The Weather. . . .continued

Oh my has it been hot. Miserably hot! We are still needing rain. It is sad when we think that low 90's is great because it is "cooler"! Hahahahahahahaha! Well, that is all I am going to say today.

Hope you are having a good week. I am (although it doesn't sound like it)!

One of My Favorite Things

All my life I have loved the aluminum cups that my grandmother kept at our camphouse. I would always drink out of one of them when we were there because they keep your drink so cold! Well, because we don't get to use our camphouse anymore, my grandmother gave me the cups but I haven't used them (some time I will have to tell you more about our camphouse and lake). For Christmas last year my sister (RDJ) gave me the pitcher and cups in the picture (they are from athomeamerica.com and are on sale for $19.99 right now!). I finally had an occassion to pull them out and use them. We celebrated my honey's birthday tonight (his birthday is tomorrow but we have church so we celebrated tonight). I made a pudding cake and my parents, grandmother and sister LEH came over. We had a nice time. We celebrated with my honey's family on Saturday. We ate a yummy lunch of hamburgers and all the fixins.

Work began on my parents house today. I was there this morning when the workers arrived and boy let me tell you, they didn't waste any time. They moved a bunch of my mom's plants and then helped us move some other things that were in their way. They seem to be a nice group of people. I just wish I could understand what they are saying! It is hard to believe that they should be finished in 7 days.

Well, I think that is all I have for today. I really hope that everyone is staying cool. I did outside work today and let me tell you, it was hot. So, if you have to work outside. . . .please be careful and make sure your kids are being careful when playing outside.

Happy Tuesday to you all (and you too Mrs. H's mom!)!

A is for Annoying Armadillo

For the past two days, I have found the annoying armadillo that lives under my house roaming around in my backyard. I really wish it would move out, surely there are other houses more interesting than our humble abode! Maybe I should write a children's book about this critter, that would be a lot of fun to do and I think that I could probably draw an armadillo without too much effort. Hmmm, I will have to think about this. Anyway, today was hot. This afternoon at some point I looked at the thermometer that is on our front porch in the shade and and it read 101 degrees. I missed the weather tonight so I don't know what the "official" temp was.

My parents finished taking up their wood floors this morning at 12:45 so the workers could begin fixing their foundation and guess who NEVER showed up. Hopefully they will come tomorrow. It is amazing how different a house looks when it is completely emptied (with the exception of the sofa and piano) and the wood floor is up and the carpets pulled up. I haven't seen the house like that since 1976 when we moved in. My parents have worked so hard these last few days getting everything ready and they are totally wiped out. I wish they could go away for a couple of weeks but they have too much on their plates here so here they will stay. Have I ever mentioned how AWESOME my parents are? They are such hard workers in everything they do. When I grow up, I hope to be like them.

Well, it is late and I have to get up early in the morning to get some yard work done before it is too hot. Hope everyone had a good day.

Happy Monday!

This Week's Forecast

Just in case you are wondering what the weather is like where I live since I have complained of the heat; here is our 7 day forecast. Whoo hoo! Cool front on Saturday and Sunday, only in the 90's! Here is some weather trivia about my hometown: we have had 25 consecutive days with no measurable rainfall which is leaving us with worsening drought conditions and we have had 29 days of 90 degree or hotter temps. Folks, we are HOT, HOT, HOT!

Those of you who are dealing with rain and cooler temps, be thankful and then send some our way!

Happy Father's Day!

I want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all of those special dads. We were able to get both sides of the family together for lunch today so I got to eat lunch with three special men for their special day, one being my honey (I surprised him with a father's day gift because he does have a son who happens to be with our Father in Heaven), my dad who is the greatest dad ever and my father-in-law who is crazy! We had a nice meal and then we went home and took a nap.

Tomorrow work begins on my parents home. When we left them at around 7:30 this evening, they were going home to take up their wood floors and begin rolling up the carpet. They are staying in their camping trailer for the duration of this job. I hope they don't have to stay in there too long!

Well, I am gonna wrap it up. I have a really busy week ahead of me and I need sleep!

Hi Mrs. H's mom!

Boring!

Well, today was boring. I mowed for 3 hours and nearly melted BUT I got it all done. I must say that it looks pretty nice even if some is pretty wilty looking. I will try to get some pictures soon.

Well, Monday is D day for my parents. In case you forgot about spring cleaning gone wild, well it is a good thing that mom started early on getting their house packed up. Work on the foundation begins Monday. The still have a little furniture to get moved and then they have to get the carpet pulled up and the wood floors pulled up. I will have to get some pictures of the work as it is done. Should be interesting.

Well, I am gonna keep it short tonight. I need some sleep to keep my inner monster at bay!!
Hi Mrs. H's mom!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

And today makes 3. . . .

trips to Wal-Mart that is! Today I went to return all of the light bulbs that weren't correct/not needed and one of the lamps. I don't plan on going tomorrow! No, tomorrow I plan on mowing. I don't really feel like it but I am going to have to. I am going to try to get started very early in the morning since it has been so stinking hot here recently. Maybe while I am mowing, I will do a rain dance because they are saying that we have no rain in the forecast until at least July 4th or so.

