The miracle of cooking meat...

Today I was invited over to a friend's house for a Pampered Chef show. Let me start off by saying that I really don't like to cook that much. I wish I had the passion for cooking of someone like...uh, maybe...Rachel Ray **sigh** but I don't. I'm not sure if it is the cooking or if it is the cleaning up afterwards, but somewhere in that process I start wishing that I was doing something different...you know, like digging ditches or picking bugs off my windshield.

But today was different. This lady ~~inspires~~ me...inspires me to be a better "domestic goddess", if you will. She cooks up all these fabulous dishes and she makes it look so easy. She makes me want to go home and cook **something**! Hooray! So after the show, I did just that. I stopped by Food Lion to pick up a few ingredients, and then home to cook. I had some steak that I had taken out to thaw. I got it seasoned and in the fridge to marinate a little bit. Yes! I was cooking steak and even had some vegetables to go with it! Then I started to duplicate the recipe I learned at the show. I'm not exactly sure what it is called, but it is delicious. I spread out the dough, buttered it, sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar, and added the cherries. I rolled it up, sliced it, and into the oven it goes. What a fabulous meal for my family! A friend had stopped by in this process, and even she was impressed with all my domestic goodness. Heck, even I am impressed with myself. Today, I am a very happy homemaker.

The whole process is just finishing up...steak is cooked, veggies done, dessert is ready, and the rolls are just finishing up in the oven, and who comes home from work two hours early? My hubby! Hey, why are you home so early? And his response?

"I heard about the miracle of cooking meat, and I just wanted to see it!"

I busted out laughing so hard. The poor fella heard of a wonderful, home-cooked meal and he came home from work two hours early to get it. Like he was going to get some of my food after that remark?? Is he insane?? Nah, we had a good laugh over it and had a wonderful dinner. Of course, this whole cooking streak (is it a streak when you only do it once?) probably won't last long. I'm glad he was able to come home and enjoy the meal while it was hot.

Oh yes, how could I forget...here is my yummy dessert that I made. Really simple & oh, so delicious. The red that you see is cherries.

Ahhhh....relief at last!

I've been having some trouble with what I assume is carpal tunnel in my right wrist. I can't imagine why I would have any issues there (ha, ha, ha!). Between the mouse, keyboard, and my GPS, my wrist/hand gets quite the work out. Tonight at Target, I picked up a new mouse pad with a gel wrist pad. What a difference that makes! So much better!

Here's what it looks like...I definitely recommend it!



I shampooed the living room and play room carpets today. It was way past due, but I'm pleased to say that they both look fabulous!

Until next time...

My point...and I do have one!

I was on my way to a seminar tonight and saw this sign. It's at the entrance of a new subdivision that is being developed near by. My name is usually not a very popular name, so you can imagine how surprised I was to see this sign. So surprised, that I had to turn my car around and take a picture! Now when someone asks me, "What's your point?", I may not be able to tell them "what" it is, but I can surely tell them "where" it is!

Jenna and I went to some yard sales today. We got a late start so a lot of the good stuff was gone. She did find some great books though. It makes me happy to see her wanting to read. The love of reading...what a great love to have.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Dear Tide

Thanks to my Mom for a good laugh this morning! Enjoy!




Dear Tide:

I am writing to say what an excellent product you have! I've used it all of my married life, as my Mom always told me it was the best. Now that I am in my fifties I find it even better! In fact, about a month ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse. My inconsiderate and uncaring husband started to belittle me about how clumsy I was, and generally started becoming a pain in the neck. One thing led to another and somehow I ended up with his blood on my new white blouse! I grabbed my bottle of Tide with bleach alternative, to my surprise and satisfaction, all of the stains came out! In fact, the stains came out so well the detectives who came by yesterday told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my attorney called and said that I was no longer considered a suspect in the disappearance of my husband.

What a relief! Going through menopause is bad enough without being a murder suspect! I thank you, once again, for having a great product .

Well, gotta go, have to write to the Hefty bag people.

