What Ya Doin'?

I had an awesome drive home this evening.

It's a full moon,

and on the way home I saw...

a snake on the road,

a white owl,

a deer,

AND

I almost stepped on a toad.

Mr. Toad on the right hand side of the picture.

Can you see him in the background?

Doesn't it sound like I could be writing a children's book?

What a great start to the weekend.

So what ya doin' this weekend?

Just Got Home

I just walked in the door at 9:20...

that's right PM.

I was doing another in service.

You could say I'm the in service queen.

Because of the late hour,

and because I'm dragging

I'm going to post about my shoes.

Why you ask?

Because I just got them for my birthday,

and I think they are super AWESOME sauce.

Somebody else apparently thinks they are pretty awesome too

because they came home from school wearing said shoes.

Yep, my yet unworn birthday shoes are now worn.

I'm going to have to get back at said person by going to their room

and wearing a pair of their shoes, thereby stretching them so that she 

(oops- I mean they) will have shoes that slip off their feet.

That's right...

Don't mess with me and my shoes!

Pretty Flower

I think I'm in flower love.

I just had to share a picture of the pretty flowers that

 are taking over in our little flower bed.

I got mad at our other flowers that were planted in there because, 

frankly, they were lame and looked wilted all the time.

I pulled them out (Shhhhh...don't tell Todd, he doesn't know yet) 

(Honey - if you are reading this....I LOVE YOU)

Anywho, we planted the pretty flower/bush

and man does it love it there.

Not bad for a little fall flower, right!

For those who are curious, I think it is either Lantana or Verbena - 

not sure which one.

What A Deal

As I mentioned before, Lexx and I had a girls day out this past weekend.

So, that being said, we couldn't pass up our favorite shopping spot.

Nordstroms you say...Nope

Macys you say...Nada

Salvation Army. ... a ha..you guessed it.

Lexx and I found some steals, and while I can't show you all of what we got,

I will share a couple of things.

(I'm not sure why they are loading sideways, so just tilt your head a little..mkay)

Bottoms from Victoria's Secret Pink collection

New dress - Target brand - still had original tags on it.

Beautiful ruffle shirt...hard to tell, but it is layered.

Momma's dress. 

 A little more conservative than 

I usually wear, but nice just the same.

Grand total?  

Less than $15!

Booyah - can't beat that baby!

Have you found any great deals lately?

Do share.

Outtakes

The kids had Saturday off, so I decided that this would

be a good opportunity to take an unplanned family portrait.

Well....I should know better.

What a disaster.

I didn't get one good picture because I was running back and forth

between pushing the camera's button and taking a picture.

I did, however, get some pretty funny outtakes.

Take a look.

Todd said he was doing his serious stare out in to the abyss look.

Think he nailed it.

Not sure what's going on here, but apparently I like it.

Not sure what's going on here either, but apparently Todd likes it.

Ummm, no comment.

I just couldn't tell you what was going on here.

Oddly enough, you will notice that none of the outtakes include the kids, just us parents.

Take a guess at who the mischievous ones are in this family.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

 

It's the weekend!

 

We're going to Thai food tonight - Yummers!

I can't wait to have some Pad thai...I'm salivating.

 

This weekend I'm going to have an awesome Girls Day Out with Lexx.

We are going shopping for her boyfriends nephew...should be fun.

I think I'm also going to an anniversary dinner on the river

 (we'll have to see how busy we are).

 

I'm super excited for the fun to begin.

 

What are your plans?

Get Your Glow On

Austin has been talking about getting a bike to assist him in his weight loss.

Last week the fam went to REI and looked at their bikes.

We found a few viable options,

but I just ran across this...

 

source

source

 

I'm not sure if it's a good bike, but man wouldn't it be cool

to be riding down the road in the dark with this?

 

A word to the interested though, the bike only glows for about an hour,

 as the paint is solar activated.

 

If you are interested in the bike, go to this site.

 

So what do you think? 

Would you buy one?

You Got What I Need

 

 

 

Happy 23rd Anniversary Honey!

Destructos

The fam was busy this weekend.

I'll give you a little glimpse of what they were doing.

Austin going for it.

Alexxa doing what she does best....destruction!

(Sorry for the butt pic Lexx, it was the only one I had).

Todd doing what he does best, giving directions.

Are you diggin' his Karate Kid hair do complete with headband?

I wasn't in on the destruction because I had a migraine from Friday to Sunday 

(Monday technically, but I still went to work on Monday).

I hid out and they got busy.

It's really exciting to see stuff come together.

You'll have to stay tuned to see the end result.

