Happy Halloween!

I have lots to say just haven't had time to post! I need to do a weekend and now Halloween Recap! Guess this will  have to do for now :)

Nacho Chicken Bake and Salsa

A couple nights ago I made this Nacho Chicken Bake. Jessica made it for us one time before. It's super easy and pretty delicious!

Do you put anything on your asparagus? I grew up dipping it in mayo. I know, I know, not healthy but that's the way it's done..

I also made some more salsa with the last of my tomatoes (ripped out all but one of the plants).

And I learned why they say you shouldn't touch the peppers. The last two times I've made it I didn't touch them. This time I didn't really think about it. I made dinner, did the dishes and then sat down and oh my gosh my hand was just BURNING. I tried washing it again. I stood in front of the freezer with my hand on some frozen food. Eventually it seemed to calm down a bit but man! That was painful!

Bad Teacher

Woohoo I have 101 followers on Pinterest now. Why does that excite me so much?

Last night I went over to my friend's house and we picked up some Chinese food and watched a Redbox movie. It was a fun girls night :) Even though Trevor was there in the other room watching his own movie. A fun night out for under $20!

We watched Bad Teacher. Have you seen that yet? While the movie is funny I can just imagine if someone like that was one of my kid's teachers. Although I had a teacher that was KIND of like that. But it was a man. And he was old. 

It was my Freshman year Biology class and it was his last year teaching. I remember getting extra credit for bringing gold fish in for his fish tank. Every time we'd have a test he'd give us a bit of time to cram right before it. Every Friday was movie day. He'd put in a movie and then doze off. He'd wake up and then go around the room waking up all the kids. I learned a lot in that class ;)

At the end of the year we got to take goldfish home from the tank. My mom had a little fountain in her backyard and we put them in there and they lived FOREVER. I think she finally let them go in the lake.

Did you ever have a "bad teacher"?

Oh The Things I Have Done..

I've done a lot of things in my 37 years.

1. Had 3 C-sections
2. Handed out Coke coupons in a grocery store
3. Been a coupon maniac (too bad it wasn't at the same time as #2!)
4. Had 9 cats (rescued a mama and her babies plus my 2)
5. Climbed in an attic (twice) to rescue those kittens
6. Stayed in a fancy hotel room ::bowchickawowwow::
7. Went camping for an anniversary trip because that was all we could afford
8. Went to college
9. Dropped out of college after one semester
10. Worked in a factory that sold stuff to maintenance water beds
11. Quit that job
12. Drove to Oregon and Washington with my Grandparents
13. Ate at every Denny's between California and Washington and back 
14. Prayed PLEASE GOD can we go to Taco Bell?
15. Yelled at one of my kid's teachers
16. Yelled at one of my kid's coaches
17. Laid bricks
18. Pulled out all the grass in my yard
19. Been laid off (twice)
20. Worked at several fabric stores
21. Put my old dogs and my old cat to sleep :sob:
22. Read a good book

Linking up with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week

Extra kids and CAKE

My Mom brought my niece and nephew over today. Our house is like a heaven for her. She can drop off the kids here and actually go get something done at hers! Tony and Trevor play together and my niece adores La-La (Melissa). She renamed her that and I'm pretty sure it's going to stick forever now. I'm pretty sure Melissa needs a nap after the 5 hours of following her around.

Here she is feeding her one piece of popcorn at a time. We weren't sure if she could handle it very well yet. And yes, they ate that bowl together so you can imagine how long that took giving her one piece at a time!

I was working on making a nice dinner. First I made this cake. 

With a little help.

Here it is all ready to go in the oven.

Looks good..

Hey it doesn't quite look like the picture when I take it out though...

Hmm thinking I was supposed to wait until it cooled a bit before I put the glaze on. You think? It was absolutely delicious though. I'm sure the fact that it has 1 1/2 cubes of butter in in has NOTHING to do with that....

All my kids (and husband) loved it to!

Sadly my niece and nephew left before dinner so they didn't get any.

Free Book!

Smart Ass Sara is giving away a very interesting sounding book! Go check her out!

Wordful Wednesday

My Mom brought over this lawn swing the other day.
It had belonged to my brother but he didn't want it anymore.
:Score:
The top is pretty dirty, any ideas of the best way to clean that?
I'll have to recover the cushion and then it will be good as new. Trevor thinks it's great!

Dinner at Bedtime

Sheesh I'm exhausted! Got home from work and made my grocery list on the computer. Then I realized it wouldn't print because I was out of one of the ink colors. So I had to go and write it all out. Glad I wasted time doing an excel sheet ;) While I was doing that the kids were all trying to kill each other. The next one that calls someone stupid is cleaning the cat box. With their hands. KIDDING.

