odds and ends

This is our cat Panther. Yes, he is a big boy. The last time he was on a scale he was up to 37 pounds. Don't let his size fool you, he is an awesome mouser! Panther even manages to keep his fur perfect at all time. However he is not a very social able cat.

Here is a picture of the tie pillow. These are so easy to make! I just bought the pillow form and then grabbed some material. I do not know how much material. I just pulled the material up around the pillow and then cut it and sewed it up. I then took the men's ties and wrapped them around the pillow. I did "tack" the ties down so that they would not move, but they can be easily removed if you want to wash the pillow. You can get very creative with the ties and lay them out in so many patterns. I was just not in a very creative mood today.

I told Martha that I would send her some of my cooking ideas. Instead I am going to post some of them here so everyone can use them. Feel free to repost them!

Easy hot ham and cheese

1. package of crescent rolls

some ham or turkey lunch meat

some sliced cheese.

I put one piece of meat and a half of a slice of cheese in the crescent roll and then roll them up. Bake as usual. I make this a lot when I need a quick meal. You can dip the sandwich in mayo or whatever you would like.

Scalloped potatoes

About 5 good sized potatoes

1 can of Cheddar cheese soup

1/2 can of milk

1 cup of shredded Cheddar

cut the potatoes into bite size pieces and boil until they are tender. Mix the soup and a milk together. Drain the potatoes and place in baking dish. Pour the soup over the potatoes and top with shredded cheese. Bake @ 350 for about 10 min. until the cheese is melted.

My trail mix

1 cup of Cherrios

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds or any type of nuts

1/2 of raisins

Mix everything together. real simple! LOL Sometimes I will add holiday m&ms,  dried fruit, coconut, or what ever else you would like! This snack packs very well and it is "good for you"

That is all for tonight. Just a side note, I think spell check missed a lot, so dont blame me! LOL

 

pay check

 So Amber got her first pay check yesterday and she was disappointed! She got a check for $75. O.K. lets do some math. I make my children save 20% right off the top. Then Amber had a $85 phone bill. She is in the red. Amber has discovered that working for money and having to pay bills just sucks!

Rusty and I have been looking into some "investments" for the girls. I am going to have Amber open a c.d. the next time we are at the bank. Amber has $300 in her savings, so if she puts even half of that into a c.d. she will make more money off of it then if it was just collecting interest. Our bank has some wonderful programs for children...who knew? Anyway, we are also thinking about buying the children some stock for Christmas.

Today I am going to work on some stuff around the house. Nothing to exciting there.

I was asked what Mahi Mahi is so here is what I found on the Internet. We started eating Mahi when we lived in Hawaii because it was cheap. I take a Mahi steak and drizzle lemon juice over it. Then I add some seasonings and butter. I make a foil pouch and bake it for about 25 min. The I open the pouch and bake it for another 7 min. It is so light and flaky! YUMMMM

Description:   Properly called dolphin or dorado, the mahi-mahi is not related to the mammal called dolphin.   It is one of the most beautiful fish in the sea; brilliantly colored with an iridescent bluish green and gold body, and golden yellow fins and forked tail.  The average size is 3-6 pounds but they have been known to grow as large as 5 feet and reach 70 pounds.   One distinguishing characteristic between males and females is the head.  The male's head is more rounded while the female's head slopes down to the mouth . One of the fastest swimming fish in the sea, they prefer the warmer tropical and subtropical waters of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast of Florida.  Their spawning season extends from late spring through early summer. Mahi-Mahi feed offshore, near the surface on small fish, shrimp, squid and crabs and are commercially harvested by hook-and-line.

good day of shopping

 Check it out! Elle and I went to my favorite thrift store and I got Nikki a pair of baby phat jeans for $2.00! It was half price day at the thrift store! I also got our friends daughter this really cute unicorn costume!     O.K. so you can only see the head on it, but it is so cute!

Elle and her brother went back to Alaska today. We always enjoy her coming out here. When Elle comes back in the spring she wants to drive up the coast of California. We want to see hurst castle, the Reagan Library, and I want to see a red wood tree. I think that would be so much fun.