Just a little FYI - it may be 5 years before all the work is done

 because that's how we do stuff around here.

SLOWLY!

Just Hanging Around

Look at this little guy I found hanging around (or should I say over) the pond.

All the little critters are coming out to play now that it is fall.

I Love

There is something about Fall.

It's my favorite season.

I love the colors.

I love the smells.

I love the weather.

I love the clothes that you get to wear.

I love everything about it.

Paula Cobleigh Photography

Have a fabulous weekend!

Make Yourself at Home

link

 

If I throw a "Pretty please!" in there

would you do it?

Some Cute Little Visitors

On the way home the other day, 

Todd and I spied some cute little visitors.

We had seen them before, but they were never as brave as this particular day.

They usually see us and take off running, but for whatever reason,

 this day they decided they were going to stand there and have a stare down with us.

I managed to fumble around, get the camera, turn it on, and just when I was going to take a pic,

 momma and the twins took off - figures!

I only got a picture of one of the fawns, but trust me, there were two there.

Momma and baby #1 ears

Oh look, there they are.

I would think that they were super cute if they hadn't

nibbled on our garden and eaten some of our veggies, but I can't blame them.

If I saw some food just begging to be eaten, I don't know that I could resist.

It is enjoyable to watch the little ones grow up.

Ahhh, one of the perks of living in the country.

Perfect Song

 

to play for a birthday week.

I love this band, and actually saw them in concert a couple years ago.

They were pretty amazing.

 

 

I've been to my share of concerts, and I can't say that all of them were good.

This one was definitely worth the money.

Birthday Celebration(s)

I survived the weekend ...inservice and all.

Saturday was a bear though.

I got home and collapsed on my bed and ended up taking a 3 hour nap.

Todd and I were going to celebrate my birthday/our anniversary, but I was too beat.

After I woke up from my monster nap, Todd and I talked, and decided that we would celebrate my birthday on Sunday, and that we would celebrate our anniversary next weekend

 (maybe even the weekend after that).

So being the sweet honey bunny that he is, Todd took Lexx and I to breakfast on

 Sunday to start off my birthday.

We ate at our favorite spot (can you guess where?).

I decided to have a little mimosa to get the morning started.

I rarely drink, so this was really unusual.

Lexx and I, pre Mimosa. 

My breakfast

Alexxa's breakfast

Todd's breakfast

What a light weight.

Note to self:  Don't let anyone take your picture while you are drinking.

Because I'm such a light weight, I almost spilled my eggs in Todd's lap, and immediately after that proceeded to fling scrambled eggs across the table and on to Todd's shirt...

Ooopppseeee.

I didn't do much between lunch and dinner except chores, take a nap, and play on the computer,

 but when dinner time rolled around - 

I was all over that and ready to go.

We ate at the Auburn Alehouse.

We had never been there, but heard good things and decided to go check it out.

Some brewsky samplings and the real thing - Yummers.

'

The hubs and scary me.

Doesn't it look like I want to eat your soul in this picture.

Apparently I don't pay attention to my mental notes to myself, 

and allowed people to take my picture while drinking.

My little cuties...aren't they just the cutest!

Todd's seafood ciapino and Austin's pizza.

I didn't take pictures of Lexxa's and my dinner because they were just soup and salad.

Take my word though, the food was delicious.

We definitely plan on going back in the near future.

So what did we do after dinner?

Came back home, got in our jammies and wen't to bed.

So what do you do for your birthday?

Does it revolve around food like mine always does?

Are you a foodie like me?

Happy Viernes

Should be a pretty busy weekend.

I have my Saturday in service,.

 

I'm dreaming that I was here....

 

link

 

I will survive, and maybe I'll get a couple pictures to share.

We'll see how swamped I am.

 

So whatcha doin' this weekend?

1 Job Down

We took full advantage of the long weekend.  

Todd and I finished the project that we had been putting off for the past three weeks.  

We decided to get busy and just paint our room.  

Todd started first by spackeling (I don't know how to spell it).

Yes, I took pictures while he worked (kind of...how hard is spackeling).

I took a picture so you could see the difference in paint color.

It is hard to see when you take a picture of the entire room painted.

I started painting after taking a few pictures, and painted for about 1 1/2 solid.

So I had to have some sustenance.

And while I ate, Todd finished the very last part of the room.

Now all we have to do is windowsills and flooring.

We aren't going to do the flooring until Alexxa goes off to college again, 

so I have probably another year until the project is completely finished.

