Birthday Continued

My G-mom P and I have been trying to get together for my birthday lunch for nearly three weeks. Well, today we were finally able to go. We have this wonderful restaurant that we like to go to for special occasions and because a friend of ours is the owner/chef and because the food is just so yummy. Today for lunch I had beef tenderloin enchiladas and G-mom had chicken marsala with mashed potatoes and for dessert we had key lime pie. I enjoyed lunch and spending some time with my G-mom.
When I got home I did some more fall/halloween decorating. I have had a hard time getting that done. One minute I am so excited about getting it done and the next I just don't really care. My totes of stuff have been sitting on the front porch for over a week now and I am still not really finished. Well, maybe I am. I guess I will decide tomorrow.
This evening I met Mr. Giggles at the local Walmart where we parked my car and headed out to Veterans Park to watch our friend Mr. H. play soccer. We enjoyed visiting with Mrs. H. and watching the guys play. They won their game by forfeit because the other team forgot to show up. . . . .no, really they did. The game was at 6 and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. I was wishing that I had a sweater because it was getting a little chilly.
Today started out rough for me but it ended up being ok. I have had my Mom on my mind all day. Missing her a lot. I just realized that I haven't talked to my Dad today and now it is too late to call. Love you Dad :)

Thankful Thursday

My family

I have to say that I had to dig deep to come up with something that I am thankful for today. I am being very honest so consider this your warning.

Today I am thankful that my Mom is no longer in pain and she doesn't have to ever worry about the dreaded "C" word again after having to deal with it twice. 365 days ago, my Mom had a stemcell transplant which was supposed to fix the leukemia so that she had a smaller chance of relapse. Although I am so thankful that Mom doesn't have to deal with the earthly things that we do, especially the pain. . . . .I am so angry that she is gone. I miss my Mom and that is about all I have to say. Thankful for Mom not being in pain but so terribly angry at the pain that we are all still having to deal with. If you want to know more about our journey you can go here.

Wordless Wednesday

To Cute

There is this little boy that goes to our church and he is so stinking cute. He got a sister this summer that looks a lot like him so I can only imagine what she will look like when she is his age and he turned the big 3 last month. I told his Mom last week that is he goes missing it is because I have snagged him and took him to the pumpkin patch!! Tonight I could hear him singing and it is cute! When my Dad is leading singing, this little cutie is doing it right along with him. As cute as he is, it really hurts my heart to know that if Baby Giggles would have made it, he would be very close to the same age. It makes me wonder what God has in store for me as I have reached another part of my life where it may possibly be too late for us to become parents. It hurts my heart that I have lost three precious babies. We want to be parents and don't understand why God seems to have decided that we aren't going to be. I know that God's will is best but being human, I want to know why.

Well, I hope you have a great week. I am ready for the cooler weather to come back.



Weekly Menu:
Monday: Taco Salad (the Mr.) and Salsa Verde Roast & Rice (me)
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: fend for yourself
Thursday: Pecan crusted tilapia
Friday: out to eat
Saturday: who knows

Happy Birthday. . . . . . . . . . .to me.

