Crafty New Year!

HappyCrafty New Year to you!  I've had a lot of projects going on lately (or rumbling around in my head that I intend to do).  Just can't wait to share them with you.

Here's one I tried to get done for Christmas, but just didn't manage to.  I saw this on Pinterest and had to try it.  So off to the store I went for bobby pins and gold spray paint.

Who wouldn't love their name in pasta?!?

Mine did not turn out as neat as the Pinterest post, because the glue I used wasn't real smooth, and the pasta I used wasn't uniformly sized.  But hey, I already had the alphabet pasta in a soup mix, I just had to pick it out of the lentils.  I tried to find alphabet pasta and our normal grocery stores did not carry it, so I used what I had!

Up next, we are making homemade mozzarella cheeeeeeese this weekend!  For home cooked pizza.  Can't wait for dinner!  I will post soon of our cheesy experience. 

Until then, let me leave you with a beautiful picture of my beautiful friend and her beautiful horses.  I'm so happy I got to see them for a brief visit last month!

Beautiful horses!

Beautiful redheads

Bon Appetit! 

Muffins, It's What's For Breakfast

I've been making "breakfast-in-a-muffin" lately.  I love that you can put a few pieces of thinly sliced ham, cheese, spices and an egg (in that order) in a large muffin tin, and have an all-in-one baked muffin-meal in 20+ minutes.  I made them when Tullybird was here.

Last weekend, I put in a flattened out biscuit in a large muffin tin, added cooked crumbled sausage or ground turkey (ONE of us was healthy) with taco spices, cheese, fresh spinach, salsa, an egg, and more cheese, then baked.  We had Mexican "breakfast" muffins.  I had one for leftover breakfast today, and it was still tasty.

Try it!  You can pretty much stick anything in a muffin tin, put an egg on it, and have a meal.  I highly recommend spraying the pan first.  No matter what.

My mom has gotten into the muffin-tin craze by baking cupcakes.  I can't wait for 4th of July to sample some of her goodies.  Since my breakfast muffins aren't very photogenic, I thought I'd share my moms cupcakes, which happen to be very photogenic.

I love the way the frosting is layered on in a random squiggly pattern at times, because it's all about the height!

Don't the strawberry cupcakes look divine?  I swear I can taste them.  The frosting looks like it would melt on your tongue.  And then there's this wonderful version of a cupcake from Heaven:

Check this one out:  Bananas, Peanuts, Cream Cheese.  What's not to LOVE?

I simply love her frosting to cake ratio.  

To quote my friend, Sam'sMom, who so eloquently stated:  

"Once you lick the frosting off a cupcake it becomes a muffin...and muffins are healthy. You're welcome."

Random Thought Bubbles

Wow, it's been a month since I've posted.  That is consistent with how crazy this Spring has been so far, and I don't think it's going to slow down any.  This is going to be a miscellaneous post about a bunch of random topics.  And away we goooo!

 

Topic 1:  I have a lot of vacation plans this year.  I am so excited.  I have so many wonderful people I get to see this year!  They are either coming to see me, or I'm traveling with them or to them. 

 

First up, Tullybird's annual week-long visit is in 32 days!  Technically 31 days, 22 hours, and 41 minutes.  But who's counting?  I've started a rough draft of our drinking/eating/shopping agenda.

 

Next up, we finally get to take our kids to Oklahoma to see my parents.  I will definitely see Sam's Mom when we are there.  Wahoo!  I need a relaxing, "home" weekend, where we eat and veg and visit and catch up.  We haven't been able to go since before pups and before sick dogs.  I am really looking forward to it.

 

Then, the 3rd exciting thing I have planned is that Mrs. Irritation is going to visit for a night in June with her beautiful daughter. 

 

I AM SO EXCITED THAT I GET TO SEE SO MANY WONDERFUL FRIENDS VERY, VERY SOON!!!!  I've missed you all dearly.  And then there's the girl's trip to SC, our RV trip to PA this Fall, and then a cruise with my mom and nephew this November.  Good thing I have a ton of vacation days saved up.  Cause I decided to work to live this year!

 

Sometime when Jus is back, I will make a trip to see her too.