Rusty is in Long Beach for the weekend, so it is just the children and I. Tonight I am going to cook some Mahi Mahi for dinner. Rusty is not a big fish eater so I figured now would be a good time to cook some.

I am going to try to get some sewing done this weekend. I really want to see how these pillows are going to turn out.

Tonight I am allowing Nikkis "boyfriend" to come over. I am not happy that she wants to "date" this kid, but I figured that I told her flat out no she would just do it anyway. I told Nikki that the only way she can see him is if comes over here. So I am not sure what time he will be here, but he will be here at some point tonight.

I hope everyone has a great Friday night!

my legs are gross

 So, before I got sick I noticed these spots on my legs. So I decided not to shave, and I was hoping that the spots might have been from shaving. Then I got sick, and did not think about shaving. I looked at my legs yesterday and the hair on them is so long! And I still have these spots.

This really bumms me out because I do not wear shorts or short skirts because I have those huge veins on the back of my knee. The look so bad, and now I have spots on the rest of my legs. That makes me mad.

Well Amber failed her driving test yesterday. Rusty was trying to help her study and she just blew him off. I guess that's what you get when your 16 and you know everything?

So I posted two pictures of the quilt. What do you guys think? I really need to get a digital camera instead of using my phone all the time! Maybe Santa will bring me one.

The ab lounge is working! I am up to 70 crunches a day. Last night I was able to zip up a skirt without any problem. I did not have suck anything in! I still not have a six pack, but the keg is getting smaller. I just really like the way I feel after I work out.

Martha is looking for some quick easy meal ideas so here is one for you. I make Swiss steak in the crock pot. All you have to do is put in some thin cut bottom round steak, a jar of spaghetti sauce and cook it on low all day. Then I make up some mashed potatoes and serve the meat and sauce over the potatoes. Just a side note. If you forget to pull the meat out the freezer all you have to do is break the chunk up until it fits in the crock pot and it will still be done on time. Yes, I do cook meat for my family.

This morning Rusty was sitting outside smoking a cigarette and drink an energy when I...... Well I stuck my hand up his shorts. He said just what are you doing? I said well I just wanted to make sure everything was still there since I have not seen it in a while. I got the dirtiest look from him! LOL

I hope everyone has a great day

 

 

something to think about

So I was just looking at this thing on aol and it was the cars of the richest people. Can you believe that Warren Buffett drives a town car?

My always said that the rich people are the ones who have more money then what they show.

Anyway, my journal was not working yesterday, but now it is!

Rusty took Amber to get her driving permit today, so that should be an adventure. I guess that means that we have to let her start driving? ohhh that is a scary thought.

Elle came in yesterday and it was so nice to see her. I just love seeing old friends. We have nothing exciting planned for this visit, but hanging out is just fine with me.

OH! I got picked as a journal of the week. I think that is what it is anyway. I am so jazzed that people actually like my journal. I just write about my crazy life and hope that someone else can relate.

I did finish the quilt that I was working on. I do not like it. It was the first quilt I ever did using all diamonds, so maybe it is o.k. I will have to take some pictures for you guys.

I am going to go try to work on one of those tie pillows!

have a great day....OH and happy hump day.

so sorry

I must say that I am sorry to my husband. I hurt his feeling by what I wrote yesterday.

Rusty does not want me to work if we do not need the money.

Rusty does also feel trapped and frustrated as well. I was so wrong not to really ask Rusty how he was feeling. So we talked today.

I am so selfish to not think of him. Rusty's only son will never do the things that a "normal" son and father do. Rusty will go on a boy scouting trip with Ryan, he will never watch him play football, or watch him get married. He will never watch Ryan chase his dream. How hard that must be Rusty.

Please do not think that I slamming Rusty. I love him more then anyone knows. I should have asked Rusty what he was really feeling, and not just assuming.

With all of that said.

I got our bedroom and bathroom scrubbed down, so now I am going to go finish so sewing.

Elle is coming in tomorrow so I am so happy. I can't wait to see her. There is never a dull moment when she is around.

Oh and I promise to do my 15 minutes of de cluttering.

a little break

I got together with some ladies today and we had a spa cafe. It was nice and different. Now I am back in the real world.

O.K. I got the quilt top done and all of the pieces pinned together so now I just have to sew it.

