Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tuesday 6/28/11

Good morning!!

I am sitting here drinking my coffee wondering where my children get so much energy that they can be as loud and obnoxious as firecrackers first thing in the morning?? Seriously where can I get energy like that??

The nice thing is that the 3 of them are pretty much playing well together while I check in here and drink my precious precious coffee, lol Without coffee I would be a zombie for sure. Actually I think I may need another cup as I am feeling pretty zombish at the moment. lol

So whatcha got planned for today??

We are going to go out to check on the garden as soon as it dries off. We are either experiencing a very heavy dew or it must have showered last night because everything is wet out there.

I figured a morning out in the garden for me, play time for my littles then lunch should wear out my youngest for sure. During nap I'll do some straightening up around here and prep dinner.

Maybe there will be time for crocheting on the wedding gift I am working on or maybe coupon clipping later?? We will see.

Dinner tonight is Breakfast for dinner, we'll have sausage patties, eggs, fried potatoes and juice!!! If I've any spunk left I may work up some breakfast sandwiches for the freezer!! This summer vacation is going by way fast and before long I'll be rushing not 1 but 2 off to school, and they will need something to get them through till lunch time. A little freezer cooking here and there will hopefully make the mornings alot easier on all of us!!

Have a wonderful day!!
Dana

Monday, June 27, 2011

Menu plan Monday

Monday: Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, pan gravy, corn

The rest of the week not in any particular order:

Salmon Cakes, Baked Potato, Spinach or Broc which ever I have in the freezer :P
Beef and Broccoli stir fry with veggie fried rice
Breakfast for dinner: Sausage Patties, eggs and potatoes- and I think I may have some english muffins in the freezer so I may make extra sausage patties and do a mini freezer session for breakfast sandwiches??? We will see.
Hm pizza

That brings us to the weekend which is 4th of July weekend and well around here that pretty much guarantees grilling out ALL.WEEKEND.LONG!! Well..... weather depending of course!!!

Dh's gram already asked me what meats were on sale this week. She's pretty much agreeable on grilling out this weekend!! And it will be good to have her over for dinner!! After her skin cancer surgery 2 weeks ago she has been pretty much homebound. It will do her good to get out of the house!!

What's cooking at your place this week?? Do tell!!

Dana

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Tuesday's Master Plan 6/21/2011

Happy 1st official day of summer!!

Its been pretty warm here lately so I was happy to believe its been summer for a few weeks now!! :)

Today's master plan is to do the laundry!! Get it all washed, dried and put away!! It should take most of the day!!

I also need to take the dehydrators out to the garage and get them put away.

I have some papers that need sorted and filed ( either really filed or filed in the paper shredder, lol)

Really lots of busy work needs done!! Hopefully the kiddos will cooperate!! Usually they are messing up as fast or faster than I can clean up!!

Lunch today is leftover dinner from last night. We went to a local italian place. Mmmm it was sooo good. It was really nice for dh's gram to treat us!!!

Dinner tonight I am pretty sure will be leftovers!! I have some steak leftover from our father's day dinner, and some italian sausages and brats leftover from another dinner so I think it would be best to make sub sandwiches for dinner tonight with the leftovers!!! I don't have any provolone cheese for the steak sandwiches but I bet mozzerella will work just fine for tonight!!

Thats about all for me today. I still need to make a shopping list and clip and sort my coupons but I think that will be a chore for another time. I think today will be pretty busy!!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Monday, June 20, 2011

6/20/2011

My mood right now is a toss up.

On one hand we soooo need the rain so that the garden does well and we don't end up with a drought like last year where it was hotter than Hades and everything burned up not to mention that spending time outside was just undoable and UNBEARABLE in that heat!!

Then on the other hand, all this rain means inside only. My kiddos like to be outside, running and playing and having a good time during the summer.

So now what?? Grin and bear it I guess!!

Today we went to run errands for Daddy. Tonight we are having dinner with Mammaw. Tomorrow we are getting company in the afternoon, and I have TONS of housework stuff that needs attention after the weekend that we just had which was totally busy. So I'll be playing catchup in the morning to try to get it done!! Tomorrow night Granny is coming for dinner and I am pretty sure she is bringing one of the cousins with her. Lets hope the rain holds off so that they can play outside at least a bit.
Wednesday more errands
Thursday or maybe Friday hoping the rain holds off and we can have a play date with a friend and her little one.

Busy busy busy!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!!!

Good Morning!! The hubs is sleeping in, he deserves it, after all it is Father's Day. We celebrated last night with Steak on the grill and baked potatoes.

I'm on a roll so far today, lol , So far I have switched over the laundry, started a new load and that load is now in the dryer. I've unloaded, and reloaded the dishwasher, bagged up the 3lbs of hm jerky I made yesterday. I've laid out my boy's clothes for church and am fixing to get her royal cuteness in the tub. (<- She played out and fell asleep not long after dinner last night so no tubby for her till this morning!!!) And all that after only 1 cup of coffee!!

