February 07, 2009

Springtime and other various stuff

I have some goofy kitties. Marbles decided to get a drink of my tea. Problem is ... it was almost gone. Notice she has the glass tipped over to get a drink. She almost got her head stuck.
Gracie is the calmer kitty. She thinks she is queen of the house. She perches on pillows and blankets to take her naps in style.




And Adam....he can be sweet to the kitties when he wants to. See the photo for proof. Today I went to take pictures of the newly bloomed daffodils and buttercups and he decided to tag along. Of course, you know he had to pick some of the flowers. So we picked enough to make a fairly decent bouquet. Isn't it so nice to see the first signs of spring blooming? I hope to catch a few birds in the near future.

Another Giveaway

This giveaway is for Oso* Fresh™ Food Storage Containers. Two lucky winners will get to try these. Just visit Jane's $800 Annual Budget to enter before Monday, February 9 at noon CST.

Giveaways

There are a few giveaways that I thought I would share with you today.

1) Liz @ This Full House is giving away the Samsung Propel. You can find out more about the giveaway here. Be sure to enter before 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 11th.

2) Dawn @ Because I Said So Reviews is giving away an HP Photosmart C6300 All-in-One printer! To enter the giveaway go here and leave a comment including your email address. The contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. (PST) on Wednesday, February 4th, and will end Tuesday, February 10th at 11:59 p.m (PST). Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Good luck.

January 25, 2009

I'm so excited

John Grisham's new book, The Associate, comes out on Tuesday!! I will be there to get my copy first thing. John Grisham is one of the few authors that I just can't put down. I have read everyone of his books. His books are also the only ones that I will buy in hardback. Yeah!!

December 01, 2008

We even decorated the office


Left Window


Right Window

More from the parade....


Melanie's Group around the heater....they know how to watch a parade...with heat.

Here is Adam, all the boys (including Damon acting crazy) and me.



And there is Macy, Maddy & Sarah with their church float.

Our Typical Hometown Christmas Parade

Most Christmas parades have Christmas floats, but not ours...we have horses, four wheelers, trucks jacked way up for muddin', shriner's, tracters, hot rods, tow trucks, oil rig trucks and of course the Santa on the firetruck at the end. I'll take you through our parade...

We start with the flags


Then the grand marshall


And of course the high school band


And what's a parade without Smoky the Bear and his owl sidekick


The theme of our parade was Santa's Toyland. Devon seemed to have gotten close the theme.


Now in no particular order but plenty of commentary.

The Cloggers are a yearly float and they are festive and entertaining.


What's a parade without lots of advertising? We had cellphones, towing trucks, drilling rigs, mexican restuarant, radio station, port-o-pottys, taxi, & bail bonds (seriously!! Do we need to advertise bail bonds at a parade?).





Of course, no parade is complete without our local cheerleaders & Butch. Thought their minivan was rather cute & original.


And what kind of local parade would it be without horses, lawnmowers, and tracters? Here we have the Rodeo Queens, The Antique Tracters Assn., and not real sure about the mini horse and lawn tracter.



Can't remember what this van was for but heck lets all put a van in the parade, add a christmas stuffed animal as a hood ornament and call it decorated for the parade.


Naturally we have to have the kids from Rowe's Performing Arts.
I believe we had a ballerina and toy soldiers from their Nutcracker Performance.



What's a parade without the Shriner's and the cool cars that they drive super fast?




Now here is the kicker....where else but my hometown in Rural America would you see jacked up trucks that are used for entertainment aka muddin'? We had not 1 or 2 of these trucks but 8. Actually I think there were more than 8 but I didn't get pictures of them all.










Here is a float that I thought was neat. Had a really moving picture on it.



And of course, the grand finale....Santa on the firetruck.



November 25, 2008

Update

We are still waiting in limbo to close on our house. It has been one delay after another. We finally got the papers to the finance company November 17th. Now we are waiting on the appraiser. Ugh!! We just want to close and get moved. Hopefully at this point we will be all moved in before Christmas. We have missed the original promise of Oct.31st and now we are about to surpass the 2nd promised date of Nov 28th.

Not only were we promised to have already been in our house, we were promised several remodels. We were told we could have a side by side refrigerator. We were told it won't happen they will only put a regular fridge in there. We were told they would paint all walls and the kitchen cabinets. We found out they won't paint one bathroom and the kitchen/dining/utility room. We were told they would paint the kitchen cabinets brown and now we find out they won't. Supposed they have to repaint them the original color of white. We were also told we could get a ceramic flat top stove

So now I will have to paint once we move in. The bathroom and kitchen/dining/utility room are a hideous pink flower wallpaper. Well I guess I could pick out my own wallpaper now.

November 02, 2008

Doesn't this look delicious?

Cool Whip Chocolate One Bowl Bliss Cake


Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 2 hr 20 min
Makes: 16 servings

Ingredients

1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food cake mix
5 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
1 tub (8 oz.) plus 1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
1 Tbsp. powdered sugar


Directions

HEAT oven 350F. Prepare cake batter, in 2-1/2-qt. ovenproof bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl. Bake 1 hour 5 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake 10 min.; loosen from side of bowl with knife. Invert onto wire rack; remove bowl. Cool cake completely; cut into 3 layers.

MICROWAVE 4 chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min., stirring after 1 min. Cool. Add 1 tub COOL WHIP; whisk until blended. Stack and fill layers with chocolate mixture. Frost with remaining COOL WHIP.

MAKE curls from remaining chocolate square. (See Tip.) Arrange on cake; sprinkle with sugar. Keep refrigerated.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Size-Wise
Sweets can be part of a balanced diet but remember to keep tabs on portions.


Source: KraftFoods
Found here