Lady in the Park

Today we headed out to the park for a little play time. We really only have one nice park in Goldsboro, and to be honest, it could use some work. It does have this really cool fountain in it. Most people refer to it as "Lady in the Park". I remember this from when I was a kid. I always thought it was pretty cool. She has been replaced since then as her head broke off **gasp**.



There are fish in the fountain. Even though they look like goldfish, I believe they are a type of carp. Someone said that there are a couple catfish in there too. I keep fish food in the car and once they realize the food is there, it draws quite a crowd.



It is a very pretty setting, especially with the roses in bloom.



Jenna has done a lot of playing over the past couple days. It's great to see her out riding bikes and just **playing outside**. I guess she finally wore herself out. Angel must have worn herself out too. I couldn't resist this photo.



HAGD!

Who scrapbooks in South Korea?

I added this widget (??) on to my blog over on this side ----->
to see where all my visitors come from. There are so many cities that I recognize (Hey guys **waving**) but there are some that I don't recognize...like the South Korea one. That brought about the totally random thought...do people scrapbook in South Korea? Hmmm....I wonder?

I've been working on some cards for a swap...totally lovin' the idea of SCRAPLIFTING! It really takes all the thinking right out of it & just lets me "do". Sometimes that is perfect for me. Here is the card that I scraplifted out of Paper Crafts volume 4. I used different pattern paper and colors than the original. It took a bit to get all the squares formatted, printed, and punched correctly, but then it was pretty easy. I think that is Basic Grey Phoebe. I really love how it turned out.



Hope everyone had a great weekend! They sure do go by way to quickly!

Reason #1701 Why I Love My Husband

I am very much into geocaching, and one of my online scrapping friends is into geocaching too. I have a travel bug that is headed her way. It's first leg of the trip will be with some other cachers. They are leaving from Cary, NC and headed to New Zealand...taking my travel bug with them. This will definitely get this travel bug headed in the right direction. I was doing some figuring and realized that my travel bug will travel over 8,500 miles during this trip! Which in turn means that my friend is over 8,500 miles from me. Wow...I just never realized that it was that far. My hubby and I had a small discussion about my home coords and my friend's home coords. Just from looking at the coords, she is practically on the other side of the world from me. So my hubby, who has travelled several times to Australia and has looked at the globe way more than I have, says, "If you draw a line from our house through the center of the Earth, you will come out in Australia." Well that is neat...never thought of that. This very well proves that she is on the other side of the world from me. Our conversation ends. I go on to other things on the computer, and he does his thing on his computer. Several minutes later, out of the blue, he says, "Well, I was close." Apparently, he was really curious about drawing the line from our house through the center of the Earth towards Australia. He had a diagram of the Earth on his computer, had made a model, drawn the line, and lo' and behold, right off the coast of Australia. Bingo. Not only will he say it, but he will prove it too.

Yes...reason #1701 why I love my husband.

Because today has been kind of cruddy...

I've been very flustered with this whole court/child support situation. I had an appt with my attorney yesterday. There is only 22 months left of child support. It's at the point now that if I pay an attorney to help me with this situation, it will only negate any child support left...it would be easier and probably more cost effective to let my-ex lower his child support than to pay the huge amount of money an attorney would want to tackle this situation. Either way, I will have to go in front of a judge. I told K that was like going to the principal's office times 5 million. It's not something I look forward too. It's got me all worked up and just in a grumpy mood. I wish I didn't let it get to me so much. I just need to let it be...whatever happens, happens.

B.R.E.A.T.H.E.

I found this browsing around the web...it is rather funny. All the things Moms say set to the William Tell Overture. Enjoy!


Total Momsense

A Wild Ride

On Wednesday, we all piled up in the car and headed to Kings Dominion in Virginia. I haven't been in years, since before Jenna was born. Alyssa had been feeling like all she does is work so I thought this would make a fun day for us. I was glad that her friend was able to go with us because I knew it would be more fun for her to have someone to ride with. I like riding the coasters (the more mild ones) but with my back the way it has been lately, I knew that would be a bad choice for me.

