do you see what I see???

yes, you are seeing correctly...we have Girl Scout Cookies...

we have 7 cases of cookies to sell...we only got the cookies last night and I took the princess out and she sold like 15 boxes so far and she is so proud of herself...15 down and 85 to go??? hope when she gets home from Tokyo she is still pumped about selling cookies...should have sent some to Tokyo...

by the way...it is way too dangerous to have this many cookies left in my house...my favorites???

the peanut butter patties, and the carmel delights...

Tim said that every year in the desert they have cooking contests but, the recipe has to include girl scout cookies...I am going to look into this and see if they are doing it this year...

silence is golden???

tonight I am by myself...I do not really like to be by myself at night time...I am a scaredy cat but, at least I have our guard dog Gracie (really? a cocker spaniel) with me...and Sam is right behind us...so, I will sleep with the phone next to me and Gracie beside me...

have been cleaning the house and putting Christmas stuff away (still)...so, I have been busy...if I get thru tonight I will be OK...

made myself creamed chipped beef for dinner...

miss the princess and Tim a lot but, as of right now, they still have 6 hours left on their flight...

thank you God...

leavin on a jet plane...

now the time has come to leave you, one more time let me kiss you, close your eyes, I'll be on my way........................

that describes this morning...oh, and lots of tears (happy tears) but, nonetheless tears of I will miss you...

got up at 7...they wanted to be on the road by 8 to get to LAX by 8:30 or so...Greg will be staying with his mom who lives near the airport...

Tim called and said that when they went thru security, all of a sudden the TSA people when Zoe was going thru the metal detector, started saying, "code blue. code blue, everyone stand down and move away from the table." Tim was a little nervous, he thought that maybe the copper coil that was placed in Zoe's heart to patch the hole made the detector go off but, it was a guy across the table that had something he shouldn't have had...

plane took off at 11;33 and will get to Tokyo at 4"30 their time...

American Airlines is sending me frequent email updates which makes me feel good...they called just as they were boarding and Zoe was hyper...I thought she would be nervous...

went with Sam to get her hair cut...it is pouring here today but, we have umbrellas...then to lunch at Killarneys...had grilled cheese and potato soup and onion rings...

when I talked to Zoe she said, "oh, Grandma. I did not know the airport would be so nice...they have Starbucks and everything here..."

tokyo

much of today was spent getting Zoe all ready for her trip tomorrow to Tokyo...I had planned on just cutting her bangs but, wanted her to have a special treat and so took her out to lunch and then for a hair cut at Super Cuts...I thought for sure she would only want a trim but once we got there, she looked at a book of hair cuts, picked one out and here is the result...

I really do like it and seeing her is cute...she kept looking in the store windows to check herself out...when I was helping at her school the other day, all of the girls have their hair the same way and now she is a little different...

while she was getting her hair cut, the girl was talking to her about school, etc. and Zoe said that she was going to Tokyo tomorrow and the girl stopped and said, "hey wait a minute, was your uncle in here this morning??? I cut his hair also..."

had lunch at Subway, Zoe's new favorite...she gets pepperoni, with provolone and parmesan, toasted...

2 of my best friends

on Sunday, 2 of my most favorite people in the world are leaving for japan...I am not jealous, I could have gone, I was invited...but, nonetheless they are leaving and what a trip of a lifetime???

I will miss them terribly...

today I wanted to spoil them and what do I do to spoil people??? I cook...

so, today I made in time for Tim to get home from work,

chicken and wild rice soup, homemade rolls and blondies...

one thing that is holding me together thru tough times, is cooking for the ones I love and then of course blogging about it...I will have noone to do that for while they are gone...someone else (you know who I am talking about) doesn't seem to appreciate me right now at all right now...food comes back untouched...

so, we will see...