I've poured another cup of coffee and am headed to take Kara to the tub and then need to get the kids and I ready for church.

So far so good here, have a great day!!!
Hopefully I'll be able to check in later!!
Dana

Friday, June 17, 2011

And then it hit me....

Took the kids to run errands today..

The boys seriously needed hair cuts, we needed a few things here at home and I had to pick up a few things for my oldest son's camping trip with the scouts that is coming up.

While I was out I decided I really should pick up something for the hubs from his little geeklings for Father's Day. He's only really asked for 1 thing so I made sure to get that, which was a couple packs of pocket t-shirts as his are wearing really thin, and we picked him up some pistachios too- they're his favorite. I've got a nice dinner planned for him as well.

I strolled over to the greeting card section and started reading the cards trying to pick out one for the hubs from me, one from the kids and heck while I am at it, I figured I'll pick up one for my 2 grandfathers and the kid's "adoptive" grandfather and..and..then it hit me, I won't be buying my dad a card this year, I won't be racking my brain trying to find him the perfect gift, I won't be calling him arranging a good time for him to come over for a cookout. He's not going to answer the phone when I call. It hit me hard, I felt my knees wobble and it was all I could do not to loose it right there in the greeting card section.

Most of the time I think I am doing so well, and then something, it could be anything, plucks that heartstring and I am a emotional mess.

I miss him. I miss him so much it hurts, its a pain like I have never known could hurt this bad and this coming from the lady who had a c-section with only 1 side of her body numb, I know pain, I just have never known pain and hurt like this.

And its hard, I don't want the kids to see me cry, to see my hurt. After all I am their Mama and I am supposed to make things better for them, easier for them, painless for them. How can I tell them everything is going to be ok, if I myself am having trouble coping.

So I left the greeting card section, trying hard to regain control and not let them see my eyes tearing up.

Losing Dad is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tuesday 6/14/2011

Good Morning!!
I'm sitting here enjoying my coffee, I've packed dh's lunch and he has left for work, 2 out of 3 kids are up. So far its an easy going morning!!


Yesterday was a busy day for us, but we had fun too!!
We started our day by gathering up and taking away the trash, then I had to pick up paperwork for dh while we were in town, I stopped to get the kids some lunch which we munched on the way to dh's grams house so I could clean her wound and change her bandages. We also picked her up a sandwich while we were out as a treat the poor thing hasn't left her house or even been outside since Friday.

Once we were back home I dove into the laundry pile, I washed and hung out 3 loads, boxed up some of Brady's outgrown clothes for donation, worked on papers Colby brought home from his last day of school and just worked around the house. I made tea for my mom and plated up meals for her for the next few days. I watered the garden and by the time I finished that dh had come home and mom had come over to pick up her goodies. They inspected my garden to see how great it was doing- its a country thing, most people find out your gardening they want to inspect it, and talk a while over it!!!

Then on the walk back to the house the boys discovered the June Berries were ready. So as Mom got ready to head home the boys and dh launched a Berry Picking Party, Kara and I tagged along to help. She didn't pick any berries but she ate plenty!! There are good many of those Wild Red Raspberries out there, not all are ripe yet but they did pick a good many.

Here are some pics of the event, I didn't get any of the boys picking, by the time I got the camera they were pretty much done but I couldn't help but snap these few pics:

Kara holding her berry, this pic is a little fuzzy because she wouldn't stop moving, lol


Mmmm Wild Red Raspberries are YUMMY!!!!



Berry Stained Face= Very Happy Baby!!






Close-up of the Berries. The boys are so excited to be picking wild berries!! They are talking about making homemade wild red raspberry icecream. I'm wondering how they are going to do that when we don't have a ice cream maker. I'm guessing daddy is hinting around for Father's Day Gifts!! We will see what happens!! I think for now I will just freeze them till we have enough to do something with.


So that was our Monday!!


Today I have more laundry to do, more housework to do, more lovin on my kiddos to do. Looks like it will be a pretty busy day!!


I need to go hunt around in the freezer, I have a good many leftover mashed potatoes, and I am thinking that I am pretty sure there is a pork roast out there that will go great with those mashed potatoes!!


Have a great day!!

Dana
























































Monday, June 13, 2011

I can't believe my last post was Wednesday....

I have been trying to post each day more for a to-do list for myself but it helps keep me organized, at least that is my hope. I am a list maker and if I make a list on paper its inevitable that my youngest will get a hold of it and either rip it to shreds, draw all over it or drool all over it while ripping it to shreds. So blogging my to-do list is most helpful in that area lol

Its been an extremely busy weekend and it looks like this week will be out of sight busy as well.