I am trying to use up some of my material since I seem to have a lot of it. Anyway I found some stuff to make two baby blankets, so I will get them done. I think I am going to give them away.

That is about all I have done today. Can you believe that I have done nothing productive.

Oh. This guy I use to work with called me and asked me if I would be interested in coming to work for him. This guy use to work for my boss, but now he wants to go out on his own and he wants me to run his office staff. I told him to give me a call and that we would talk more. He did offer me $15 an hour.

When I told Rusty about this, he was not to happy. He said well then who is going to be here with Ryan all day? HMMMM oh that's right. That person would be you.  I kinda want this job so that I can just get out of the house.

I need to get moving and start getting some stuff done around here. I think I am going to take Martha up on her challenge to de clutter for 15 a day. Lets start with my husbands stuff! LOL

 

busy but good day

First of all I need to send out a big congrats to our friend Sonja for being selected for SSgt!  Way to go, we are so proud of you.

This morning we went to a tile sidewalk sale. We SCORED some tile for the bathroom. We got Italian marble! Can you believe that we only paid $50 for all the tile we need to do the bathroom! How much we paid for the tile will be our little secret, I want people to think that we rich! LOL

One of our friends is a long haul truck driver. Well he called today to let us know that he was coming through, so we met him for lunch. It was so nice to see him. I just wish that his wife would have been with him. Anyway, we had good friends and good so what more can you ask for.

I talked to my mom today. She said that she had pulled out all of my ties and was going too send them to me. Oh let me explain why. I take men's ties and sew them together to make some funky looking throw pillows. So anyway, I told my mom cool and that I would make some pillows out of them. Then my mom said well you know you should make Kailey one too. She would really like that. Wait one minute. My mom is very good sewer and I know that she can sew straight lines, so why is she asking me to do it? First I was her roofer and now I am her sewer?

As of yet I have not decided if I am going to make one for Kailey. I suppose I should take the high ground and the better person, but I do not know if I want to. The I am reminded of what Ceasers ( is that how you spell his name?) wife said. She once said " be above reproach". If I make the pillow then my family can say nothing. If I do not the pillow they can say a lot. HMMMM

The girls have a party to go to tonight, so it will be a late night for them. I think I am going to make Rusty pick them up, so that I do not have to be out so late.

I hope everyone had a great day!

OH everyone should check out this link. It is really cool.

http://www.pcsuccess.us/yrg/farewell.html

 

one of my marines

I know it is a little hard to see, but our friend Kevin this the fourth from the left. God Bless our troops

giving

Years ago, and I do mean years ago, my dad came across a family that had nothing. The parents worked and did the best that they could, but their little girl was in need of some stuff. My dad would often buy her clothes, or a bike for Christmas, and even would give the family food. I was never allowed to meet this family, I just over heard conversations about the family.

Was my dad a good man because he gave to help the poor? I think he was. However my dad never to church, so does that make him a bad man?

To this day no matter how little we have I will always give.... in some way. I believe in giving to those that need help.

Last year my girlfriend and I got three complete turkeys dinner and then a few days before Thanksgiving we went to a poor area of town. We went into the store and found three people that looked like they could use a break. One lady broke my heart. She had a few children, and she was caring for mother. Her mother told her to go to the store that the Lord would provide. Her mother was right.

This year I have spent my t.v. time knitting scarfs. I am going to mail the to the battered women's shelter in my home town. I give old towels and rugs to the local animal shelter. There are so many ways that we can all give.

I do believe that I am a richer person for giving. No matter how much food I give away, I still have plenty.

I just wanted to share.

I cleaned

 O.K. I took Marthas challenge and I clean out a kitchen drawer today. That was so nasty!

First of all, we cannot put anything use full in our kitchen drawers because they are so small. I am telling you this kitchen was designed by a man.

I found 5 true silver spoons. Which I then had to polish. Rusty and I have no idea where they came from.

I found some melted birthday candles, broken chop sticks, nasty band aids, and some change!

Oh and I found a lot of the screw drivers that Rusty was missing   ooops!

There is one item that Rusty said I had to keep. It is a bottle opener with a picture of the pope on it. Where did that come from? LOL

Back to sewing.

taking a break

Now that is my idea of a kitty!

