Family Time

I had an errand I had to do in Tahoe,

so the family joined me and we had a fun day hanging out.

We mostly window shopped and ate.

It was a beautiful day, probably in the 60's,

and we couldn't have asked for prettier

 weather or better company.

We goofed around before my appointment.

Aust hammed it up with the Blue's Brothers.

He fits right in - right!

Here's a peak at what I was in Tahoe for.

 

After my errand, we goofed around a little more.

 

Lexx flirted with the locals.

And of course we had to take some family photos.

It was just too beautiful,

we couldn't resist.

I found this photo funny because Aust

is standing in front, and he's a good 2 inches

taller than Todd and I.

We just kind of hid behind him.

And this is what happens when you

ask my children to take a photo together.

I thought this was a cool picture because it

looked like something you would see during summer,

not something at the end of winter/beginning spring.

 

There, of course, was lots of eating involved

on our short little day trip, but that is par

for the course with our family.

 

We ended up heading home around 7 PM.

It was great timing because clouds were

just starting to roll in, and in fact,

it ended up snowing the next day.

 

You been on any fun little day trips lately?

Any suggestions where we could go?

Friday

 

Got my weekend started off right.

I just got home from a friends birthday party,

and the ecard above just about sums it up.

 

I'm looking forward to the weekend.

We'll have to see if anything exciting happens.

but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

XO

B

Pistachio Dessert

I saw this recipe on one of the blogs I read,

and had every intention of making it for St. Patrick's Day.

As you probably guessed, it didn't happen,

so I decided to make it for a family get together

we recently had to celebrate Austin and Bret's birthday.

Ms. Lexx was anxious to help, and we had

fun making the Pistachio Dessert together.

I just love having her there to help.

Lexx breaking the Heath Bar into little tiny pieces.

The dessert is simple to make,

and most people seemed to like it.

Although, if you don't like really sweet desserts,

this might not be the recipe for you.

Ingredients

50-55 Ritz crackers (crushed)

1/4 pound butter, at room temperature

1 quart vanilla ice cream

1 container cool whip

2 packages instant pistachio pudding mix

1 1/2 cup milk

1 bag of Heath Bits O Brickle Toffee bits

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Make the crust; mix the crushed Ritz crackers and butter in a bowl.

Spread on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. 

Bake for 8 minutes. 

 Cool crust completely. 

In another large bowl mix the 2 packages of instant pistachio pudding

Mix with the milk and vanilla ice cream. 

Spread on top of crust. 

Top with cool whip and sprinkle with Heath toffee bits. 

 Keep frozen.

Nephews - Part 2

So when I left off, the gang decided they 

wanted to go out that evening.

So where do you go when you have two 

middle school boys in your midst?

John's Incredible Pizza, of course!

Everyone but Todd.

The boys:  small, medium, large.

Riley and Lexx, were you doing 

something you weren't supposed to?

It sure looks suspicious!

Austin, what a pretty little girlfriend you have.

Bet all the guys are jealous.

After 3 hours of eating and games,

we were exhausted and decided to go home.

Sunday the boys were heading back home,

so before they left we decided to go 

on a walk together.

Of course Riley and Jarod had to hang with Austin.

The three amigos.

Lexx and I hung back with Thor.

It was a little warm that day,

so the hairy little munchkin decided he 

didn't want to walk.

Look what happened.

It was such a sweet couple days with 

my nephews and the kids around the house.

They definitely bring a "buzz" that is fun.

I'm not sure when Ri and Jarod will be back.

They are in middle school and things are 

starting to get hectic with sport practices,

girlfriends, you know, pre-teen stuff.

But, we can't wait for them to come back and visit.

Friday Rocks

Via

 

I haven't been great about posting this week

because it's been crazy busy.

With the kids on Spring Break,

we are cramming tons of activities into

a few short days.

This weekend is no exception.

 

Hopefully I'll be back next week with

some fun pics and post with a little

more substance.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

XO

B

Spring!

 

Actually, it's here.

First day of Spring is 3/20/14.

I just thought this was too cute and had to share.

 

Nephews

My awesome nephews from Texas spent their

Spring Break out here in California.