We headed out about 7am and got there when the park opened. It was already to hot...the kind of hot where all you have to do is stand there and you'll break a sweat. We were lucky to get a parking spot right up front. As soon as we walked in, we saw Dora! Jenna still loves Dora so this was a treat for her.



After that, we headed towards the water park section. We had brought all our swim stuff and was going to put it in the lockers there. On the way, we came across Drop Zone...one of the craziest rides on this earth. It carries you way high...probably 10 stories, then drops you, and then a quick brake at the bottom. Since there was hardly any line, Alyssa & Jaye got on. I remember riding something like this with my Dad way back when. I had no desire to ride something like that again!



So on to the water park...and I was ready to get wet once I got there. Jenna & I changed and headed to the water activities while Alyssa & Jaye went to ride some coasters. Have I mentioned how grateful I am that Jaye was with us? Jenna and I had lots of fun playing in the water area. She is getting a little bit more confident with the water, but still a little skiddish. She does love the lazy river though...not floating, just running with the current. We played for a few hours and then went to have some lunch. After lunch, Jenna took a short nap on the bench. I guess she really got worn out from the water. Once she woke up, we headed to the rides. We were lucky that the park was not very busy that day. Jenna got to ride some rides twice, without even getting off. Her favorite was definitely the bumper cars! She rode that 5 times!



I thought she'd be upset when other kids bumped her, but she loved it. They would bump and she would just laugh! It was so fun to watch.

By the end of the day, we all were exhausted. I still had to drive home since both the big kids had to work the next day. We only made one pitstop on the way home...making it home by 11:30. It was a wild day...but lots of fun!

One final picture...this was taken on the way out of the park.

Blog Goodies

I've really been getting into bloggin'. It's been a lot of fun...not only to write but to read others too. I added a "Keep It Fresh" button to my blog a few days ago. If you want to be alerted when I update my blog, just subscribe with your email that you want the alert sent to. If you want to add one on your blog, you can click on "what's this" and go through the steps to get one (easy & free!). I also added a counter at the bottom. You get a count for each time you visit as long as it is an hour apart between visits. How long will it take to get to 100 visits? Hopefully not long...hint, hint, hint! Last but not least, thanks to my good friend, Katrina I have added a video to my blog. Right now it is set on "How to Save A Life" by The Fray. It's muted so be sure to hit the speaker button on the video if you want to hear it. I've been missing Grey's Anatomy and can't wait for the next season to start. If you need a glimpse of McDreamy, here's the spot to get it. I heard this next season will be a little bit calmer, with more redemption in it. Last season was so turbulent for all the characters. Anyone know when the next season of Grey's starts? How about Survivor? Will there be another Amazing Race? I hadn't heard anything about that.

Speaking of seasons starting...stores are already putting out school supplies. Good grief! Still way over a month to go. I'm sure they are getting set for the tax free weekend though.

Okay...going back to McDreamy...time sure did treat him well. I just found this pic on the web. From cute to hot...way hot!

Summer Fun 2006

Here's a mini album that I completed this weekend. Nothing super duper fancy, but I think it turned out pretty cute!

Beauty....

I ran across this on my camera card and just thought I would share it. It's a flower that we saw at the butterfly museum. Definitely a beauty!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cache A Latte

Yesterday a couple friends and I headed down to the Fayetteville area for "Cache A Latte". It was a small meet and greet at a coffee shop. I finally got to see the famous GeoWoodstock V video. I was in it some where, but I missed it when they showed the movie :( I guess I will have to buy it when it goes up for sale. It was a really neat movie.

Afterwards, we all went out caching and after a couple caches we met up with Tool King. We decided to team up and cache together that day. We had such a fun time...lots of jokes and lots of great caches! We conquered a lot of hard caches....some of them difficulty of 5, which is the hardest! I ended up with 32 found that day (yay!) and now I'm only 10 away from hitting 2200 caches. Who would have thought a year and a half ago I would have gotten so involved with geocaching? It's been a blessing though. I've seen so many neat things and met so many great people. The people really make it special. Lots of wonderful people bonded by GPS'rs!