8 whole days will be lonely...

that "old" lady

OMGoodness, I am becoming one of those "old" ladies...you know those ones...the ones that go out to eat and they are by themselves??? I became one of them today...
was hungry for a Carl's Jr. bacon biscuit and someone went back to bed after taking pretty pretty princess to school...so, I went by myself...and really it was OK...I am just used to someone always being there and talking so, it was very quiet...but I managed it all right...I missed pretty pretty princess a lot so it was a little lonely...

the following is from an email that my husband received from one of his friends that always passes on "those" emails but, parts of this one ring so true...

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself.
I've become my own friend.
I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio.
I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ..... I will.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.
So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.
I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.
And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

is this right on??? I loved it the minute that I read it and it sums me up in so many ways...
when I was younger and especially in high school, I cared soooo much what people thought of me...now, I absolutely do not care at all what people think...if I go out without washing my hair or whatever...

what can I say???

well, today (Wednesday) I am kind of proud of myself...got almost all of Christmas down and packed up...now, just need someone to go into the cellar for me...(that is where I store all my holiday decorations...
so, that took me most of the day after we dropped pretty pretty princess off at school...

Sam is sick today, has the flu, and so, I went and did bingo at Elk's for her...it is not bad...I cashiered for the food section of bingo...long night tho, got there at 4:30 and did not leave till 9pm...

night...

thanks God, more patience please...

new day???

trying hard to start anew...to put one foot in front of the other...do what I am supposed to do...
a little hard but, still trying...

fairly busy today with home schooling (multiplication) and cleaning the frig...those were the major jobs of today...

made mini bbq meat loaves, corn casserole (very yummy) and rice a roni for dinner...

thank you for freedom

can I just say I love my scooter??? it affords me a certain level of freedom that I did not have before...I can be independent...I do not have to rely on anyone for anything...

this morning at 8:30, I felt like a Carl's Jr. bacon biscuit and so off I went by myself...and today I was smiling...god showed me squirrels and baby birds and for the first time in a long time, I was smiling...

I am going to try and be good, and make my life better and not let things bog me down...

freedom is a wonderful thing...

if not for my scooter, my knees and heart would not let me walk far at all...

thank you God...

dickens

Tim and I went to the Dicken's Festival today and we had a really good time...even before Tim ever started working for the Press, I have loved reading a certain column, written by a guy named Dan Berstein...he writes down to earth, genuine articles, and I like them...so, after Tim started working there, he had told me that he had met Dan and I was impressed...so cut to today and Dan was going to be playing trombone at the festival...we went, we listened, I was further impressed, and Tim introduced me to Dan...we shook hands and I will never wash my hands again...(kidding...LOL)...
had lunch at Farmer Boy's afterwards and it was nice to get out for a little while away from drama and neediness...

wanted to mention that last Friday night I made (with Tim and Sam's help) dinner for 45 people at the Friday night dinners at Elks...we made chicken pot pie, cole slaw, muffins and sweet potato cake...
I am told that it went over really well and there were no complaints...that made me feel good...

lucky charm's first bath...

the gardener that found Lucky came to see how he was doing...I told him that he was doing great...and he told me the story of finding him and it was kinda sad...he said he went home and told his wife about Lucky and how he was so happy that he had found him a good home...he said his wife was proud of him...I told him, "you know don't you that I did not need a dog right now, there is just too much going on here, but that Lucky seemed to be "God given..." I didn't need (per se) a dog, but he has really made us happy as a family and he really needed a good home...the gardener said that it was just so weird that he had found him, come over to our neighbor to mow her grass and then was going to take Lucky to the pound...and he happened to find a cocker loving crazy woman...Feb. 1st am going to take him for his shots, etc...

btw...just so everyone knows, we did try for 2 weeks to find original owner and then gave up...he was and still is in kinda sorry shape and surely should of been taken much better care of than how he was...now if only our 3 year old cocker Gracie would take to him all would be all right, well other than when pretty pretty princess was sick and Lucky would not leave her alone...he cries at their door when Zoe comes over to my house...so cute...

sunday night...

so here we are to the end of the weekend...Zoe is with her dad, and then he called and asked if he could have her an extra day, since tomorrow is MLK day...I really miss her and wanted her home, but I am no the parent, right???

friday, Greg went um-somewhere and still isn't home yet, maybe tomorrow...it has been fairly quiet here for 3 days mostly just Tim and me...

made a new recipe, bow tie pasta mac and cheese and the recipe is definitely a keeper, there are a few things I might tweak but otherwise it was pretty good...