 

Topic 2:   We got some learnin' to do.  We have our kids in Obedience class.  Saturday was our 3rd session.  It is an OK group class.  It can't compare to the trainer we used to have when I took Amber, then Keystone & Abby to school.  But it's a good regimen to get into the habit of trying to train them, because every Saturday, you want them to look "better".  Like you've worked with them every day and they learned something.  And you don't want the 10 week old German Shepard to pass you up.  Again.

 

We haven't socialized our pups as much as we should have, because of the fear of Parvo.  It's been in our neighborhood (it lives in the environment).  So we have been extremely cautious.  That means, we have to catch-up on the socialization work that we need to do, now that we are fully vaccinated.  Our kids love to go up to other dogs and lick all over their faces like they've never seen another dog in their entire lives and how could there be ANOTHER dog in this world?  It's usually accompanied by ferociously wagging tails and possible piddling on the behalf of Joey.  It's ridiculous.  Anyway, we are working on that.

So when we go to class and see a bunch of other dogs, it's very exciting.  I mean, it's a ROAD TRIP to begin with.  And then they get to eat a bunch of treats for doing a few tricks.  And then they get to see OTHER DOGS.  And the smells.  Oh the smells! 

So needless to say, they are pooped out on Saturday nights.  Exhibit A:



Joey is exhausted

 

Topic 3:  Who are YOU?!?  So Saturday before last was especially exhausting for the pups.  We went to class and they had a grand old time.  Then we came home.  It was the first super nice weekend to work in the garden.  So that is what I did.  That was the first day I had the pups out with me for several hours while I hoed around the edge of the garden, both inside and out, and removed dead plants from last year that we hadn't removed yet.  It had rained that morning, so it was perfect for getting the old dead stuff and already-growing-weeds out from the fence line.  The rain made it almost easy. 

 

So I was working in the garden.  The pups were playing tag, like they always do.  Running back and forth, and running all over but staying within sight.  All of a sudden, I look down and did a double-take.  There were THREE GOLDEN COLORED PUPPIES AT MY FEET.  Wait a minute.  I only have TWO puppies.  Who in the WORLD is this third "dog"???  I don't even know what direction from which she had come.  She was JUST THERE. 

 

And she didn't go away.  She was obviously not a girl who could fend for herself like Shadow was.  This new girl was a "city" girl.  It was Easter weekend, so all of the houses around us had a ton of visitors.  Surely someone lost her.  We put out a sign.  We posted a Craig's list ad.  We talked to neighbors.  Nope.  Nobody lost her.  She was dumped.  This precious, beautiful dog was abandoned. 

 

It still breaks my heart that someone could do this.  She isn't unruly.  She isn't disobedient or mean, or huge and aggressive.  She's well behaved.  She also had fleas.  My guess is that the cute little "puppy" grew up.  And when she got fleas, the cheap, evil bastards dropped her off in the country instead of buying flea treatment.  You could see her ribs, so who knows how long it had been since she ate.  And the fleas had been there awhile because she had lost some hair around the base of her tail.

 

We tried to shoo her away and get her to leave.  She wasn't going anywhere.  She knew a softy when she saw me.  I treated her for fleas.  I didn't want my kids getting them.  Remember how excited they get when they see another dog?  They L-O-V-E her.  We asked everyone and their brother if they wanted a good dog.  She seems domesticated and well behaved.  I think she's probably house broken.  She wants nothing more than to be with us.  See how cute she is?

 

 

 

I took her to the vet to make sure she wasn't pregnant, treat the flea wounds, and verify it wasn't something horrible like scabies or mange, and that we weren't all going to die some horrible death of some contagious disease.  Yes, it was only skin-irritation due to the fleas.  Antibiotics is clearing it up and her hair is already growing back at the base of her tail!

 

We finally found the right person to take her, and she goes to her new home in two weeks.  They were meant for each other.  Jeff lost a dog several months ago, and honestly needs a canine companion.  He came over and stayed the night a week ago and fell in love with her.  He finally committed yesterday to take her, after he moves into his new house soon.

 

Isn't that lovely?   

 

Well it is a lovely story.  Then karma kicks me in the butt...  We come home Saturday night, and find out that... guess what?  She's in heat.  OF ALL THE TIMING.  I was calling to get her spayed next week.  I could just scream.  Well it turns out, you CAN get a female in heat spayed.  Today was the day.  She's recooping nicely in a warm garage.

