow. Do you like Westerns or gangster movies?  If so, what is your favorite?
Westerns.  Broken Trail, City Slickers, The Long Riders, Urban Cowboy (no lie...it's listed under westerns!!), The Man from Snowy River, Lonesome Dove, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Rooster Cogburn and The Sacketts.  

12. (Really random)  What U.S. state that you've never visited would you like to visit someday?
Montana.  Just sayin'.

10 Things....

1.  I'm walkin' on sunshine.....


2.  It's strawberry season!  I have had several pounds over the past week and aaahhhh....they are delicious.

3.  About that bonehead on The Amazing Race.  Who gets Noah confused with Joan?  Really.  Seriously. 

4.  It's just a game, fellas.

5.  I am enjoying not wearing 47 layers to school and no coat at recess.  Although, I have found that those layers have been covering up several new 'additions' to my body.  Ugh.  Salad, no dressing and water with lemon for me, please.

6.  Who does a research project with 3rd graders?  Their teacher must drink.  Or she needs to start.

7.  Sleeping all night rocks--even if just happens once in a blue moon.  I feel for women who are having babies in their 30's because they may not sleep through the night for like 20 years.

8.  Health Care Bill.  Enough said.

9.  Holy Smokolies!!  Who told her this looked good?  Pepto, anybody?  And that hair?  Really.  Seriously.  And that song?  Yikes.



10.  8 days left in March.  43 school days.  21 days until my oldest child is no longer a teenager.  Life moves at the speed of light.  Just sayin'.

OK.  So sometimes things don't go as planned.  "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  --proverbs 16:9

And even with that 'help' sometimes things just happen.

We're watching THE GAME on Saturday.  It was pretty intense.  Lots of shifting around.  Moving from one TV to another.  Yelling.  Which is OK if it's a ball game but not OK if it's the Price is Right.  Another post for another time.

2 minutes or maybe less left in the game.  Panic is beginning to set in.

Caller ID pops up on the TV screen.  Yes.  We pay for that luxury.  It lets us know if we must get up to find a phone or if it's just Granny who will leave a message and then begin calling our cell phones.  And leaving messages.  If we are lucky, she will post a 'message' on our social networking pages.

This time it wasn't Granny.  It was good friend of my husband's from high school.  Bells go off.  David wouldn't just randomly call in the middle of THE GAME.  We chitchat and he eventually asks to talk to Coach.

Coach and his buddies.  They were quite the group.  Oh the stories....and more stories (Stuff you can't tell your children, yet).  No wonder Granny has gray hair, smoked cigarettes and drank coffee.  And sometimes wine.  And bonded.  For life.  It's one of those deals.  30 years can go by but they all know where to find each other.  And can count on each other.  

I hear the tone of Coach's voice change.

At this point, THE GAME becomes just another game on just another Saturday.
 
Because it seems that one of the group has suffered a terrible, horrible, totally unthinkable tragedy.

The loss of a child. 

Time stands still, I think.

Suddenly, THE GAME took on new meaning.

I hurt for those people.


This song....well, I have shared this before.....and I probably will share it again.  Just sayin'.

Food on Friday

I know.  2 weeks in a row.  Blame it on spring break.  This week I am sharing my famous sloppy joes.  My mom would occasionally make sloppy joes when I was growing up.  My brother and I had a slight aversion to them due to school lunch.

In the olden days, school lunch was homemade stuff.  Sloppy joes, taco burgers, real live chicken, goulash, spaghetti, bolonga boats and chicken and noodles...you get the point.  The only not homemade item was rectangular pizza that tasted terrible and after I hoarked it in second grade, I didn't eat it ever again.  Our meals were cooked on site and served by ladies who were people's grandma's and aunts.  But we didn't like the sloppy joes.  They were, at least to us, gross.  I have decided that they simply weren't saucy enough because all they tasted like was tomato paste. 

I digress.

Back to the sloppy joes.  One time mom made them when Coach and I were home for the weekend.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  But I couldn't figure out what she bought to make them so good.  These weren't from a can of Manwich.  Remember those commercials?

Come to find out, all you need to make sloppy joes is this:  beef, onion, ketchup, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce.  Stuff you probably have in your pantry at all times.  No kidding.

Grandma Cindy's Sloppy Joes

3 pounds ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cups ketchup

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsbp worcestershire sauce

Brown ground beef and onion in skillet.  Drain fat.

Add ketchup, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a simmer.  The longer they sit, the better they taste.

I made them early in the afternoon and put them in the crock pot until we were ready to eat them during the BIG GAME Saturday night.   