O.K. I got the new filter put on the vacuum, got the living room and kitchen cleaned, so now I can take a break.

yesterday Lisa sent me an e mail and said that she wished she was as strong as me. Well here is how got to be strong, and I hope you never have to be like me.

I married a man who never took care me and beat the girls. I would work two job, and steal what ever I needed to fill in the gaps. I have also been homeless with the girls.

I have known Rusty for over 17 years, and one day I called him and I was in tears. I was broke and homeless again. Rusty took the girls and I in. He never asked any questions, because he knew my ex. He never asked me for money..... he never asked me for anything.

Now my life has turned around and I could not ask for a better man. Rusty was my life preserver when I was going under. I learned real quick to be tuff, bold and to do what ever I needed to do.

I do not let people walk all over me, and I am very guarded when it comes to letting people get close to me.

So now on to what is new here.

There is this one girl who has been "picking" on Nikki. I do not usually step in when the girls get into a fight, but I think I am going to have to step in soon.

This girl is the same girls that egged our house and cars, this is the same girl we saw smoking crack while on her way to school! The last thing I am going to let Nikki do is fight someone who is high on crack.

I feel like I should be doing something productive right now, but I just cannot figure out what that should be! LOL

I hope everyone has a great day.

shhhhh

There is no noise right now, except for me banging on the keyboard. Nikki got of school early today, so she is taking a nap, Ryan is playing and Rusty is gone. I cannot believe the house is so still.

Anyway I am so made at my iron! I was pressing a seam open on the quilt and all of a sudden the iron burped and it left some rusty looking water on the quilt top! I so hope that it comes off. Otherwise I am going to be pissed off.

I had to go to the store today and buy Nikki some medicine and let me tell you it was not cheap! Then I bought a new filter for the vacuum. I am hoping the new filter will help a little bit.

I talked to my mom today. She is back at work and doing good. She mentioned that her summer house need a new roof ( only a small section of it) Anyway she was talking with one of her friends about it and her friend said that it would be cheaper to fly me back to Chicago and let me do it then for her to pay someone!

What the hell am I? A roofer? I think not. Also next week will be the last time the yard guy will be coming to my moms house. I am glad that we were able to do her out by paying for the yard guy.

Any way I bought some new yarn and general hospital will be on in a few so I am going to go chill for a little while.

have I ever mentioned

Have I ever mentioned that I hate meat? So then what do you think happened today? Rusty gets a good deal on meat, fills the freezer with beef, and says well there is dinner for the next month! Great, looks like everyday I will have to go buy something to eat!

I had to take the girls to the doctors today. Yes, Amber does have a sinus infection. As for Nikki..well her asthma is back! We have not had an issue with it in 11 years and now here we go again.

This morning I told Rusty that my boob itches and that I think he should suck on it to make it feel better. So he did. Then a little while later he says my dick itches. I did not cure him! LOL I told him that only works for me and he will have to come up with something original.

That about sum's up my day. Non stop running, but hey at least I got dressed and did my hair today.

I am so happy

 I am not a big t.v. person, but I do watch the amazing race and it started last night! I told Rusty that I want to run the amazing race with him. He said no that we would kill each other! So then I found this young 18 year old marine who said that he would run the race with me, but he said that he would do all the cool stuff. OH I THINK NOT! LOL

Can you believe that I did nothing productive yesterday? I just could not bring myself to do anything.

Today however I do have a lot of stuff to get done. So I will write more later.

shopping with girls

Well today I took Nikki and one of Ambers friends shopping. We hit a couple of thrift store and scored some good stuff. I even found good jeans for our son.

People must think that we are loaded because I don't think the girls wear the same thing twice. LOL We get so many good deals!

Can you believe that shopping took up most of the day?

After we got back from shopping I had to take Amber and her friend to work. Then another friend called and asked me bring him a pack of smokes, so I did.

I have done nothing productive today.

Nikki must not be mad at me anymore since she was speaking to me this morning. Teenagers! LOL

I just glanced up at the desk and there in the frame is a picture of Rusty and his dad. Rusty had just graduated from boot camp.