Here's a couple pics from our trip yesterday. We had just found a cache behind us in the cypress trees. A big thanks to dc for sharing them with me!

Tool King, me, and Lambchops23



Tool King, dream chaser and Lambchops23

My coaster projects!

I finally finished up with the coaster caddy project tonight. These are made out of coasters...just like at some of the restaurants around town, except my coasters are white. I am really surprised how sturdy they are. I made one for Alyssa and one for Jenna. I think I will make one for myself too. Alyssa is really tickled with hers. Her room is lime green and now she wants to add pink accents in her room to match. I think that is a great idea. I'll give Jenna hers tomorrow. I'm sure she will like it too.

the five people you meet in heaven

I haven't read an adult book in so long. I've had my share of "Where's your smile, crocodile?" and "The Cows who Type" (very good books by the way), but I hadn't read anything for myself lately. Last night we were in Target and I was browsing their book selection. I came across "the five people you meet in heaven". I remember this book from an Oprah show. I read a few pages and decided that I would get it from the library the next day, as I didn't really want to **buy** it. This afternoon, Jenna and I headed to the library to get some books. She got the above mentioned books plus a couple more and I got "the five people you meet in heaven". We walked over to the park and I started reading while she played. I just couldn't put this book away. I finally finished it up about 7pm. This book really touches your soul...really gets you to look at some things differently. I admit that I spent a good majority of the book teary, but it was that good. It really reached me.

Here is a review from Good Reads. It really sums it up well.

This story is told in such a unique and fascinating way that you will be wondering why everyone doesn't write their books this way. The story of one man's life starts at his death, and you learn about his life through his encounters in heaven as well as memories from past birthdays. I loved the lessons taught and it gets you thinking of how important your life is. You really do impact a lot of people, some that you will never even meet. A very strong thinking novel.

Some interesting quotes from the book:

"It is because human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed (p. 48)."

"Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else (p. 94)."

"Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves (p. 141)."

This book was definitely a great way to spend a stormy afternoon. Has anyone read Tuesdays with Morrie? I think I will read that one next.

Magenta...

Today, that is how I feel. Magenta. It's a description word that comes from the "Golden Girls". I really love that show. The 'magenta' conversation happens in the episode where Blanche dates Dorothy's ex, Stan, because Dorothy asked her to. Blanche and Dorothy have this heartfelt conversation at the end. She talks about feeling 'magenta'...not really blue (sad), not really green (envious), not really red (mad)...just magenta. I wish I could find a direct quote of this as it does explain how I am feeling today. Most of the time I say that I'm feeling a little bit blah and that just about covers it. Maybe I'll get into the habit of calling it magenta.

One of the things that has me feeling magenta is my A's father. He is taking me back to court to try to get his child support reduced. He's already paying a lower amount than what the State of NC recommends...now he wants a bigger discount. My first assumption is that this has something to do with A getting a job. He writes that his work situation is different now. That may be true as I don't keep up with him. It seems awfully fishy that A just got a job & now he wants his child support lessoned. I'll be back in court next month **sigh** Of course, I hope that the State of NC tells him to stand up and be a man. We'll see if that happens.

I'm working on something really neat in my scrapbook room. This has been a hot item on a scrapping board that I visit. I hope to finish it up tonight. Hint, hint, hint...it has something to do with coasters!

Lucky Sevens

Yesterday was such a great day. It was 07-07-07. A friend and I decided to help celebrate such an interesting date by having two geocaching events. She held hers at 7am and I held mine at 7pm. It was about an hour drive from her event to my event. We hid lots of caches in between. This way, people could go to her 7am event and then cache all the way down to my 7pm event. The idea and the events were a hit! We had 50+ people at the 7am event and 40+ people who made the trek to the 7pm event. It was just awesome to have everyone all together twice in one day! We even had some people who came from Virginia. That is their license plate picture. Everyone got lots of caches that day - some people as many as 60! The fellowship at the events is just tremendous. It's always great to see caching friends and meet new ones. Here are a couple more pics. I look a bit frazzled LOL! It had been a long, but fun day!