 

She's the short one in the middle here, with the green collar.  Joey is on the ground, and Jessie is the furthest away.  Keystone is obviously the big one:

 

The fur flies at my house!

We may have had a little challenge, but I'm still so happy she will eventually go to live with Jeff.  They were meant for each other--two great peeps.

Speaking of vet visits... guess who's balls are in a jar? Unfortunately, not Todd's....

 

Topic 4: We broke ground Sunday! We are building a one+ car garage. We are very excited about it, because it will hold all our yard equipment. And it's the structure next to which our chicken coop will be. CHICKEN COOP!!!! We originally planned to have part of the garage as the chicken coop, but decided against it. So we got a free standing structure that IS a chicken coop. That means I WILL HAVE CHICKENS THIS YEAR!!! Wahoo! I only want like 4 plain ones to start out. Maybe Rhode Island Reds. And we'll add on next year with more exotic birds after we figure out what the heck we are doing. 

 

For some unexplainable reason, I'm worried about keeping them alive. I'm sure I'll have tragic posts about drama yet to unfold--stay tuned for my Chicken stories.  

 

Topic 5:  My Crappy Day Package is off!  I joined Doing My Best's CDP exchange.  This is where you sign up to buy things to send to some total stranger.  And someone different sends you things in return.  And you can open your little gifts when you've had a crappy day.  Thus Crappy Day Package exchange....  Today is the deadline to send it.  the following picture is what I am sent.  I hope the recipient likes it. 

I actually have a lot in common with her, except she's a tad younger.  I am excited about our common interests.  Maybe we will connect and start interacting online.  The last CDP I participated in was... a little lackluster.  The person I sent stuff too... I'm not sure she liked anything I sent but at least I know the package did make it.  I'm not complaining, I just really don't know.  So maybe this time, I did better and this person will like some of the stuff I got her!

I found it hard to find good ideas of stuff to get her, even with common interests.  It's just so hard when you HAVE to buy/make things and you haven't seen the perfect options.  It's even more difficult when you are buying for a total stranger.  I'm not real great at mandatory shopping.  I like having all year to find the perfect birthday or Christmas gift for someone.  That way, I don't HAVE to find the right gift, it finds me in a way.  Anyhoo, it's done.  13 little packages in total on it's way to California.  My lucky number. 
 

Little packages of happiness on their way to California!

Topic 6: We mailed in our taxes LAST THURSDAY!!!!!  My old friends will understand just how freaking amazing this fact is.  My goal was to break as even as possible.  We did it.  AND ON TIME!  

 

 

Last Topic:  What a tragedy.  My heart goes out to Boston on today's senseless tragedy.

 

 

Reasons Why l Love Summer

Happy Summer, y'all!  I pretty much missed blogging the entire month of June.  I've got lots of topics to talk about, but little time to type.  Realistically, I don't know if it will get much better until the snow falls...

In the vain of keeping things positive, I want to share my favorite reasons to love summer time.  I love getting my nails dirty in the garden, and watching all of my baby plants grow up and produce wonderfully tasty treats for the dinner table.

I'll share pics of the garden below.  But first, other reasons why I love summer, in no particular order:

Reason #1)  The dogs have less hair. 

Well, that is because I shave them.  I am not a professional dog groomer.  You will see proof below.  But they are so much more comfortable after they have been shaved, since we are back in the hot humid midwest summer time heat.  Keystone LOVES the attention.  Abby, not so much.

At least KEYSTONE is more comfy.  Notice his cute tiger tail!
Abby would only allow me to do her belly and back of her legs.  Brat.

Reason #2) Baseball brought SamsMom to town over Memorial Day weekend! 

I finally got to meet SamsMom's family and friends when I went to watch her son play baseball. We had a great day visiting. We enjoyed Minsky's pizza (a local pizzeria since they wanted something "KC") and I got to see their awesome luxury-resort-on-wheels. Then the next evening, they came up and enjoyed dinner at our place. We had fun playing our games in the basement. They were properly introduced to real pinball machines.

L to R:  her son, me, her hubby
We were playing mesmerizing games of pinball!

Keystone even loves to play!  We had a great evening and a great weekend.

Keystone loves all the bright lights and shiny balls.

Reason #3)  I love trying to grow new plants. 