I miss Rusty's dad. I had awesome in laws and I do miss them.

Anyway, back to reality. Oh that's right there is nothing going on in reality, so I will chat with everyone later.

teenagers

A few years back we had issues with Amber and her sneaking around, and doing things that she should not do. I am so glad that we made it through that stage.

Now it is Nikkis turn. She is 14 going on 21. Nikki wanted to go to this football game tonight, but I told her no because she wants to meet this boy there and I don't think she should be going to the game anyway. Then nikki says that she is going to go to a friends house instead. So I said o.k. have her mother call me. This mom calls me and I discover that they are going to the same football game that I told Nikki she could not go to. She was so busted! LOL

So now she is in her room playing her music as loud as it will go. That's cool because our room is at the other end of the house.

I went to wal mart and got some new blades for my cutter. So maybe tomorrow I can work on the quilt top some more. This is by far the most detailed quilt that I have done.

Check this out. If you go on e bay and search the category others you can find coffins, urns, and other stuff. This morning I found someone selling just some handle to a casket. Now think about that. Handles? well whose casket did they come from?

O.K. I need to get a life and stop searching e bay for odd things! LOL I am off to take a nice warm bath. OH can you believe that it has been cold here. We are finally down in the 70's!

help please

How do I make my name come up as a link?

will someone please

Will someone please give me a life! I told Rusty today that I am going to scream if I have to spend one more in this house. I have not gotten dressed or done my hair all week. I have done nothing but sit around this house.

So Rusty is like well what do you want to do? I want to go hiking or go explore a new place. I want to get out in the fresh air and do something.

Then Rusty says well we will have to wait for the girls to get home so they can watch Ryan. Well I can't wait until the girls get home because then Amber has to go to work and Nikki will have something to do.

I guess I should explain. We have a handicap son. So we are very limited on what we can do unless we have a sitter for him.

I must be a bad mom because I suggested that we start looking for someone to come in a few days a week and care for him just so that we can go do something.

Everytime I suggest we do something they question comes up, then what will we do Ryan. So we never do anything.

o.k. Rusty gets to do stuff. He went out and watched football with the guys or he will go do whatever. Guess who is left at home?

I guess I am being selfish because I want to start living my life instead of being tied down....forever.

Rusty got to travel the world and do cool shit while he was in the service. When will it be my turn to do cool shit?

Oh forget it. I guess I am the only mom in the world that wants someone else to watch their handicap child so they can have a life.

we are a sick family

Well as you can guess from the picture. I started my cycle. Perfect ending to perfect day! LOL Actually my day has not been that bad.

I got the hard part of the quil finished today. So that is a good thing.

One of our friend brought up some stuff to store in our garage and one of the items that he stored was an abe lounge. So Amber and I got it out of the box and now I am using it! I have a six pack, the six pack is just hidden under the pony keg.

Rusty and I decided to give away some of his mothers formal dresses. So I advertised " free plus size dress to any military wife" then I went on to discribe the dress. This GUY answered the add and was asking a lot of questions about the dress and then asked what I wlooked like. So I discribed the dress and then told him that I was 5'4" abd 120 pounds! Guys can be such freaks.

This afternoon we had a lot of sales people calling. Amber just loves talking to these people. Here is how one conversation went

Hello

hold on...BILLY get in here if you drop that on your sister I am gunna whip you

o.k. what were you saying oh hold on BILLY bring me my belt what did I tell you. Dont you dare bite the dog.

Sales person hung up.

This is Ambers new favorite past time! LOL

Rusty read the comments that everyone left about my mom. He said that there was not much grey area there! It said it reminded him of that movie Good morning Vietnam!

For some reason my spell check is not working. So please excuse my spelling it sucks!

 

why am I awake?

I have no idea why I woke up at 4:22 a.m., but here I sit.

I did get my sewing machine to work, howevewr I think it is on its last leg. I did mention that if Santa wanted to bring me a new sewing machine that I would not bitch to much!

Sex. Well after I got into the bed last night I got me some! LOL As soon as I hit the bed I was like hmmmm. I must admit that sex is so good when you have not had it in a while!

Should I be doing something productive? But what can I do if everyone else is sleeping? I guess I will go start the laundry.