I will apologize right now for how lacking this blog entry is today. I am just not into writing but I already started and now I need to finish.

I am having one of those weeks where everything and I mean everything gets on my nerves, nothing makes me happy and I can't seem to keep my foot out of my mouth. I will not go into details because, well, just because. I guess the reason I even mentioned it is because if you have a minute, please say a quick prayer asking God that I get over myself and figure out what is wrong with me. That makes me think of a quote an old friend often quotes: "Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!". Anyway, a prayer would be appreciated if you have a minute.

Hi Mrs. H's mom! Happy Wednesday!

It hit WHAT???

100 ON JUNE 16TH? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING? WHAT IS THE REST OF THE SUMMER GOING TO BRING? Oh my, it is too hot. Bring on the concerns of a very hot summer: will we be able to get any hay cut? when will we get more rain (or any rain?), will the tanks keep enough water for the cows? when will the burn ban be put back on? will my yard and plants survive? will I be able to do anything outside without melting into a heap of too hot Giggles? I know that the answer to all of these questions are in God's hands but I feel it is my duty to worry about these things. Along with, will I get a job? What if I don't? What if I spent all that time in school and I am never able to teach? If not a teaching job, what will I become??

Ok, I am now done with today's worries. As mentioned before, it was 100 miserable degrees today and I was out in it a lot today. The morning started out with taking my suburban to get new shocks put on it and then an out of town trip to the funeral of my sister's father-in-law's sister-in-law's funeral and then to the cemetery for the burial. Come home and begin running errands for the hubby which included Wal-Mart (trip 2) and then out to his school, back into town to pick up my suburban to take to another repair shop for a/c work tomorrow and then home for the usual home stuff. Thank goodness my parents live here in town and that we own three vehicles!!

Ok, so enough with the complaining. I am working on getting the teachers list together for my 20th hs reunion. I am excited to get to see some of my friends that I haven't seen since the 10 year reunion! I love seeing old friends!!!

Well, I am going to close for tonight. Tomorrow will bring another day of running around for the hubby and I need to rest up for it!!

Good night everyone. Stay cool!

Ok, so I don't like ice cream but. . . .

I have found a new flavor that is pretty good! It is Southern Blackberry Cobbler and it tastes so good with the exception of the "crust" which tastes a bit like well, raw pie crust. The ice cream and blackberry go wonderfully together. Now I have three kinds of ice cream that I like and they are made at my house vanilla, BlueBell Mint Chocolate Chip and BlueBell Southern Blackberry Cobbler.

Two weeks after contracting poison ivy, I think that I am getting off of that train. I think it is correct to say that I am HIGHLY allergic to poison ivy so now when I am outside working I have to pay much closer attention to any vines I may come into contact with! Add that to my list of snakes which I am always looking for. In a span of 5 days, I have seen two and one of them started coming towards me even though I was spraying water at it. AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT like snakes of any kind . The deader the better!! (Yes, I understand that they are God's creatures but I don't like them any more than I like skunks!)

Well, I am going to go for now. It is late and I am so tired from running around in the heat today.

Hello Mrs. H's mom!

What A Weekend!!

Well, you might have noticed that I have not done a lot of posting lately . . . .well, the reason has been a lack of time! My parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday and my sisters and I had a celebration for them. It was difficult to plan because my mom is the "planner" and we usually just do what she asks of us. This was the three of us and one of us lives out of town. All the hard work was well worth it! My mom was very surprised as she had NO idea that anything was going on. My dad knew just a little bit because he was in charge of keeping mom away from my grandmother's house (the location of the party) while we got everything prepared. We had around 83 people at my grandmother's house during a two hour period. We had friends from our current church, from our old church, old family friends and friends from when they first got married. Oh, and family! Can't forget them! My mom's sister, my dad's two brothers, one of them also had their daughter and wife with them, my other grandmother, my dad's sister, her husband and one of her kids and a new friends! It was an AWESOME day. My parents were very pleased and loved getting to see everyone! We have such wonderful parents and it was such a pleasure to get to do something special for them on such a special occasion.

Now I can put my planning focus on my part of my 20th high school reunion. I am in charge of getting in touch with teachers who were there when we were students. At least I know where one of them is. . . .my dad should be pretty easy to find! I am also in charge of getting a tour of the high school because it ha really changed since we were there! This event is in July which is so very quickly approaching. BUT. . . . .

before the reunion is vacation so I will actually be splitting up my planning time between vacation and the reunion. We will be taking our camping trailer which is always exciting. We are planning on visiting the southeast part of Oklahoma. I am looking forward to it because we will be in the mountains even if it won't be as cool weather wise as our usual trip to Colorado. I am ready to go but have a lot to do to get ready like finding someone to take over my church secretary duties, get the house cleaned up (so if the robbers come they won't be offended by a messy house! My husband always says that because he thinks it is absurd that it bothers me when we are gone to have a messy house but not as much when we are home. I stopped trying to explain!), yard mowed, grass watered, clothes and others things packed into the trailer! Oh, I am making myself to tired! I will worry about starting my to do list on that tomorrow!!