What happened to it being the LAZY DAYS of summer?? There certainly isn't any of that around here!!

Ok let me catch up:

Thursday was 1/2 day of school but also the last day of school!! My youngest also had a check up with shots and was lets say unconsolable for 12hrs after that. Ugh what a day that was, she got her shots and I had time to kill in town before oldest got out of school so I thought Oh ok I'll go by Michaels and pick up some yarn for these baby blankets I would like to make for the Church Yard Party Auction, and then I will pick up lunch <- I had promised the boys I would pick up Popeye's for lunch as a treat for it being the last day of school and because they did so well etc.

So we leave the dr office, she is fine, not really happy she got shots but the screaming she did while she got them was over and she seemed to be her normal happy carefree self. I stopped for gas, and picked up drinks and a snack because I had forgot to grab drink cups when I left that morning. After the fill up, we proceded to Michaels where once inside she decided to scream and cry and just totally did not wan to shop, ok skip the yarn and drive across town to get Popeyes and then come home and wait for Colby to get off the bus.

NOTHING at home got done that day, she had bouts of screaming and clingyness the rest of the day and into the evening, WOULD NOT go to bed in spite of being totally exhausted, finally around Midnight I took her to our bed snuggled her down and after she flopped a good 10mins she finally let sleep over come her and she slept fitfully until I got up at 5am, so yeah not alot of sleep for mama. Not how I envisioned our Last Day Of School celebration to go but I am pretty lucky that my boys and especially my hubby rolls with the punches.

Friday I like I said got up early, haveing not been able to get anything done on Thursday because Kara wanted to be held most of the day and night I had things the needed to be done before my mom got here to watch the kids for me while I took Dh's gram to the dermatologist for skin cancer surgery on her nose. Let me just say that no sleep before a big deal like surgery even if it is on someone else is a BIG DEAL. Dh's gram is a wonderwoman, honestly I hope I am just as super when I am 87 years old. Let me tell you what they did to her, they brought us back to a room to preform the surgery, I stayed while they numbed her nose and prepped her then I had to wait in the hall, anyway the cut the cancer off then had to test it to make sure they got it all, the surgery itself took minutes the waiting took close to an hour, while they are testing they brought us to another room to just sit and wait, well the first test sample came back positive so they took her back again to operate, then more waiting, the second sample came back positive so they took her back again to operate, then more waiting, the third sample cameback positive so the took her back again to operate, then more waiting, They cut on her 4 seperate times FINALLY she came back clear of skin cancer so we waited another hour and then they decided to close her wound. What a ROCK she is. Originally they told her 1/2 an hour and then she would be done so she had asked me if my mom would mind keeping the kids a bit longer so I could take her to the farmers market and to Walmart, well needless to say we were there quite a bit longer than 1/2 an hour and we didn't get released until after 2, she was in no mood to shop then so I filled her prescriptions and brought her home. I've been changing the bandages on her nose each day since. She is weak and sleeps alot and the first day after she told me her nose couldn't hurt more if someone had beat her in the nose with a bat, her eyes were black and her whole face was swollen. But each day she is getting better.

Saturday we went with mom to get flooring to finish her kitchen and hall. The kids and I ended hanging out at moms till He was done working at there for the day. It was another long night and we didn't get to bed again till late.

Sunday we went to church, then I picked up gram and paps meds, then I went to the cemetary to see my dad, then stopped at Gram and Paps, left there to meet up with the hubs<- he was finishing up the flooring at my moms, then I went to change the bandages on his gram then we went shopping to get stuff to get our oldest ready for camp. Then home !!!

Today is busy busy busy catch up day, I need to do laundry, dishes, pick up the house, take away the trash and change the bandages on dh's grams nose, then home for more housework!!

Thankfully today we will having leftover so meals are taken care of.

I think that catches me up. So yeah so much for The Lazy Days of Summer!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Wednesday 6/8/2011

When my oldest gets off the bus this afternoon he will officially have 1/2 a day of school left!!
I don't know who is more excited...him...or...ME!!

Don't get me wrong I highly value education and I am absolutely over the moon that he is finishing his 3rd grade year with 3 A's and 3 B's, but I am looking forward to having more time to hang out, have fun and enjoy a slower pace for a while!!

*FYI I think wholeheartedly that those 3 B's could have been A's except for like most of us in our school career he contracted "End-of-year-itis" also commonly known as "its-warmed-up-outside-and-I-want-to-play-instead-of-work-itis"and slacked off a bit the past month or so, B's they may be, but they are higher B's so not far from A's. <- Ok I know thats the braggy mom in me but I am proud of him reguardless!

Now onto to my day....

I've already watered the garden, I think I've lost one hill of cukes but hopefully everything else will continue to thrive.