I have served them with tater tots, chips, french fries, or whatever. I have seen people at swim meets put them over their nachos, hot dogs and eat it with a spoon when there were no buns left.  We had them with these on Saturday night.  We like them with shredded cheese--I used pepper jack cheese and really liked that flavor.  I also had kaiser wheat buns from another meal

and I used them.  Tasty.

The kicker is that my people don't lovelovelove them.  And it's my fault.  When College Girl was younger (like 7 or 8 because she started swimming in 1996) and on the swim team, I somehow got roped into making 40 pounds of ground beef into sloppy joes for the concession stand.  The first time we did it, another mother and I undertook the job.  Then her girl moved on to playing traveling softball and I became the lone wolf.  It makes the entire house smell for days to fry that much beef and make it into sloppy joes.  My kids gag and try to find somewhere else to live during that cooking event.  I usually make them on Friday and they cook all night in a roaster.  Coach hates this event because of the hauling of the meat.  When we had a van it was much easier to haul them.  I have learned to borrow a friends pick-up to haul them.

I recently made them for our high school booster club's concession stand at a VB tourney.  I have made them for swim meets, for fundraisers for a ladies group, for MS open house, for daycare trips to the park and the list goes on.

I am pretty much famous (in my head) for my sloppy joes.  Just sayin'. 

Random Dozen

 

Go here and get your questions....it's fun!


1. On a scale of 1-10, how superstitious are you, honestly?
Kind of, but not really.  When Coach had a paying coaching job, we would wear the same Friday outfit until we lost and then change it up.  It was a fun game while it lasted.  

2. Julius Caesar is quoted as saying, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Which circumstance or experience of yours does this saying best describe?
The laundry.  Who wears all that stuff anyway?

3. If I peeked in on your day like a mischievous little leprechaun, at what time would I most likely find you blogging?
Evening and sometimes, early morning.  

4. Re springing forward for Daylight Saving Time, is there anything you've ever been really early or really late for?
I was 2 hours early for my hair appointment last month.  I was 4 days late for my hair appointment in December. 

5. What are you most looking forward to concerning Spring?
Green grass.  Flowers blooming.  Sunshine.  Extra recess.  Riding my bike. 

6. Shamrocks are the national flower of Ireland and are picked on St. Patrick's Day and worn on the lapel or shoulder. Do you wear green on St. Patty's Day?
Since it's spring break, probably not.  If I was going to be at school, yes.  

7. One of Caesar's assassins, Casca, said, "But, for my own part, it was Greek to me," which of course means he didn't understand something. Probably his own lines in the play. Anyway, what is something that is "Greek to you," something incomprehensible or indecipherable?
Hurting children is completely incomprehensible to me.  

8. Is March behaving more like a lion or a lamb where you live?
March is behaving like a ticked off lamb.  It has yet to hit 70 degrees here and usually by now we have had several 70 degree days.  Today, for instance, there is no sunshine and it is 40 degrees.  The north wind is blowing.  It is supposed to snow 6-8 inches here on Friday.  REALLY?  

9. "An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn is all that we ask in return for dazzling gifts. We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later." -Winston Churchill. If you had one extra hour per day every day, what would you do with it?
Read. Read. And more read.  

10. Legend says that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold hidden deep in the Irish countryside. Aside from real gold or money, what material item would be in your dream pot of gold?
At first, I wanted to answer a pool, but upon further consideration, I think that a sprawling country home next to a pool would more than cover it.  
 
11. "The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you." Robert Louis Stevenson. Look around you right now and tell us about something essential or beautiful very near you that you take for granted every day.
I think this sums it all up.....the laughter of children.

12. Just for a bit o' fun, click here (www.blogthings.com/irishnamegenerator/) and then report your Irish name. Mine is...

Duvessa O'Doherty.  Wow.  Pretty sure that is the name of a nun, just sayin'.

 

The Music of My Life

Yesterday we moved all the furniture out of the living room and Murphy's Oil Soaped the floors.  And then moved everything out of the dining room and did the same.  It is an amazing difference.  We also cleaned the walls, dusted and vacuumed the furniture.  Just those few things made my house (and me) feel better. 

I have an amazing list that I would like to complete this week.  Do I think it will all get done?  I can try--if not, then it will all have to wait until summer. 

Today's list:
--eat pancakes, drink coffee, and read newspapers. 
--bank.
--pay bills.
--sew.
--laundry!!!!
--finish cleaning dining room. 
--clean upstairs bathroom.
--dinner?  You can bet they will want some.....how about roast with potatoes and carrots in the crock pot?
--book club at 7 PM.
--pick up recycling bags.
--call Grandma Cindy.
--call Granny.
--fill out paperwork for church that 'allows' me to work with youth.  This is a real soapbox issue for me.....enough said.
--NAP.