Trevor went with me to the store. We finally got home at almost 8:00. Yeah. Just in time to make dinner. We had tacos and this avocado salsa which was made with a few variations. Like, I forgot to get green onions so I just put in some regular onions. And I think I forgot to put the cilantro in. And the hot sauce. Yeah. So kind of not like that.

But it was good anyways. If you're not making it for a party you should cut the recipe in 1/2 at least. Hopefully the avocado isn't too disgusting tomorrow so I can eat it for lunch.

Source: None via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

Ummmm Apple Crisp!

Last night I made this APPLE CRISP recipe.that I found online. Trevor made the topping while I peeled and sliced the apples. You know it's easy when an 8 year old can make it! It turned out so delicious! Probably would have looked a bit better if I used the camera instead of my phone ;) If I made it again I'll double the recipe.

Life As Mom

Welcome!!

Look guys! I made it onto Tip Junkie's website! I'm so excited :)

Here's a few links if you came over from there

Baby Shower Big Day
Baby Shower Invite
Games, little vases, rag wreath
Drink Parasols
Kissing Ball Centerpieces
Crepe Paper Kissing Balls
Pearls and Lace Corsage
Vintage Sheet Bunting
Cupcake Thank You

Thanks for stopping by! You can find me pining away on Pinterest also!

Happy Sunday

I wish we had a few more days of the weekend!

Source: lesapea.tumblr.com via Mom Taxi Julie on Pinterest

Book Club Ladies Night Out

Last night I went down to the club bar and hung out with my book club ladies. They did this once before but I couldn't make it that last time. It was nice just sitting around chatting with them all. They really crack me up sometimes!

The color is messed up on this one, sorry, someone took it with a cell phone. That's me on the right and my mom next to me. And look, those are some DELICIOUS tequila sunrises. $3. Love our little bar!

This is the woman in the middle. She's not in the book club but everyone is friends (or enemies!) out here.

There was two more gals there (one from book club) but she left before the pictures started.

You'd think since we aren't anywhere near the same age (closest to me is 10 years older) we'd have nothing to talk about but we never ever run out of material. My favorite from last night? Talking about tattoos.

Someone was telling us about this woman who was about 75. She told a group of ladies she wanted to show them a mouse tattoo that she had got. So she pulls open her pants, looks inside and says

 "OH my pussy must have ate it!!"

 Baddump ump.

Of course the one that was telling the story is also about 75 which cracked me up to no end. Not your old stodgy Grandmas here!

Heh

Here's a little visual for my day today. Me, on the floor with a tooth brush scrubbing grout. Him, relaxing in the recliner watching TV. (he says he doesn't feel good)

I spent most of the day today cleaning that flippin' floor.

She's Come Undone

Last week or so I strolled through the library's sale section. People donate their unwanted books and the library sells them as a fundraiser for themselves. Our library has a little area and sometimes it's fun to stroll through there and get a few books. Lately they've had a section with books for a quarter. You can't beat that! I had a buck on me so I picked out four, one of which was She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. The cover looked familiar and I was thinking it must have been one I've seen around blog land. I started reading it and about 70 pages in I realized I had read it before! I think it's funny that with all the books out there I'd pick one I had already read. I couldn't remember everything that happened so I just went ahead and read it again.

This book is a bit deep but it's just so INTERESTING you just want to keep on reading to find out what's going to happen to poor old Delores. Although I really did want to smack her a few times. I finished reading it last night so now I should probably do everything I neglected because I just couldn't.put.it.down.

Dentist, Electrocution and Book Club, Oh My!

Yesterday I went in to the dentist because the whole side of my face hurts. Awesome. This was my first time at the new place I've been taking the kids. I went about a year ago to the other place.They started off by doing some x-rays, then an exam where he told me I have some other issues but the main problem is the tooth I need a root canal in. It's only going to cost $1300 but my freaking mouth is killing me so I have to get it done. The specialist comes once a month so I'm scheduled for November 4th. Thank God we have Care Credit and can get 12 months for no interest. :sads: Oh and when they were done with the exam they cleaned my teeth. I think I got a girl fresh out of school because it took her FOREVER and I don't think I've ever had my teeth cleaned quite like that before.

After that, since I didn't have any actual work done I decided to just go to work. I worked from 1:30 until  about 5:30 so at least I didn't miss too much time.