I am pretty stir crazy being in this house since a week ago this past saturday altho Sam and I did go out to breakfast this morning...

going to bed early and praying very hard for more patience....
not going bowling again tomorrow...once I get to go back, will have forgotten how to bowl...

long day...

today was an exceptionally long and hard day...don't think I sat down much at all...and that in itself is a little difficult with having a few heart issues, my knee is shot and I have the UTI pain in my side that is killing me...having said that, however, those issues do not keep me down...

Zoe had school this morning, so got her there and Greg is still sick with the flu and went back to bed...I am going a little stir crazy, been in the house a little too long...so, went on my scooter, really wanted a Carl's Jr bacon biscuit so much that by the time I got up there my mouth was watering...should have known something would be up...Carl's Jr. was closed...yeah they were closed due to a power outage...
so, I went to Ralph's and got a few things for dinner and then went to Goodwill...there was not too much there, only got a few Christmas items...
came home, cleaned house, did laundry, put Zoe's clothes away and then it was time to start dinner...I like dinner done by 4:30 for when Tim gets home from work...so for a really big dinner like I was making for tonight I need to start around 12-1pm...
so, first I made chocolate chip cookies and they came out really good...
then I put the baked potatoes in the oven for the cheddar/bacon twice baked potatoes...made
bisquick oven fried chicken, baby veggies, and cranberry/orange muffins...dinner took awhile to prepare...
Zoe and I walked with Sam to Elks and then Zozo and I went to Ralph's once again and got Tim his vitamin water and the princess some new nail polish...
worked for 45 minutes on math on the computer with her...
I am tired and ready for bed...

please God I really need some patience bad.........................................................................................

helicopters and puppies

what???

tonight was so funny...should have had the video camera going...Zozo got a remote control helicopter for Christmas but, it is the big kids (wink wink) that really love playing with it...Tim was playing with it last night when Sam came in with the new puppy...it was hilarious...Gracie (my 3 yr old cocker) and Lucky were either chasing the copter or being scared of it...Gracie is still not sure of Lucky and here I thought Gracie would like to have someone to play with...right now, think Lucky just annoys Gracie...Tim is not really a dog person so, you know who both of the dogs like, don't you??? I tease Tim that when either dad or me dies, he will get Gracie and his response was, "you had better find a nursing home now that takes dogs..." oh the humor of a journalist...LOL...
the other funny thing about the helicopter...at one point it had landed in Zozo's hair and really scared her...when the dog thing was going on, Zoe was laughing so hard that she had to then go to the bathroom...without Tim making the copter do anything at all, it followed Zoe into the bathroom and all we heard was screaming...so funny but, maybe you had to be there???

tonight made porcupines, parmesan noodles and green beans for dinner...last night was meatball soup and homemade bread..
anyone need any leftovers??? my frig is overflowing with leftovers...good thing Tim does not mind...

something funny Zoe said today...we were talking about New Year's resolutions and what hers were...she said, "my revolutions were..............." and the way she said it was so funny...

little princess has school tomorrow and she is excited to see her friends...

Greg is still sick with the flu...we did not even go bowling last night...they won 3 of the games...

meet lucky charms...

anyone that knows me, knows that my heart actually melts when I just see a cocker spaniel...I have a cocker spaniel named gracie...I got her almost 4 years ago and paid a lot of money for her...even tho, she did not come with papers...we love her nonetheless...gracie is a good dog and minds pretty well...if you say, "do you want a bath?" she will run for her bed...LOL...

so anyway Greg walked outside on new year's eve and saw the gardeners across the street and a small dog jumped out..to make a long story short, it was a cocker spaniel puppy...turns out the gardeners had found him running down a very busy street...they were going to take him to the

animal shelter...

disclaimer...I do not need a puppy at this time of my life at all...

how could I turn away this cute little face???

btw...we spent a week trying to find owners to no avail so, he is ours...

meet Lucky Charms...

business cards and squirrels

what????