We have grown pumpkins before, but we have never tried to establish our own pumpkin PATCH.  This year?  Yeah, it's a patch alright.  We have 28 plants going.  They will be able to spread out for acres if they wanted to.  We are hoping for so many pumpkins, that we'll be able to line the driveway on both sides with them!  Stay tuned for that--we'll open the patch to visitors around the beginning of October...  It's going to be awesome.  Speaking of growing things, here is an update on the garden.  It looks amazingly different.  We are going to have so much produce, we are going to be able to open our own farm stand.  We've been eating tom's for over a week now.

Yes, 28 pumpkin seeds grew into this!

A wall of green beans -- 1st harvest was eaten last night

I GREW BROCCOLI!
You can see some ready to harvest at the bottom and top of pic 

My beautiful tomatillo.
I will roast you, blend you, and cook you into a tasty sauce.

Our Garden

Giant Sunflowers in the background.
Birdhouse gourds growing in the foreground (just 3 plants)

Reason #4) Winner, Winner, BIRTHDAY Dinner!

I am delighted to explain that we were chosen by Dawn's daughter to be the host of her birthday dinner.  She turned 9.  When her parents asked her what she wanted for her special birthday dinner one evening, at first she said "steak at Texas Roadhouse".  Then her dad asked if she wanted that or steak at Uncle Todd's house.  Guess what she said?  Yep, you guessed it.  Steak at Uncle Todd's house!  So we hosted a special dinner for Dawn's family to celebrate a wonderful 9-year-old's birthday.  Todd took the opportunity (since the house would be clean) to have a few pinheads up to fix up some games, and play some pinball. 

We had great fun playing with balloons in the living room

Pinheads playing pins in the basement

Her dad planned a special "dessert buffet" for her 9th birthday.
Treats from The Upper Crust and I have to say they were INCREDIBLE!

Her favorite part of the night was a bonfire.  We got the jackets out and walked down to a rip-roaring fire Uncle Todd created. 

It's a fire!

Aunt Tracy & the birthday girl

Complete CHEESE from the birthday girl & Uncle Todd

And now, the BEST REASON why I love SUMMER TIME!

I steam our homegrown yellow banana peppers:  cut in half, de-seed, and put in a bowl with 1" water and cover; microwave for 1-3 minutes.  Drain them, put them on a sprayed cookie sheet.  Put some taco sauce on them, cover with cheddar cheese and broil.  THIS IS SUMMER ON A PLATE TO ME!  Enjoy.  (These are addictive and will incent you to start gardening if you haven't already.)

The Golden Anniversary

My parents reached their 50th wedding anniversary last fall.

That is a MAJOR accomplishment, people! 

Since I always felt bad that we did not acknowledge their 40th anniversary (selfish kids), my brother and I decided we were not going to let this one slide by unnoticed.


I knew my oldest older brother would be there whenever we set the date.  So I planned the date with my youngest older brother.  He was driving the farthest, from VA, so I had to make sure he could be away from work long enough to get there and back.  We set a date for April, 2012.  There were several reasons why we delayed the celebration, it just worked out that this spring was better than last fall.


He wanted BBQ catered.  I had no idea where I was going to come up with THAT option.  He actually wanted someone to bury/cook a hog.  I wanted a big elaborate cake.  I have pictures (somewhere) of my dad's parents with their tiered cakes on their 40th, 50th, and I think 60th anniversaries.


You may recall last December, when I told you about my reunion with SamsMom.  I am so excited to have her back in my life.  And you know what else?  She has a buddy who CATERS BBQ.  And you know what else is even better?  SHE DECORATES CAKES.  Can you believe that?  I really couldn't and still can't.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT TIMING?  We weren't stuck with RibCrib.  We weren't stuck with Wal-Mart cake.  We had the BEST food thanks to SamsMom.  People are STILL TALKING about the food they ate.  I suspect they will be talking about it for years.  And she takes great photos too!


We had the best party.  It was just perfect.  My parents were so cute about how excited they got about their party.  They wanted to have it at their home.  They didn't want us to rent a room/hall.  So we had it at their place.  The rain held off, and we had a gorgeous day (I was sweatin' it).