TODAY I went to the dermatologist. I scheduled this appointment like two months ago. That's how long it takes to get in. The only appointment I could get was for 8:30 in the morning. I went in and got a good looking over to make sure I didn't have any cancer growing on me. He said everything looked good. When he was done with that I asked him if he could take off a little mole on the side of my nose and he said sure. He used this little wand thing to ELECTROCUTE it off. OH MY GOD. I jumped about a mile when he first touched me with it. Told him he needed some handles on the chair! It didn't take long but it really hurt. BUT the hurt was over when he stopped touching it and it's already gone. Weirdest thing ever! He said it would take three days but it's gone!

The Dr. is really nice and he explains everything. Although I have no idea what the hell he is talking about with all the different kinds of moles or whatever. I needed a chart or something. The receptionist there is one of those look down your nose snooty types. When people are like that it really takes a lot for me not to ask them what the heck their problem is. Maybe it's something when you get older, but I have zero tolerance for rude people. I'm just as good as you are, even if you don't see it. So there ;)

Tonight I went to the Christian book club for that book The Predator. Twice as many people showed up. Everyone goes to church together but me. The little heathen.  Oh well. The next book we are going to read is The Swan House. They don't have it at the library OR the paper back swap site so I had to order it from Amazon (ordered a used one for $4 something). One lady seemed a little distraught that they didn't have it on the Kindle. Oh darn, you're going to have to hold a real book!

Everyone there was really nice. It's nice hanging out with a bunch of women. It's funny though since one gal was talking about how she doesn't really like romance because it's so fake. Of course that got everyone talking about how unromantic all our husbands are. Then one woman whipped out her phone and read this really nice text her husband wrote her telling her how glad he was that they had met on that day (30 years ago) and how lucky he felt to have her for his wife. So there are a few men out there like that. I think he should give out lessons!

Happy Birthday To Scott!

Yesterday was Scott's Birthday! 

Unlike last year the I wasn't throwing a huge party AND the weather was beautiful. Go figure! 

We usually go out to dinner for birthdays but I decided to give him the option of his favorite, lasagna, or going out. He went back and forth with his decision a few times before settling on lasagna. 

Which was nice since after work and commuting it's a little bit stressful trying to go out for him. 

I ran to the store and got all the ingredients I needed. Jess made him a cake after school. By the time he got home just about everything was done!

The kids didn't want a table picture. Whatever. Who says they have a say in this??

My little cheeser

Jessica takes her glasses off and Melissa puts them on. Go figure.

After they lit all the candles half of them were almost melted away into the cake. Next year we'll have to get longer ones ;) 

Here's for many more!

Birthdays Past

2010

2009

2008

7th Grade Halloween Party & More

Here's Melissa in her Halloween costume from Saturday night. She went to a boy/girl party down the street. The party was at a boy's house (she swears he's not her boyfriend!).

She's a Butterfly. See, there are wings back there. Everything is covered and she had shorts and a tank on underneath so it's all good.

Her sock is currently in the freezer. It has gum on it. Someone threw their gum on the floor and she stepped on it. She was VERY ANGRY. She said a bunch of the boys were acting up and throwing Skittles around the room.

Gotta love 7th grade boys! At least they weren't playing spin the bottle or 7 minutes in heaven.

Bring on the throwing of the candy!

Yes, that's why we don't have parties at our house. Plus I don't want to be responsible for those "less immature" boys.

Ahh brings back memories of "way back when" when I was a kid.

My oldest isn't going to dress up this year she says. Score! One less costume to buy. How old were you when you stopped going trick or treating? I think I probably didn't go after 6th grade. I remember going with a big bunch of girls that year but not after.  Our neighborhood is a little different than a regular town neighborhood when it comes to trick or treating. Everyone knows everyone and hands out a HAND FULL of candy. Occasionally a soda or some other beverage. A lot  of people drive golf carts. Sadly the people that did the float year before last (and another year) don't live out here anymore. That was a bunch of fun. Last year sucked walking around. Wow I just looked back and I didn't blog about that.

So last year my friend was out here with her sister and her niece walking the niece around. Scott and I were taking Trevor around in the car, mostly me walking with Trevor and him driving the car. When there would be a big space between houses we'd hop in. (Melissa was off with her friends and Jess went off with someone too)  So my friend wanted us to go around with her and I thought that would be fun too. So we did and Scott drove along behind us even though I told him he could just go home and I'd call him when we were done. It was actually kind of annoying. So my friend decides she's done at one point and Scott leaves to give them a ride back to her dad's house. Of course then we decide we are REALLY tired. It's REALLY dark and he.never.comes.back.

We walk about half way home before he finally comes along to pick us up. Yeah I was a real happy camper. Maybe this year I can get my mom to drive her golf cart around for us. Or let us borrow it. That would be sweet :)

Are you all ready for Halloween? Do you go out with the kids or stay home and pass out candy?