We got the boys on Saturday morning, but

 they had to go back home on Monday,

so the visit with us was short and sweet.

 

They seemed to have a good time while they were here.

Aust and Lexx are off this week, so they got

to spend a little time with their cousins.

All the "kids" started the day off by herding the baby goats.

Jarod and Riley trying to catch the goats.

Lexx loving on Yogi.

Riley babying Bam Bam.

Think Bam Bam might like being held?

Jarod enjoying Pebbles antics.

 

After we visited the goats,

we decided to go to the aviary.

 

While the birds were fun to watch,

the boys didn't enjoy them as much.

 

Can you tell by the look on Riley's face

that he was scared of the birds?

Jarod had his hoodie pulled up

because he was afraid the birds

would attack his head.

 

When the boys had there fill of animals,

there was some sword fighting and

 video game playing that went on.

 

We decided to head off the hill later in the evening 

to go have some fun,

but you'll have to stay tuned to see

what we did.

I know you guys are on the edge of your seat!

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Via

 

Have a safe and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Pi Day

 

 Today is Pi Day,

 you know the Greek number

3.1415926535897...(etc, etc)

that is used to represent the most widely

known mathematical constant.

It's the name given to the ratio of the circumference

of a circle to the diameter.

For any circle you can divide the circumference by the diameter

and always get the exact same number.

It doesn't matter the size of the circle.

 

This being 3/14 (March 14th),

it is imperative that you celebrate.

So what can you do to celebrate Pi Day you ask?

The Exploratorium in San Francisco

holds special events on this day, they claim to have started.

Eat a piece of pie.  Any type, any brand will do

(Although it shouldn't cost you more than $3.14/slice).

You could do the Pi Day Fun Run in Carson City, NV.

OR

What about doing the New York Times Pi Puzzle.

 

However you decide to celebrate,

I'm sure next year will hold even

more untold adventures as Pi Day will occur on

3/14/15.

Awesome!

 

Now go get wild and crazy and celebrate.

 

 

Spring, Sprung, Spronged?

I made the last word up in my post title.

Although, it's technically not spring yet, 

the plants on our property have been

 "sprung" around here for over a month.

Don't get me wrong, I love it.

You know I do because I always post

millions of pictures of flowers on my blog.

I can't help it.

It's like a sickness.

A real pretty sickness!

My tulip tree.

It makes my heart do a pitter patter.

Isn't she pretty?

And yes, I just called my tree a she.

Blooms from my tulip tree fully opened.

Some glowy yellow plant.

And it shall be from here henceforth called -

"Glowy yellow plant"

 Mr. Butterfly wanted to get in on the action.

What a ham.

Flapping his wings, strutting his stuff.

Did you know butterflies could strut their stuff?

Me either.

So there you go.

A quick down and dirty on the plants that are

starting to peak out now.

BTW, did you know spring starts March 20th?

Sunday Drive

Todd and I took a nice little Sunday drive

to Stumpy Meadows and Loon Lake this past weekend.

The day started out overcast,

but by 2 or 3 PM, the clouds had parted and sun shone through.

 

It was a glorious 70 degree day.

No cars on the road.

No people at the lakes.

Just us...and the two puppies.

 

This is what it looked like almost the entire drive.

I think we saw 5 cars on the road all afternoon.

 

When we arrived at Stumpy,

we were shocked at how low the lake was.

We both have seen it this low before,

but always at the very end of summer,

not the very end of winter.

 

This is a shot of the spillway.

The water level isn't even high

enough to hit the floating guards.

 

Thor was saddened by the lack of aquatic recreation.

 

After we took a few pictures and looked around a bit,

we headed back to the Jeep.

 

Todd has his little helpers in tow.

 

We started to get a little thirsty,

so we decided that we would make a detour to

Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Big mistake.

We should have known by the welcoming signs

that our little excursion was going to be a bust.

 

But being desperate we decided to go see what

was shakin inside anyways.

 

See the little black sign to the left of Todd.

It says, "Bad $hit happens if your park here."

Yep, another welcoming sign.

 

So Todd and I went inside hoping to grab

a soda or bottled water, and as soon as

we opened the door, we felt like we were

 in a scene from deliverance.