Family and friends came from all over to celebrate.  The food was OUTSTANDING.  It was the best beef brisket I have ever had in my life.  It was moist, tender, smoked to perfection.  The cake was OUTRAGEOUS.  I'm serious.  When you see the cake, you'll say, "THAT'S OUTRAGEOUSLY GORGEOUS"!  I asked my mom what kind of cake she wanted.  "Your dad likes chocolate".  So chocolate cake it was.  And I know my dad loves strawberries.


So, here is the party, in picture form:

L to R:  Tater Salad, Baked Beans*, Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork

*The baked beans had so many different kinds of meat, they were a meal on their own.

The meats were SO good.  Here's a close up:

Beef Brisket on the left, Pulled Pork on the right



brother, mom, dad, Todd, Marianna

More food!

  

Dad mingling with friends



It was a gorgeous day to be outside

Stones preferred the comfort of the couch



Especially when there was free love



SamsMom and I -- she is the reason for such a successful party!

Dad and mom mingling

Abby was excited about the festivities

My pups were so good!  Shadow was outside soaking up the sun.  Or hunting for moles.  Or begging for scraps.



Todd and I with Marianna, a lifelong friend of our family

my aunt!  (the reason for my apple pie obsession)

   

I LOVE that SamsMom photographed everyone

Great action picture!

  

Family photo:  brother, mom, me, dad, brother

Drum roll please.

 And now, a picture of.... THE CAKE!

The cake and punch table



GORGEOUS!!!



My favorite picture of mom and dad

Survivors

Happy Saturday to you!  For having had a pretty crappy week, I'm in a great mood.  That is probably because my baby girl is doing really well.  Or I put extra sugar in my coffee.  You know how I am about my sweets.

I didn't tell you, Internet, but Abby had surgery yesterday and she is doing better than I ever expected!  Todd noticed a hard wart-like bump Friday before last.  Much different than any other bump she has.  So we chose a vet and got her in right away.  One week after seeing it, we had it removed.  Actually noticed a skin tag around her eye getting really big too, and we don't want her vision impaired.  Poor girl has cataracts, she doesn't need anything else impacting her vision.  I wasn't nervous about the surgery until after lunch time, and I realized I had not physically heard "all is good".  So Todd called, then I called.  Still in surgery.  WTF?  So a little after 2pm (picking her up at 4!), we heard the all-is-clear message.  Whew.  That's our baby girl I am talking about.  The spring in Todd's step.  The sass in our house!

I giggled to myself a little when I called the vet.  "Yes, this is Abby's mom, calling to check on her"--like all the other moms I hear making calls from their desk phones.  Of course, they know I'm talking about my dog.  ;-)

See?  You can barely tell.  She looks FABULOUS!  They are testing the large mass they took off her snout, we'll see what the results are.  I'm sure it's benign and all is well.  There is a little stitch at the outer corner of her eye, and about 4 or 5 stitches on her snout:

Tullybird just went through the same thing with her baby girl, so I was confident mine would be just fine too.  I hate putting furry loved ones under anesthesia.

Speaking of Tullybird:  SHE'S COMING TO SEE ME!  I'm so excited I could pee my pants.  When I left NV, I told her "you know you are going to have to come see me, cause I'm never coming back here".  To which she replied that she realized that.  So now, she's coming to see me!  Our close bond is surviving the challenge of distance.

I'm making a list of the bead shops and cooking stores we will hit.  We must visit my friends, Ray & Becky, at  Mission Fresh Fashion (and she will love the store), and take her to meet Kevin & Suzie and girls.  We have to eat Z-man sandwiches at Oklahoma Joe's.  What else is KC... I will have to ponder this agenda.  We have 5 days in May to goof off.  Oh the joy!  Pics of Booze-N-Beads will surely be posted.

Other visitors I am super excited about--SamsMom is going to be in the area Memorial Day weekend and I will go see her tons!  Can't wait to see her family & watch her talented son play baseball.  I'm going to sneak her away from the ball field to take her on her virgin voyage to LUSH.  WAHOO!  Talk about a friendship surviving decades.  DECADES!!

Speaking of a friendship surviving decades, I believe Jus is back home (or in transit, I'm not sure) from Afghanistan and wants to come up and see me!  I remember talking to her on the phone before she deployed, and I told her my goal was to be back in the mid-west before she got back.  Viola, I'm here!  Can't wait to hear all about her adventures in person.  She's a real survivor, that one.  To just up and go into the military and go off and serve like she has.  Wow. 