We must get the bathroom finished today. We just need to put up the vent covers and hang the mirror. Tile is still away out there.

So last night I mentiioned to Rusty tht I had talked to my mom. She said that she did o.k. on her first day back at work. However she did say that Kailey is not dealing well with her grandpas passing. Good. I had wished that upon her. When my mom asked how the girls were doing and I told her that they were doing good, she then said well that is because they are not here dealing with it. What kind of comment is that?

My mom also told me that if I want to go to Mexico and help spread some of my dad ashes to please let her know. I was also told that kailey would not be there. Rusty thinks that I should go. I do not want to go. I do not feel the need to go scatter my dads ashes.

Rusty kept saying that I should go. So finally I asked him how it felt to last BOTH of his parents to last year. He said that it felt like crap. So I asked him why he thinks I should go to Mexico just to feel like crap?

I did get on line and look at air fare, but I am not going to go.

I think I am going to try to go back to bed and to get some sleep.

feeling better

 So I have finally found some time to sew and my bloomimg machine keep jamming! I need to take it apart and look at it. What I really need is to get this quilt finished so that I can start on Christmas quilts!

Rusty and I got some yard work done today and it looks so much better. I swear it has been so hot most of the summer, so we have not been able to do much.

Last night I got my 1/1000 part of the garage cleaned out. I just love having my wash area clean. O.K. lets face it I do not actually clean. If does not belong to me and no one claimed it then I just threw it away.

Well my eyes and teeth are still in my head which is a good thing. I am still not in the mood for sex and that is all that is new here.

where was I?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJK7qiKOwss&NR

Where was I on September 11, 2001?

Well my story actually starts a few days earlier. My mother and fater in law had just moved in with us. They were moving back to the United States, see they had lived in Middle East for 20 years.

Rusty had to the field and was going to be gone for a week.

It was just another day here. I was up trying to get the children ready for school. My father in law ( rick) was playing a computer game.

That was a good day for me because the children were actually ready early and I allowed them to watch t.v. before they went to school.

Then the phone rang. Rick looked at the caller i.d. and said that it was someone named McMahan. I knew something was wrong, because my mom never calls me early in the morning. So I told Rick to answer the phone.

When I got on the phone my mom asked me if I had the t.v. on. I told her yes that the children were watching cartoons. My mom told me to turn on the news because the world trade center had just been bombed. America was under attack.

Rick and I were fighting over the remote trying to get the other t.v. on. All I could do was stand there in shock. All Rick did was yell those damn rag heads.

Then it hit me. Was Rusty coming back from the field or was he going to be deployed right away? We did not know.

I had to get myself together because I had children to take to school. So off to school they went. Life must go on.

When I got back from dropping the children off the Pentigon had been bombed. I could not believe all of this was happening. We live in America. The great melting pot of the world. This is America.

A few hours later Amber calls me from school and she was crying. She said that the school kept showing the news. Rick went and got Amber from school.

Life marched on. I was not going to allow those ass holes to stop my life. Rusty did come home later that week, but was deployed two months later to Iraq.

If it was not for all of this I would have missed the oppertunity to help a friend out. If it was not for all ofthis I would never would have started volunteering to help other military families in need. I also would have missed the oppertunity to get to know my in laws before they died.

I will say this. People in America say if this happens again.... They are wrong. It is not if it is when. When people say "God bless America" They need to remember that God HAS blessed America.

I do not need to see pictures of the twin towers to remind me of what happend. I just need to look around an empty house. All of our friends are in Iraq right now. I KNOW why they are there.

I am going to explode

I went to bed last night feeling like crap. I got up this morning feeling like crap.

I finally went to the doctors. The nurse hand me this piece of paper to fill out and one of the question said what is your complaint. So I wrote: My teeth and eyes are going to pop out of my head.

The nurse laughed and told me that I was not going to explode. Anyway the whole left side of my face is infected. If there is something there, then it is infected.

So off I go to get the perscription filled. The first place I went told me that I could pick up the perscription tomorrw. OH I so do not think so. The next place I went to was closed. Finally the third place I went was open!

I am going to go sit and do nothing. I so hope that hubby does not want sex tonight. He may being having it alone.