Will all of this stuff get done?  Check back tomorrow to see what carries over!
__________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, I believe that my ipod will be playing this while I work:




That's a lie.  I won't be listening to that while I work.  More than likely it will be this......



That's probably a lie, also.  I will probably be listening to teenagers whine.  Maybe if I turn up the volume on my ipod.....just sayin'. 

Food on Friday

I got up this morning and whipped these Peanut Butter Bars right out.  No lie.  They take less than 30 minutes start to finish and more than likely you have everything in your pantry right now.

Peanut Butter Bars

Bar Ingredients....

2 eggs

1 cup shortening

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup of flour

1 cup of oatmeal

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla

(the can of milk shouldn't be in this picture--duh my bad)

Mix shortening, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, and eggs.

Add flour, soda, salt, vanilla, and oatmeal.  It's a thick, wet batter.

Plop it in your 12 x 18 jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.  Spread it fairly evenly in the pan.  Oh yeah, I spray my pan with baking spray.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Yes.  That's right.  10-15 minutes.  When you remove it from the oven, it will be jiggly like my butt is jiggly.

This is how they look before you bake them.  Meanwhile, you need these ingredients for the topping:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup milk 

(we drink skim, I use evaporated when I cook)

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix these ingredients in a medium sized saucepan.  Bring to just the beginning of a boil. 

Whisk, whisk, whisk.  Do not try to do anything else during this time--this mixture can burn at the drop of a hat.  I speak from experience.

Don't panic.  Just keep whisking.  It will get smooth.

About that baking time.  I set my timer for 10 minutes (new readers--my oven is from 1954--no really--and so I don't always have accurate baking times) and check the jiggliness of the bars.  I like the edges to be brown and today I needed an additional 5 minutes.  DO NOT OVER BAKE.  They will seem under baked and that is how you want them.  They set up and taste delicious. This picture is how they look before you put the topping on.

Now for the topping.  The actual recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips.  Today I used 2 cups.  I was taking it to school for teachers who had to sit through in-service and then work all afternoon on grades and such.  They needed extra chocolate.  I have used as little as 1/2 cup.  It doesn't really matter.  You could also use any flavor of chip that compliments peanut butter.  I think that this might really good with toffee chips or even peanut butter chips.  And if you are taking it to teachers--they will eat anything that isn't nailed to the lounge table.  Really.

Sprinkle the chips across the baked bar.  All of this is done while the bars are still hot.

Drizzle the topping over the top. I would love to show you a picture of me drizzling the topping over the bars, but my camera battery died.  I had to charge my battery while I took a shower and then take a picture of the finished product. 

That's it.  You're done. 

I know that there a million versions of peanut butter bars out there.  I really like this one.  It came from this awesome cookbook:

Church cookbooks are the greatest resources for comfort food.  Just sayin'.

 

Interesting...

Hmpf.

Occasionally I run across something that makes me go hmpf. This made me do that and more.   



This very interesting person shared it on her blog.  And although I don't necessarily agree with everything that she blogs about I think that she poses some interesting views of the world.

Something to think about...just sayin'.

Thursday

I notice that I have one less follower than I did yesterday.  Really?  Someone unfollowed me?  How does one unfollow someone?  I have some third graders and some relatives who would like to unfollow me.   

There's a possibility of snow today.  12 years ago this month we had a heck of a snow storm and missed school for 3 days.  Of course, spring break begins tomorrow.  It can snow to high heaven for all I care.  My spring break plans include cleaning house and reading books.  Snow away!

Tuesday morning I decided that we would have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for breakfast.  I mix up the wet ingredients and open the flour canister to 1/2 cup of flour.  Yeah.  Thanks, College Girl.  I needed 4 cups of flour.  It's 6 AM and we live in small town America.  I could call a friend and drive over to get some flour or I could serve cereal.  Serve cereal and put batter in fridge to make for Wednesday morning. 

Last night Frick asked for cookies for a teacher who mentioned she might function much better today if she had some cookies.  I got up this morning to find that I had more than enough flour but not enough shortening.  I had enough for a single batch of cookies but not the double batch I usually make.  Again, thanks College Girl.

You might be wondering why I am thanking College Girl.

Last weekend she made bar cookies, therefore she was the last one to use the aforementioned ingredients and should have put them on the list.  

I love that girl.  Just sayin'.

Randomness

1. How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?
6 years old.  A pair of Doc Martens that College Girl got for Christmas when she was a high school freshman.  She wore them for a short time and didn't like them.  