I am so excited to connect with so many awesome women! 

 
Spring has sprung, and I want to share my special flower with ya'll.  This is a bulb that was planted at our house back in KC before our Great-Migration-West.  I took this puppy with me*.  It actually multiplied in NV sand, amazingly--talk about "surviving".  Any plant that made it the 4.5 years we were there was a true survivor.  When we left, I dug it up and MAILED IT TO MY MOTHER.  So it's been to Oklahoma too.  I planted it last fall.  Now it has a happy home in Missouri:

So you may be saying to yourself, "Self?  That just looks like an ordinary hyacinth.  What's so special that she'd dig it up and plant it in 3 different states?".  Well, let me tell you what this specific bulb symbolizes to me.  *This was Roscoe's flower. 

Amber was not our first golden.  We had two wonderful dogs before Amber.  Todd's first son was Roscoe.  When Roscoe passed away in February of 2003, our Uncle Frank and Aunt Judy, who we are super close to and who actually knew Roscoe, sent us a condolence blooming bulb arrangement.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  I planted those bulbs, and the lone survivor of that assortment, is this very hyacinth.

I'll tell you some day about Roscoe.  And about his mom.  But not quite yet.  I still choke up every time I think of them.  Probably always will.

Anyway, one last pic of a few true survivors.  You might have thought I was a little crazy last fall when I tried to plant a garden so late in the season.  Guess what?  I may not have gotten anything to grow much last fall.  But now?  I have volunteer RADISHES! 

Exceeds Expectations

We went to Oklahoma this weekend and had a really wonderful weekend.  Celebrated Christmas with mom and dad.  We got way too many fun new things, especially for the kitchen (wahoo!).  I will yap about the yummy awesomeness we ate later, complete with pictures after I download.

There are two things I was nervous about prior to this weekend.  I didn't know how things would go.  Fortunately, I had absolutely no need to worry!

Shadow has never travelled, at least not to our knowledge.  She used to be an outdoor country dog.  Before us, she had never been a family member.  She didn't have toys, or a warm bed.  She doesn't really understand how to even "play" (more on that in a future post)!  We've opened the door to our home and our hearts, and she fits right in with ease.  She rode to and from Oklahoma like a seasoned pro.  She was not nervous or antsy about being in a moving vehicle.  She moved around only as much as our other kids did.  She dove right into the plate licking in grandma's kitchen.  She loved the walks through the acreage. 

She tried really hard to catch a mole or a bunny, but no luck.  It was so cute to see her run up to an area of overgrown brush, and stop with her tail stick straight in the air.  Then suddenly she would just jump into the brush like a jack rabbit (gained as much air vertically as she did horizontally), and all I saw was her tail.  It wagged once, then went very still.  Then off she went like her panties were on fire.  Now she understands why Abby and Keystone love to visit grandma and grandpa's so much.  She is going to sleep for the next two days, just like Abbytail and Keystone.

And the other major surprise of the weekend was... my reunion with my old high school best friend.  We'll call her "SamsMom".  I know that name will be hard for one of my other dearest friends ever, and I love her furry Sam with all of my heart--but I am sure that we are all flexible enough to adjust.  Plus the furry one's name isn't Sam on the Internet anyway, so we're set.  ;-)  Sam is such an awesome name.  One of my very favorites.  I had a cat named Samson once.  ANYWAY....

I was so happy when SamsMom's schedule was clear and she could come see me last Saturday afternoon.  She actually made sure she had time to see me as soon as we firmed up our travel plans.  I was so excited, counting down the hours until the time when she arrived.  

When I opened the door, it was just like we never lost the last nineteen years.  We picked up right where we left off.  We may not be as young or quite as thin as we once were, and *my* memory isn't quite what it used to be when recalling high school acquaintances, but she's still my old friend!  I feared maybe she changed, or I changed and I wouldn't feel the connection I used to have with her, but Not. True. At. All.  We sat there for hours and talked about what we have both been up to for the past 19 years, and what we remember back in high school.  We laughed like the school girls we used to be.  I'm hoping my mom didn't hear too many new stories.  I don't remember many of the other people who graduated in our class.  But I do remember that all the fun I had in high school, was with her.

What an amazing weekend that flew by much too fast.