Today was my 40th birthday. I have a very hard time believing that I am 40 but it really doesn't bother me. I was not really looking forward to my birthday this year. I thought that last year's birthday was bad because my Mom was in the hospital and couldn't spend the day with but little did I know that this year would be worse. But because I have a great family and because they love me (warts and all), they made it a good day. The day began with my sister RAW and my adopted sister and I headed out of town to attend Scarecrow Festival which is a yearly craftshow. I even had some money to spend but came home with most of it!! I did find some yummy pecan brittle for my honey and I to share and the cutest terra cotta heart and flower. I will have to take pictures to show you the cuteness of them. While shopping, my cell phone rang and I heard the sweetest sound ever. . . .my nephew and niece called to sing happy birthday (I also spent a few minutes chatting with my other sister). They will never know how much that meant to me. I love them so much and hate that I don't get to see them very often. Also while we were there we ran into one of my Mom's childhood best friends. We talked about my Mom and what a wonderful person she was and we cried. She kept apologizing for making us cry but we would much rather talk about her and cry than for people to be afraid to talk about her. My Mom was an incredible woman and we love to hear the kind things other people have to say.My husband stayed at home and baked my birthday cake (which was good. . .butter cake with chocolate icing, sprinkles and candy birthday hats) and waited for us to come home.
We headed back home to meet my Dad and hubby to eat and since I misread the clock and gave a bad time estimate (in my defense, my sister's clock in her car is about 15 minutes fast) we had a few minutes to spare and that gave us enough time to stop at Kohls. I had a mishap with my wallet last week so my hubby told me to get a new one for my birthday which I did and the best parts are that I got one almost identical to the one I had which I loved and better yet. . . . .it only cost me $5.82!!
We went to On The Border for a very yummy supper. I can't remember what everyone else had but I had chicken fajitas (that is what I had for supper last night too!!) and they were fantastic. I was very happy that my Aunt D (my Mom's super cool sister) was able to meet us (we didn't think she was going to make it because she had been moving hay). I am so thankful that she is in town to celebrate my G-mom P's birthday which is next weekend. We left the restaurant and headed our separate ways before heading to my Dad's house to eat cake and open presents. I stopped off at my house to pick up a few things along with my husband!! While at home I checked my fb and I had 59 birthday wishes from friends. I read through some but not all. I am going to enjoy reading them tomorrow when I have a little more time. As of right now I have over 70!
We headed down to Dad's with cake and punch makings in hand. A couple of things I got were a yummy smelling candle, some canisters with cherries on them (I would love to do my kitchen in cherries) and some cookbooks. We ate cake and visited a while and then everyone headed home because we were all exhausted. To end the wonderful day, I spilt most of a 32 oz cup of sticky punch in my hubbies truck. Yes, I know. . . .you are jealous of my talent. Needless to say, I will spend Monday destickifying his truck for him.
Overall, I had a good birthday but I missed my Mom something terrible. Never in my life would I have dreamed that I would spend this milestone without my best friend. Thankfully I got to spend the day with most of the important people in my life; my hubby, my Dad, both grandmothers, my Aunt, my sister RAW and my adopted sis LEH. Thank you guys for making my day special. To those who couldn't be here SRJ, RDJ, Tatortot and Madcow, I missed you very much. I love you all very much and I am so lucky to have you all in my crazy life!!

Friday with Friends: Fall Foods

When Jennifer told us what Friday with Friends was supposed to be, I wracked my brain to come up with something yummy to share with you and I did it. My Mom used to make this and it is so yummy and so stinking easy. No, I haven't ever made it but only because my hubster doesn't like soup. I know, he has some food issues!! Actually he is not nearly as picky as he was when we first got married. Anyway, I hope you decide to try this out and that you enjoy it. If you do try it, leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you want to check more recipes, please go visit Jennifer here.

Taco Soup
1/2 - 1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
3 cans Rotel tomatoes (hot or mild, your choice)
1 can black beans
1 can ranch beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can corn
Brown ground beef with onion and drain if necessary. In a large pot add ground beef, onion, taco mix, ranch mix, Rotel, black beans, ranch beans, pinto beans and corn. DO NOT DRAIN any of the canned items. Cook until warmed through. Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream. Oh, and it is good with corn bread.

If I remember correctly, it freezes well.

If you would like some more of my recipes, please visit my other blog here.

Nothin Goin On!

Well, as you can tell from the lack of exciting blog posts (or any posts at all) that there really isn't much going on in these parts. Thursday I did a half day of student teaching at my Dad's school. Eighth grade science. . . .I can't remember anything about that class but luckily all I had to do was show a video which was pretty interesting and I actually learned something! Friday I stayed at home all day long except for when I had to run into (ok, drive into) town to go the the mailbox. I had plans of getting so much done but I am sad to say that I accomplished nothing except to get the bed made up. Friday night we had our second First Friday 42 night. Again we were the youngest there and I didn't play but visited with the hostess and one of the ladies from church. I also read the entire Pioneer Woman cookbook. Loved it! I told my hubby that he could get it for me for my birthday. We shall see if he remembers! The hubby and I and my Dad were the last ones to leave after a wonderful visit the the host and hostess. Saturday we headed to my in-laws house, picked them up and headed to Fish Daddys to eat lunch which was very yummy. Then we headed to Mr. Giggles school so we could give them a tour (more about that later on) and then headed back to their house for birthday cake and presents. We had homemade italian cream cake (so very yummy thanks to the mil) and the presents included a great new purse and a Big Lots gift card. Today we had church which included two wonderful services. We didn't get our usual nap because he had to head back out to the hubsters school because, they have finally completed a building project that began in 2006. This building project included the tearing down of half of the school and a gym and then building a new elementary school which was opened last year. This year a new gym, administrative offices, library and new halls connecting the entire school were completed. This school is one campus and is pre-k - 12th grade with a population of 520 (give or take) students. Today was the school dedication and it was very nice. The hubs was asked to say the opening prayer which he did and did a wonderful job. And that is what has been happening here. Nothing exciting. . . .just our normal life. Oh, and if you were wondering whose birthday we were celebrating it was mine. My birthday actually isn't until Saturday but yesterday was the only time my bil and sil could come.

Have a great week. :)