2. Did you buy Girl Scout cookies this year? If so, what variety?
2 boxes of thin mints.  

3. Do you know how to ballroom dance? If not, would you like to?
No.  And heck no.

4. Were you a responsible child/teenager?
Yes, I am sure I was very responsible.  Just don't ask my mom what she thinks.  

5. How many of this year's Oscar-nominated movies did you see?
One.  Up.    


6. If you're going to have a medical procedure done, such as having blood drawn, is it easier for you to watch someone else having the procedure done or have it done yourself?
I find it terribly difficult to watch anything being done to my children.  I always take their dad or even will send him with them while I clean the toilet with my toothbrush.  And I am a terrible nurse.  

7. What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Sunday mornings.  Coffee, newspapers and Coach making breakfast.  The quiet of the world. Church and Sunday dinner.  Sunday afternoon naps.  Sunday evening popcorn, cheese, apples and The Amazing Race.  Bedtime on Sunday nights with clean sheets.  So I guess I am going with Sunday on this one.

8. Do you miss anyone right now?
My grandma.

9. Do hospitals make you queasy?
Nope.  But funeral homes do.   And the smell of school lunch. 

10. At which store would you like to max-out your credit card?  (Not that you ever would, you responsible person, you.)
Eddie Bauer.  Wait, maybe LL Bean.  Or maybe The Clay Gourmet.  Can I have 3 cards?

11. Are you true to the brand names of products/items?
It depends.  Due to skin affliction gene pool issues, we can only use Era laundry soap, Dove body soap and a certain kind of lotion.  I so love it when kids in my class have moms who use Downey fabric softener--it smells heavenly--but alas, results in a rash of epic proportions for members of the Hays Crew.  I am very jealous of people who can use any brand of any product.  Any changes that I would make result in skin afflictions and trips to Doc Murphy and the pharmacy.  

Brand name food?  I do have certain things that I will only buy brand name on.  Hidden Valley Ranch is the only one for me.  And you won't catch me with off brand Velveeta or sausage. 

12. Which is more difficult: looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when he/she is telling you how he/she feels?
Eeka freaka.  

10 Things I Know For Sure

1.  Rain.  Aaahhhh.



2.  3 get-ups.

3.  Did you catch Amazing Race on Sunday night?  I do love me some Jet and Cord.  Oh my.

4.  Does it get any better than sitting on Grandpa's lap?  Eating chips and watching big brother play basketball is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

5.  Erma Bombeck once said, "My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?"  Lord, I miss that woman....

6.  Track season has started.  Let the rains begin.

7.  I repeat, 3 get-ups.

8.  I have serious blog block.  I am sure you have figured that out by now.

9.  Oh.  She totally rocks this dress....

Of course, there are more where this came from....

10. 3 more get-ups.  Just sayin'.

The Music of My Life

You know how some songs just take you right back to the spot that you heard them the first time?

This one doesn't do that for me.  I just needed a pump up song.......



'cuz it's 4 get-ups until spring break 2010....and the beloved dreaded state ASSessment begins tomorrow at 8:30 sharp...we are very excited in the Hays Team....and my grades are due....and I am NOT going to bed tonight until they are done...and it is raining which means inside recess for the rest of the week....it's teacher inservice on Friday which means no kids but too many grown-ups...and I can't seem to get any blog posts up, let alone cook any meals.

I am done whining. 

I love rock n' roll....just sayin'. 

10 Things I Know For Sure

1.  My niece turned 21 yesterday.  Completely amazing.  That means that six weeks from now, my favorite oldest child will be 20.  Oh my.

2.  Spring break is in 12 days.  Count'em 12 DAYS.  I have never been so ready for spring break in my life.

3.  My school kids begin state ASSessments this week.  Just a few and then whole group takes them the next week.  Please pray for us.  This is really stressful when you are 9 years old.  And 43.

4.  12 days until we 'spring' forward.

5.  How about those Wildcats?

6.  I saw the tips of plants coming up out of the ground.  Does that mean....dare I hope for, gasp, spring?

7.  The Bachelor.  Really?

8.  Can we stop with snow already?

9.  A friend of mine is on a cruise.  I hate her.  Not really.  But you know what I mean. 

10.  What can I say?  I simply couldn't resist.....

I hope she is getting paid to wear this poodle.  Just sayin'.

The Music of My Life

....Sometimes I feel like Jessie James still trying to make a name knowin, nothing's gonna change what I am...I was a young troubadour when I rode in on a song and I'll be an old troubadour when I'm gone....





The man has a way with words.  And wranglers.  Just sayin'.