One other exciting happening from the weekend was getting to meet Mrs. H's parents. Mrs. H's mom reads my blog and I try to leave her a note (I am actually trying to get her to leave me a comment!) each time I blog. It was wonderful to meet the parents of a dear friend and blogger buddy. Hi Mrs. H's mom! I was so glad to get to meet you today! You have a wonderful daughter and I like her hubby and kids too!

Well, I am totally exhausted and ready for bed. I hope all of my many, many (all 3 of you) loyal readers had a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, Tuesday!

Today I didn't get a whole lot accomplished. I have gotten some clothes folded but I haven't gotten them put up yet. I have a lot of things to get done this week so hopefully tomorrow will be more productive. The first thing I am going to do is go see my doctor. Last week while cutting down brush I happened to get into poison ivy. I am apparently very allergic to it. After a week it is still spreading and I am having an additional reaction either to the poison ivy itself or to the medicine I have been using. On some of the places where there is poison ivy, it has turned very red and has spread. It looks very gross. So, I can't stand the itch anymore so I am going to the doctor to get a shot to get rid of this mess. This is only the second time I have ever had this and the first time was awful too. I can't believe that even though I am a country girl and used to spend tons of time in the pasture with my horses that I have only gotten it twice. I will be very diligent to not ever get into it again!

Tonight I tried a new recipe. It was good. I can take it or leave it. I am interested to see what my honey thinks. I am thinking that he is not going to like it but we will see. Well, my husband said he likes it so I guess we will be eating it again some time! Here is the recipe if you are interested in trying it out.

Butter Me Up" Vermicelli with Buttery Butterflied Shrimp

Ingredients
1 pound vermicelli (used 1/2 pound broken in half)
6 tablespoons butter
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 pound large shrimp (24 count), peeled and deveined, tails off, cut in two down the backside
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 cup white wine (I used chicken stock)
1 lemon (didn't use much)
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley (1 cup), chopped (eyeball it) (didn't use)

Preparation
Place a large pot of water over high heat for the pasta. When the water is boiling, salt it and drop the pasta. Cook to al dente according to package directions. When the pasta is ready, drain it and reserve.
As soon as the pasta goes into the water, place the butter and garlic into a small pot over low heat and cook until the pasta is ready.
While the pasta is cooking, season the shrimp with Old Bay, fennel seeds, salt and pepper, and reserve. When the pasta is about ready, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. After you’ve drained the pasta, add the shrimp to the hot pan and sauté until pink, about 2 minutes.
Add the wine to the pan and cook to reduce, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the juice of the lemon.
Combine the shrimp, garlic butter, cooked pasta and parsley, and toss well.

Well, I guess that is it for tonight. I hope you are all having a good week.

Hi Mrs. H's mom!

Happy Birthday

Today is my Dad's 64th birthday! Happy Birthday Dad! You are the best dad a girl could have! To celebrate his birthday, we went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ( I have seen it twice) good movie, went to eat lunch at Fish Daddy's (yummy) and then b-day cake at their house. Good day! :)

Ok, now to catch up from the last week or so. Last Monday I did some tree trimming and received a gift. The gift of poison ivy. Well, it has been a week now and I am still itching terribly and it seems to still be spreading. Today has been especially bad because it has been hot. I am afraid that I am going to have to go visit the doctor to get rid of it. Oh, well.

As you can see I finally put up a profile picture of me, not some random thing I have taken a picture of. I am in the orange shirt/white sweater and the beautiful lady with me is my Mom. This was taken at our Ladies Retreat in April.

Two Saturdays in May, I spend time with my honey at his office packing. His school is building a new building so he is having to move out of the dungeon (I mean basement) to a temp. office until his part of the building is completed in a year or so. There is so much junk in a school's business office to go through and figure out what must be kept, logged and shredded or thrown away. That was not a whole lot of fun. He is almost finished which is good because they are moving his office on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I am going to try out a new Rachael Ray recipe. I will post the recipe after I try to dish. It includes shrimp, butter, olive oil and noodles.

Well, I am going to close for tonight. I have to go put clean sheets on the bed so we can go to sleep!!

Have a great week (especially you Mrs. H's mom!)!!

1st Day of June

I cannot believe that it is already June. There are so many things I had planned to have completed and haven't gotten to yet. I did get start and mostly complete one of those things today. At the end of our driveway there is a tree with a bunch of undergrowth and low limbs that make it impossible to mow on the riding lawn mower (not mine, I have to borrow from my g-mom) and make visibility difficult when backing out of the driveway. Today I tackled it! I know that I will pay for it tomorrow. I will probably have bruises in strange placed from using the loppers and not having much arm strength and having to maneuver to get the limbs trimmed. Then I had to haul all of the limbs and other limbs lying around to the pasture to eventually be burned. I tried to burn a small pile in my driveway but I can not for the life of me get a fire started!! I will let you know how I am feeling tomorrow! Tomorrows work will consist of mowing and I know I won't get finished with it so until then. . . . .goodnight!

Have a great week!