Sweet Shed Sunday

via

Cleaning and playing in the yard today. Isn't this little shed and garden adorable?

Well Hello There LURKERS!!

Today was a busy day. I got up early (6) but woke up about a million times before, to take Jess to the open house at CSUMB's open house. I only went to a local Jr. College for a semester so this whole college thing is new to me. It took us two hours to get there. We walked around a bit then went and listened to 2 presentations and then had a free lunch. Then we took a campus tour and went inside a freshman dorm to see what it looked like.

It's all pretty crazy.

On the way home we stopped for a snack and to stretch our legs and Jess told me that her BOYFRIEND reads my blog.

{{Hi Brian!!}}

and her friend

{{Hi Desiree!!}}

and she does too

{{Hi Jess!!}}

Sheesh. Guess I can advertise it on Facebook now and let everyone know what I say about them ;) Anyone else out there that knows me personally secretly reading along?? It's ok, you can tell me!!

Hope you all aren't hating me for my rants and ramblings.

Anyhow ::clears throat:: we got home and I was so tired so I started reading a book I just picked up at the library. It was seeming pretty familiar but it wasn't on my Goodreads. Now that I'm about 100 pages in I know for sure I read it before and what it's about. Guess I should just finish reading it again since I've made it this far. All the books in the world and I pick up one I've already read.

Melissa went to a Halloween party tonight. With boys. And it got over at 11. I fell asleep approximately 100 times waiting for 11 to come around. And of course now, I'm wide awake. She looked super cute in her costume, I'll show you a picture later. While she was gone apparently Trevor got into her special roll of duck tape. She is NOT HAPPY. Gotta love little brothers. Right?

Oh and I almost forgot. I'm up to 80 followers on Pinterest. Passed up my blog followers. I've had the blog for oh 4 years? You guys need to step up the following here ;)

Spelling Headaches!

Every night I work on Trevor's spelling words with him. I give him a little test and then whatever words he misses I have him write about 10 times each. This week? Every day he would miss more words. I actually made him take the test over last night and "try harder". He did a bit better that time.

Does anyone have any ideas/advice on how to help him with his spelling? He seems to do great in everything else so it's not that he's not smart! I don't know what to do other than to quiz him over and over and have him write the words a million times.

I got spoiled by the girls who just figured this stuff all out on their own. I never really had to help them get their homework done or study with them. This is a whole new ball game!

via

Random Thursday

Anyone else come across this photo on Pinterest? This guy kept track of his weight loss on his stairway wall. Pretty cool. He has a great story too.

And whoa! He's quite the hotty! Hopefully he is able to keep it off. It seems that the people that are successful at keeping weight off are the people that make exercise a priority. Maybe that's why my staircase would be a bit more up and down ;)  As I'm wearing my slightly tight fat girl clothes :sigh: Someday I'll find my motivation again.

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In other news, last night Scott attempted to make some salsa. What that really means is that he yelled to me in the other room approximately 5000 times asking me how to make it and what to do. Eventually I heard him say that it was too much work so I went in to assess the damage. HOLY COW!! I had pretty much cleaned up as I went when I made dinner so there was only a bit of stuff on the counter but he was making salsa on top of whatever was already on the counter and had a holy mess going on. I was like well first of all, you should really clean up your work area before you get started.... then proceeded to help him make salsa. Our magic bullet bit the dust while we were making it. I think it's time to buy a regular food processor. I remembered I had a little chopper one so we used that a few spoonfulls at a time. The salsa turned out SO GOOD! We had started to just taste it but it was so good we wanted more. Hmm maybe that contributes to the above problem..

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This morning my friend and I were talking about ghosts. She thinks she has a ghost in her house that she rents. Do you believe in ghosts? I swear I have one that rides in the car with me and the girls. They have both said they've felt it and it's been in more than one car. He/she will push on the back of the seats, just like if someone was sitting back there and put their feet up against the back of the seat and pushed a few times.  I know I'm not crazy since the girls have felt it too. I think he/she mostly rides with Jess now since I don't feel it as much now that she's driving. Guardian angel maybe?

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Melissa and Trevor got their school pictures yesterday. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a shot gun to keep the boys away from Melissa when she goes to high school. I got about 20 comments telling me how beautiful she is. I just can't believe how big Trevor is now too. :sigh: My babies are growing up!

7th grade

3rd Grade



Predator Pork Chops

Yesterday I got home from work and plopped myself on the couch and read my book. Somehow I took a nap while I was reading my book and woke up to Trevor eating his 4th bag of chips that are supposed to be for lunches.