In the house today is more of the norm...
Laundry
work more on the boys room
Sort outgrown clothing and box up for a donation
work on a Menu
Make a grocery list
Shop for groceries
etc etc etc

Dinner tonight is stir fry, hubs picked up dinner last night so I would have a night off, so tonight we are definately having the stirfry. Going to try Pioneer Womans Beef and Snowpeas only I'll be adding more veggies, I LOVE VEGGIES in stir fry, and well... it makes the meat stretch farther!!

Thats all for me today!!
Have a great day!!
Dana

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

PS...I am not ignoring your comments

For some reason I can sign in to post but when I try to reply to posts it won't let me sign in. Gonna have to have tech support (ie the hubby) check it out for me when he gets a spare moment!!

Another Day, Another Day full of housework planned......

Today is shaping up to be just as busy as yesterday.

I was able to wash and hang out 4 loads of laundry yesterday, as well as wash and dry inside 2 loads.

I paid bills.

I did 2 loads of dishes in the dishwasher.

I started cleaning out the boys room, ugh seriously, what a mess. Today more work will be done in there. I can't believe they let it get so bad. I have totes for toys but everything is mixed up and tossed about, ugh, BOYS!!!!

I need to clean out the fridge.

I need to gather up and take away the trash today.

I also need to water the garden.

SO MUCH TO DO, and only 1 me!! I swear the more I clean up and try to organize the more they mess up in another room.

Such is the season of my life right now!!

Not sure about dinner, I am thinking Beef and Veggie Stirfry, I need to see what I have in the freezer. With so much that needs doing around here I am really trying not to have to go to town.

Have a great day!!
Dana

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday Monday!! 6/6/2011

Today is a busy day for us!!

I have laundry to do, and the house to pick up from the weekend.

I've got the windows open, and the ceiling fans on to circulate the air. Its going to heat up fast today, but thats ok, trying to save on the electric bill some. I'll need to close up shop and turn the air back on before dh gets home. He does not like to be hot when he is home relaxing from work!! I can't say I blame him either, plus it makes sleeping more comfortable.

Not sure what I am going to do about dinner tonight, we have several options of things I can make without having to go to the store, but hmm we will have to see what I have a taste for later on this afternoon.

I'll post a menu later.

Have a great day!!
Dana

Sunday, June 5, 2011








































































Kara on the slip n' slide



















































Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Garden is IN!! and PIE Day!!

Just stopping in really quick to post, before my busy busy day!!

The garden is in, well mostly, I still have a couple rows that are empty and well I just can't leave that be so something will be going into them soon!!

I've got pics of all my happy helpers in the garden, and I will post them soon, maybe tonight!!

Yesterday for me was pie day. Originally I had planned to hang out with my friend Tiffani, but I postponed due to the fact that my oldest is still in school and is feeling alittle leftout as of late, his brother is finished with preschool over a week ago and now is able to go do things with me during the day and my oldest is feeling way leftout. Not that I am normally doing anything glamorous but I guess time with mom is still time with mom no matter what we're doing. So instead of hanging out with Tiffani and her cutie patootie little girl Phoebe, I baked pies and cakes for the church dinner being held this evening.
Totally a good thing I postponed becuase seriously I didn't finish baking until like 8 pm last night and I baked all day long.
In total I baked 3 cakes, and 7 pies. My mom came over to use my oven since hers is out of commission and 1 of the cakes was hers, as was 2 of the pies. My cakes were boxed I admit but my pies were all home made from scratch. EVEN the pumpkin I used for the 3 pumpkin pies, I had the puree in the freezer from a pumkin I harvested a while back.
Lots of work to be sure but it is definately going to a good cause!!
Pics to follow of the finished products too!!

Ok gotta go, lots and lots to do!!
Have a great day!!
Dana

Thursday, June 2, 2011

ok so the garden didn't go in... :(

Nope, no garden progress here. Hopefully today, so far it seems like today will be lots cooler and maybe dh will be home in time to help.

If, no WHEN I get it done I hope to have pics to share!!

I'll update later!!
Dana

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The garden is going in.....Tonight!!

Made a trip to the feed mill today, and picked up my green bean seed. Lord I pray I bought enough.I am only doing 2 rows of beans, I hope they produce like crazy and I can replenish what we have eaten because I am down to less than 10 quarts of home canned beans and my 2 youngest children are green bean eating machines!!

I think it was a big mistake not to grow any last year.

I think I need a bigger garden.

So far in our garden we plan to have:

Green beans
Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Cayenne Peppers
Tabasco Peppers-new to me this year- hoping to make hot pepper vinegar
Brussells Sprouts- new for me this year as an experiment
Cucumbers
Cantelope
Watermelon

I hope the garden does well and we will have lots to can up for winter use.