Cake Ball / Pops

I've seen these things floating around the blogosphere for a little while, and have always wanted to try my hand at making them.
I took the opportunity during the long weekend to give cake pops a shot.
I did a little research, but really, nobody had ingredients/directions.
It was all pretty vague.
So, I decided, what the heck...what harm can I do.
If they turned out like crappola, I would just toss them.

Being a horrible blogger, I didn't take pictures of the ingredients, or the process, just the end result, but I will walk you through what I did.

I took a cake mix from the store and followed the directions on the package.  After the cake was done, I let it cool for about 15-30 minutes.
After the cake had cooled for a bit, I scooped out the inside of the cake and left anything that felt like it was a little overcooked (hard edges, etc).
I put the insides of the cake in a bowl and scooped out store bought frosting.
I added frosting to the cake until the mixture was blended and moist, but not superdy duper gooey.
At this point I tried to take a scooper and make little balls, but the mixture was a little sticky, so I ended up taking a scoop in my hand and rolling it in my palms until it resembled a ball.
When I had used all the mixture and made them into balls, I then refrigerated them for about 1 1/2 hours.
After my hour or so was up, I then took bakers chocolate, melted it in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes, took the balls one at a time and dunked them.
Here is where I believe I made a mistake.  I used a vessel to melt the chocolate that was to wide, so I had to roll the cake balls around instead of being able to just dip.
This allowed the chocolate time to cool off, making the outer chocolate not smooth, but kind of ...well...unappealing looking (I'll just leave it at that).
I used all the bakers chocolate to cover 3/4 of the cake balls (so I would probably buy one more package next time), and then put the little critters in the fridge to set.
I probably left them in there about an hour until I just couldn't stand it and had to do a taste test.

And the results were....

Delicioso - marvelous - fantastishe!

Not to brag or anything, but they were pretty darn good for just making it up as I went along.

Like I said asthetically speaking, they left a little to be desired, but taste wise - nom, nom, nom!

So, what do you think?  Have you ever tried making these little guys?  Any tips or pointers?

Yumalicious

So I told you that I made chicken cordon bleu, but what I didn't tell you was that it was super yummy.
I made 6 chicken breasts, all were gone by the end of the night.

Here is the recipe I used from allrecipes.com .
I didn't make the sauce, and it turned out fine, but I included the recipe in case you would want to make it.

Horrible blurry picture of the ingredients.

Chicken breast with ham and swiss.

All wrapped up and ready to bread.

Breaded chicken

The finished product.

Dinner is served.

Inside of the chicken...yummy perfection!

Ingredients
              

8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

8 slices cooked ham
4 slices Swiss cheese, cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup cornflakes cereal crumbs or bread crumbs

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place each chicken breast half between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet to about 1/8 inch thickness. Place a finger of cheese on each ham slice. Roll up seasoned ham and cheese 'jellyroll-style', then roll each chicken breast with ham and cheese inside. Tuck in ends and fasten with toothpicks.
3. Place melted butter in a small bowl and place cereal crumbs in a shallow dish or bowl. Dip each chicken roll in butter or margarine, then roll in crumbs, turning to coat thoroughly. Place coated rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for about 40 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and juices run clear. Serve with cordon bleu sauce, if desired.
5. To Make Cordon Bleu Sauce: In a small saucepan mix together the soup, sour cream and lemon juice. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, and serve hot over chicken rolls. Makes about 2 cups; 8 servings of 1/4 cup each.

Labor(ious) Weekend

I know that Labor Day is usually reserved for parties and camp outs.
That didn't happen this weekend in our household.
We thought about heading to Tahoe, but when I looked up prices of hotels, that quickly made me change my mind (I'm soooooo cheap).
Austin had to work and Lexx went out of town, so it was just Todd and I at home all alone.

link

 

Saturday was packed full of errands, my favorite of which was getting my hair done!
Then we headed off to Sam's Club for some shopping.
We ate dinner at Chili's (Yay for the bottomless soup and salad).
When we got home, we proceeded to do fun stuff like laundry and weed eating.

Sunday was much more laid back.
We decided to tackle the painting project we have been putting off for about 3 weeks.
I was exhausted because we got it done in about 2 hours, so I took a sweet little nap.
When I woke up, I felt inspired, so I made some Chicken Cordon Bleu and Cake Balls.

Monday I used to complete my work on an in service that I am helping conduct this Saturday.
I present my subject to about 130 people, so I wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about.
This took most of the day, as I finished my presentation, and then went to town to pick up odds and ends for the in service.

I'm so happy that the weekend was extended because I don't think I could have accomplished everything I wanted in  just two days.  It definitely will help make this weekdays a little less stressful.

What did you end up doing this weekend?  Did you go out of town or just hang out at home?