I got up eventually and made some pork chops for dinner. My Grandma used to make pork chops every Wednesday or Thursday I can't remember what day it was. Pork chops and fried potatoes and apple sauce of course. If I could go back in time and write down exactly how she made those most awesome drool worthy pork chops and potatoes I'd be there in an instant. I asked my mom and she doesn't know either. Sad sad sad!

After dinner I went back to my book and finally finished it at around 10:30. This is the book we are reading for the new book (mostly christian) book club that I joined.

Predator by Terri Blackstock

This book is about a girl who's sister was murdered. She was murdered by someone that was stalking her GrapeVyn page (basically Facebook). The story is also about another girl who is almost killed by the same stalker, who also knew how to find her by her updates on her page.

It's really an eye opener in how vulnerable we make ourselves by giving out information on where we are, what we're doing and who we are with on our online status information.

So the question I ask myself is, is this real life? Do you think that people really get stalked and killed by strangers that find them on Facebook or Twitter or Blogging?

Unspooky Halloween Please

Am I the only one that doesn't really like the spooky gory side of Halloween? I also hate to dress up for Halloween. Right now I have two parties that people have invited me to go to but I really just don't want to dress up. Can't I just wear something cute that's not a costume?

Maybe if I was a twig I'd feel different. Then I could let my a$$ets hang out and look all sexy. Yeah, somehow I still don't think I'd like it.

I don't know why I'm like this, I just am.

And please don't try to get me to go into a Haunted House. The last time I started to go in one that "wasn't scary" I had one person jump out at me and saw hacked up body parts on a table and I was right back out through the exit. I guess I'm a wuss.

Same goes for scary movies. No thanks! Somehow I got tricked into watching White Noise once and I haven't been able to hear static on the radio in the car without freaking out since.

For some reason I'm perfectly o kay with watching Ghost. Go figure.

Now if you want to have a sweet little Halloween/Fall party with cute decorations I'm all for it. Just don't answer the door in a costume that's squirting blood. Umm kay?

photo via

Wine Strolling!

Sunday night I went to the Wine Stroll with a friend.

We met downtown and picked up our wine glasses. 

The first place we went had this enormous spread of food. It was amazing!

Plus they had Almond Champagne. Delicious! 

 

We strolled up and down the streets that were participating. 

Check out the gals in this hair salon! 

They were the only ones that did anything like this. 

Pretty smart!

We had a lot of fun. 

We went to a little restaurant/bar and had a purple hooter at one point. 

That was pretty yummy!

We had a great time. 

Definitely want to go again the next time they do it. 

Although all the wine does seem to taste the same after awhile ;))

Do you like wine? 

What's your favorite?

School Carnival Fun (for the kids)

First off today I have to say THANKS COLUMBUS for not discovering America. My kids have school today but ME? I have the day off. Woohoo.

I've got the laundry going already. There is a very strong probability that I WILL get the laundry caught up today. So did you all have a great weekend?

Saturday was quite the busy day with the kid's school carnival AND the wine stroll. First off, the carnival. I had volunteered an hour for each kid's class booth. Trevor's was the bouncy house. I got to man that for an hour, which was pretty much a piece of cake other than telling some boys if they were going to be fighting (might have been play, I'm not sure) they weren't going to be able to bounce. After that it was the water gun fight booth for Melissa's class. Last time I worked this booth I ended up with blisters from opening and closing the water guns for an hour. This time there was a bunch of high school boys helping out. All I had to do was let the kids in, set the timer and tell them when time was up. Pretty nice!

After I was done working in the booths I had myself some nachos and listened to the band that was rocking the stage. They were really pretty good!  Trevor spent the whole time there playing the water gun war game. He was totally soaked but had a great time. Melissa's best friend that doesn't go to her school anymore was there so she was in heaven.

After the carnival I went home and got ready for the wine stroll!

What we did instead of the Carnival 2010
Carnival 2009
Carnival 2008

Dinner With Family

Last night Melissa, Trevor and I went to my Aunt's house to visit with her cousin who was here visiting. My Dad and Step Mom came too. We sat around and talked and then had dinner. My aunt made some baked chicken and baked potatoes. Simple, yet it was really nice! I don't know why I never think to invite people over for dinner. We always tend to go the fancy food route instead of just doing something nice and simple.

This is my Aunt Corine on the right, My dad is the little guy, their cousin Mary on the left and Mary's dad (who married my grandma's sister). I don't know why this picture has the gold marks on it. Maybe that was something my aunt did. I think the picture came from her. I love old pictures like this.

Mary lives in Florida and has been coming to visit once a year. I think this is the first time I've actually met her.  I was surprised to learn that her daughter lives just a few cities over.

It was a nice visit and nice to meet more family.