No, seriously.

It was just that welcoming.

Needless to say, Todd and I scurried out of

there just as fast as we could.

 

But we couldn't leave before taking

a picture of what happened to one of the cabins up there.

 

Notice a large part of the tree is missing.

Well, it kinda landed

 

Where it really shouldn't have.

Ouchy!

 

So we boogied out of Uncle Tom's,

still thirsty I might add,

and headed further up to Loon Lake.

Now keep in mind that Loon is usually

snowed in and inaccessible at this time of year.

 

This is what welcomed us.

See all that rock?

Well, you shouldn't, it should be under water.

 

A different angle of the lake.

 

That's the dam.

 

Todd and I saddened by what we saw,

explored for a little bit and took a

selfie and then headed home.

 

Parched and tired, we left Loon and

headed back to my parent's house

where my mom made her famous beans,

some cornbread and green salad.

It was delicious!

By the time we headed back home it was 6:30 PM.

 

It was a packed day, but so fun

getting to hang out with my hubby.

Skinny or Not

More the latter.

 

So I started this Weight Watcher nonsense last week.

Can I tell you that dieting makes me grumpy.

Exercise makes me even grumpier.
Like I would rather gnaw my arm off than exercise.

That's probably why I need to do this diet

thing in the first place.

 

I don't have many plans this week except

to sit around the house and feel sorry for myself.

Maybe I'll go on a walk, weather permitting

(actually, it prob depends more on my attitude than weather).

Before I forget, if you live around here,

don't forget to change your clocks this weekend.

Yep, we lose an hour sleep...

yet another reason to be grumpy.

 

And while I'm ranting,

can I tell you that I have a horrible pain in my

hand that makes a sharp shooting pain all the way

through my middle finger.

It makes me want to flip people off.

Not because I'm mad, but because it feels better

to have my hand in that position

(although, if I were mad it would be a good excuse!).

 

Okay, rant over.

I promise I'll be in a better mood next week

when my body is not in shock from lack of nourishment.

 

Have a great weekend.

XOXOXO

B

 

 

New Lights

As most of you know, my new word for the year is "IMPROVE".

I've been doing a fairly good job, thus far, adhering to some goals

that I had set for myself and/or my family.

As you may remember, home was one of the 

things I wanted to work on improving.  

Todd (mostly) and I have done some 

home improvement - see here and here.

This weekend we decided to tackle a long overdue project,

our entry lights.  When we built the house, back in the mid 90's,

we loved the brass look.  Our door handle/lock was brass,

our fireplace doors were brass, and our entry lights were brass

(And by brass, I mean color.  I'm not sure if they're real brass).

Todd's Uncle Lynn was thoughtful and bought us these lights

as a housewarming gift, and they have served us well over

the past 17ish years.  However, they are now looking a little 

worse for wear, and definitely need to be replaced.

So, on Saturday, I did what I do best, I went shopping. 

I picked up some pretty entry lights at Lowe's.  

They were a little pricey,

about $80./ea, but they make a world of difference.

Take a look and see for yourself.

Old lights.  Not a good look.

Don't mind the black blob.

I just blacked out our address so no weirdo 

stalkers could hunt us down.

As you can see, the old lights were a little worse for wear.

Todd got busy replacing them the minute I got home.

I literally took one out of the car, and by the time

I came back with the other one, he was already

taking the old lights down.

Look at my cute little handy man.

Hubba hubba!

After removing the first light, Todd found a little surprise.

Apparently some wasps had made a nest behind the light.

I'm surprised our house didn't burn down with all 

that junk piled in there.

It didn't take long for Todd to finish installing the 

new lights, and I have to say,

I LOVE THEM!

Well, hello gorgeous. 

Where have you been all my life?

\

I can't believe the difference two new lights can make.

I have a couple of other things that are being 

worked on that are around the door area,

but I don't want to share until it is ALL completed.

So I guess you'll just have to hold on

 to your panties and wait a little longer. 

 Or knowing how fast we complete projects

 around here, a lot longer.

So tell me, have you made any cheap fixes

to your house lately that look

 like a million bucks?

C'mon - share!