For anyone who is interesting in geocaching, be sure to check out the Geocaching Website

Happy 4th!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We deviated from the plan at the last minute. We were going to head to a celebration at a local park, but in the end, I decided that I felt like staying home. K went out and got some red hot dogs and some brats (his new fav..mine too). We grilled out and then headed for the pool. Jenna loves playing in the pool. The neighbor girls came over and she really loves that. We played some pool tag until it started to get dark. I went under for the first time this summer. I forgot how refreshing it was to plunge underwater...aaahhh!



Afterwards, we did a few fireworks in the driveway and then watched our neighbors display. He must have made a SC run, because he had some good ones!! We stayed out in the driveway talking with some other neighbors until almost 11pm. Great food, great fun, and great friends...yep, it was definitely a great 4th of July!

I've been really happy with how Cacher's surgery turned out. He has adapted well with no side effects that I can tell. He doesn't even seem to be bothered that his "parts" are missing. He is back to his old self and the kids have had a blast playing with him. He definitely is the biggest kid in the pack. He jumped up there all by himself & I just couldn't resist the photo op!

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

The big news in our house is that Alyssa finally got her car. She is so thrilled, and I'm happy for her. It is a stick shift so she is learning how to drive using a clutch. She is doing really great driving, but sometimes gets a little "jerky" in first gear. I know she will enjoy so much more freedom with it, and we both have enjoyed not having to share my car! One of her friends has been going out practicing with her. It won't be long before it is secondhand to her. The guy that we got it from is going to help us spiff it up a bit with new tires and new rims, new bumper, and maybe a new stereo. Very exciting!!

Just go...

There's some things I've had in mind to do, but for one reason or another, I've been putting them off. I've decided enough of that, I just need to go. Today was one of those days. K has been home on vacation and I know he appreciates a little quiet time. So, Jenna, the neighbor girls, and I went off on an adventure today.

Our first stop was Bennett Place. This is a really neat historical area. I heard about this place through caching and wanted to check it out.

Here are some pics:





We had a really nice time exploring the area and finding the nearby geocache.

The next stop was the NC Museum of Life and Sciences (or something like that). I had taken Alyssa here when she was in the 3rd grade and really wanted to share that experience with Jenna too. I wish Alyssa would have wanted to go with us, but she decided to stay home. The first thing we saw were a few dinosaurs - very cool! After playing for a little bit, we headed to the cafe. Next on our stop was the butterfly house.



This is my **favorite** part. They have so many different types of butterflies in there. They fly around as they wish,and if you are lucky, you will get one to land on you.



The girls really loved riding the train. There wasn't much to see, but it was a really cool train!



We all had a fantastic time, and about midway home, I managed to get this photo.



I had a great time. It was great to get out & explore, just to have fun. Sometimes you get all wrapped up in what appears to be the "big stuff" when all along, it is the "little stuff" that is more important. I'm so glad that I took the time to "just go" today.

This is why I geocache...

Today was one of those days...you know, one of those days where you don't know what you want to do...should you stay home or should you go out, and if you go out, where should you go? It was obvious Jenna was bored and was going to drive me nuts all day if I didn't have **something** for her to do. So about noon, I told her to get ready we were going to the zoo. I had heard of this zoo through geocaching. Yes, there is a geocache there, and for those of you who know me well, you know that is enough reason for me to go. The zoo part was gravy on this whole trip.

We get to the zoo and find the cache. Then we head in. It is the neatest place. It's not huge by any means, but it has a big variety of animals to see. We've been to the Asheboro zoo and you just don't get close up like you do here. The workers there are awesome. We got a lot of personal attention. They brought some animals out for us to see and touch. Jenna even got to hold one! (see pic!) She's a lot braver than I am. They give you a baggie of corn to feed the animals while you are going through. That is a lot of fun. I can't wait to go back & hopefully share this place with friends.



We finished up the day with some more geocaching in Jacksonville. One of the caches took us to a great playground and that is always a hit for Jenna. Thanks to geocaching, our ho-hum Sunday afternoon turned out to be a really fun adventure!