2 of only a handful of things right now in my life (the others are the grand kids) that every single time I see them I cannot help it, I smile...what is it about squirrels??? have no idea...they just make me smile...and this neighborhood of ours, has tons and tons of squirrels...once when I walked to the corner, I counted 15 of them...they are everywhere...too cute...and the babies, OMGosh...

the business card??? how can I not smile??? am so proud of my son, that it makes me feel happy...

btw...my daughter I am proud of also...she redid all of my blogs with great backgrounds...

better days???

well, it seems that pretty pretty princess is mostly over her bout with the flu...altho, she still is not 100%..if she still seems yucky tomorrow, will see if the doctor can see her...also would like her checked out and get a flu shot before she heads out to japan at the end of the month...

on Friday, Greg had to help cook meat loaf at Elk's but I had chicken out so, I went ahead and made dinner anyway...made homemade chicken pot pie...which is one of Tim's favorites...and then I went up to Elks just to kind of hang out...starting to really like some of the people there and it is nice to have adults to talk to...Greg started feeling bad, so we came home early...

Saturday I had to watch princess while Sam was doing a job interview and Zoe was really well behaved...we went to shopping center to get new colored pencils (her addiction) and had breakfast at Carl's Jr....she did not eat as she said she still was not feeling too well...later that eve. Greg and I went to a birthday party for our next door neighbor at her mom's house...really nice house and a terrific party...they sure know how to party...had a dj and everything...her dad makes the best wild rice, pecan, and cranberry salad...desperately want the recipe...came home early as Greg was not feeling good...

2 kinds of flu...

today,woke up to the pretty princess sick...she has the flu that noone likes to talk about, and I surely don't want to get from her...she was sick all day while mom was at work and today is mom's very long day, not supposed to get home till like 8 tonight...she called in sick at 12 to the 2 other jobs...thank you...
and then, Tim also has the flu, but the coughing felling yucky kind...he feels horrible...but, still working...poor him...

went to Elk's for dinner last night and took macaroni salad and lemon cupcakes that I had made and of course everything went over really well...got tons of compliments on both...
am trying different cupcakes every week to get an idea of what to make for Greg's inaguration party at the Elk's when he gets to be ER...
so the lemon ones from last night are a go, so are my sweet potato ones, and also the red velvet ones I made last week...
3 down, but I would like to offer maybe 8-10 different ones...we will see...

here's hoping that I do not get sick from someone here...

made chicken fried rice & handmade egg rolls for dinner...a lot of work for both dishes....but, everyone was pleased with dinner...who knows, might be the last dinner we have for awhile if we get what the princess has...LOL...

migraines & passports

so, today I woke up with a really really bad migraine...the kind that you know you will mever get rid of no matter how hard you try...hate these kind of days cause I know I will not get too much done...

spent most of the morning getting everything together to get Zozo's passport...took a little while finding everything we needed...cost $200 to get document also...now just hope it gets here in time...did I forget to mention Zozo and Tim are going to Japan at the end of the month??? they are both really looking forward to the trip and are constantly planning what they will be doing while there...they are booked to stay at the hotel at Tokyo Disney...

so, even tho did not feel good still made a good dinner...corn chowder and homemade garlic & cheese biscuits...

tonight is the first night of bowling after the 2 week break...feel too bad to go and I was looking forward to going too...

something to smile about today??? watching Tim and Zozo play dance party on the Wi...

can't wait to go to bed tonight...

thank you God for today...more patience please...

Christmas 2010

so, with the grand kids getting bigger, there are not too many years left where I can make them matching outfits...so, this year bought the girl's plain white dresses from dharma trading and also got the tye dye there also...Sam and I tye dyed them and I think they came out perfectly...I hand painted snowmen and snowflakes...just happened to find on line a company that sells any color of striped tights and they matched perfectly...Cj's jeans say, "let it snow..." can you guess who Santa is??? it didn't take OUR kids that long to figure it out...

january menus

1 tacos, refried beans
2 bbq hamburgers, cole slaw, beans
3 spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
4 fondue, veggies, french bread, smokies
5 lasagna, bread, veggies
6 chicken soup, biscuits
7 meatball soup, bread
9 chicken pot pie
10 shake n bake chicken parts, rice a roni, veggies
11 taco cass., corn bread
12 twice baked potatoes with ham, veggies
13 sloppy joes, tator tots, corn
14 beef stew, bread
15 meat loaf,(the bisquick one) scalloped potatoes, veggie
16 chili with all the fixings
17 round steak onions, hash browns, veggie
18 porcupines, parmesan noodles, corn, biscuits
19 swedish meatballs, noodles, veggie
20 swiss steak, mashed potatoes, veggie
21 grilled cheese sandwiches, veggies, chips
22 impossible pies (corn/bacon, and cheeseburger) NEW RECIPE
23 roasted chicken, hobo potatoes, corn on cob, garlic bread
24 tri tip for pot roast with veggies
25 honey mustard chicken (like a stew with apples, potatoes, etc,) NEW RECIPE
26 bisquick chicken, rice, veggie
27 salsbury steak, mashed pots, veggie
28 corn chowder, garlic bread, apples
29 make our own pizzas, bread sticks, asst. cut up veggies
30 hamburger, rice, gravy with almonds and chow mein noodles
31 chicken fried rice, egg rolls,
1 macaroni and cheese, the new recipe with bow tie pasta NEW RECIPE
2 chicken almandine, veggies, bread NEW RECIPE

yes there is a date missing between the 7th and 9th...I leave one date open to go out or whatever...

sounds yummy, right???

commissary

grocery shopping took most of my morning...$375.00 (but coupons I cut got us down to $340.00)...pretty proud of myself...sure helps to make menus and grocery lists and of course the coupons...

Zozo went with us (don't ask me why she loves the commissary so much, maybe it's the pizza at Sam's she loves on the way home...) she was pretty good too, didn't ask for too much...trying to get her to eat a lot more healthy this new year and everything she got was health orientated...

we were out of a ton of basics also...which always adds up...ya know like bisquick, etc...

be nice to make dinner tonight and know for sure I have all the ingredients...

thinking tacos for dinner...

marie callendar & borders

after the littles went home, I was very tired...Greg, Tim and me went out to Marie's for dinner and I got turkey dinner, really good...
then we went to Borders where I had gotten a 50% off coupon...got a new cupcake book, another cookbook and a book for Zozo...

came home and put a fire in the fireplace...

an end to a good night...

like saying the date today....1-1-11...LOL...

new year's day & happy birthday

day one of my new resolutions...not that I really believe in resolutions and all that but, this year I am really really going to give this a try...

what did I plan for my "goals" this year???
1. diet...I would really like to lose 20-25 pounds before the inauguration in April...
2. blog more, so that when I am really old and decrepit I will have a journal of sorts to remember my terrific life...
3. a ton more patience with the grand kids...
4. church
5. to watch money more like coupons etc...I already (the day after Christmas I planned the menus for Jan. made the grocery list and cut over 25.00 of coupons out...I really was pleased with myself that is until Greg said I spend too much time on the computer...he did apologize later...

so, last night being New Year's Eve, we usually never ever go anywhere...but, we were actually invited to a party at the Troxel's...we went and did have a good time...a couple of other people were also there...it felt weird going somewhere by ourselves and having a good time...food was good and Beth made me a mud slide...now, if I did drink, that would be my drink of choice...

today is Cj's 3rd birthday and I wanted to take the kids out for pizza but, Zoe is not here this weekend and the littles have been pretty sick...it is so cold here that I decided to wait a couple of weeks to take them...made them a good (appetizers) lunch and he loved his power wheels car that Tim and Greg and I went in together and got him...looks cute...will try to get a pic before he takes it home...