"rainy day.............."

Fall decorating, cooking (sorta), and spending the day with my boy............. So the kids don't have school today. I took the day off to take them to the pumpkin patch. POURING down rain. Ummmm.......pumpkin patch didn't happen. Nicole stayed at a friends house last night, so it was just me and my boy today. Got up, made him breakfast. Had planned on running errands (bank etc). To rainy and ugly to leave. So I decided to decorate a little for fall/halloween. (obviously, these pics are NOT my house, just cool pics that I found on the internet, I wish...)Made homemade guacamole (recipe to follow) and homemade granola.

Guacamole was excellent. Made it in time for LeRoy to try it when he came home for lunch.

Granola didn't fair so well. It was almost done and I wanted it to be a little bit crunchier. So I put it on broil and set the timer for 3 minutes. Got busy doing other things and didn't keep an eye on it. HOLY SMOKE. Literally. Opened up oven and entire house was full of smoke. I told Tyler to open up the garage door and be ready for fire alarm to go off. BEEP, BEEP,BEEP! I opened sliding glass door and took my charred granola out. Opened up all the windows and turned on stove fan. Not good. Was smelly. And I don't have my granola. boo.

Tonight I'm going to drive the girls to the varsity football game in Cresent Valley. I don't want to sit in the rain so I will kill a few hours in Corvallis before I pick them up. (nice mom!) guess I'm goin by myself. No takers to go with me..... :(

Tomorrow I have a funeral and a bridal shower to go to.

I want to go on a date with my husband tomorrow night.

Sunday is cleaning day and I need to go to the grocery store........

I guess this answers my question of "where did the weekend go?"

*Guacamole*

3 coarsly mashed avocados

1/2 c diced (seeded) tomato

1/4 c sliced scallions
3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp salt (or to taste) I like Kosher salt

1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce (tobasco)

Mix all together. Serve or cover surface directly with plastic wrap (to prevent from turning brown, important step) and refrigerate up to 4 hrs.

Serve with tortilla chips. (make approx. 3 cups)

I double recipe cause it's SO good...................

"i need a vacation........."

so I can get caught up on my blogging!!! (and laundry, housework, cooking, bills, paperwork etc)
I still need to post about......
my boy's 10th birthday. This pic was on his big day at school. ........the dress (prom season approaching) (of course I BOUGHT IT!) crap....girls are expensive

Nicole's best "Taylor" impression from the Rachel Zoe Project. (If you don't watch the show, just forget it. lol) My daughter makes me laugh. Out loud. Really hard.

I'm still tweaking my haircut a little. DON"T want it to look like an a-line. Texturized it a little more today. Work in progress........(only had one "person" tell me it made me look old) oh, I punched her in the face. just kidding...............................................................................

Yachats Weekend.
This really is my glass of wine on the balcony. Have so many great pics to post.......

This past week was crazy, out of control.......

Volleyball tournament in Canby, Nicole's been sick, I've been sick, I layed on couch all day yesterday with the worst migraine of my life, work, school, swimming, did I say volleyball? Will be glad to see the season end. Basketball starts up right before it ends...............I need this glass of wine......................

"i witnessed the secret handshake..."

My boy is getting so big and growing up.
I dropped him off at school this morning and as usual I always wait to make sure he goes thru the gate of the playground before I drive away.
We were a little earlier than usual so their weren't very many kids on the playground. So I see Tyler head toward one of his friends.
I'm so glad I stayed for a minute.
I'm not even sure if they boys spoke but they did a cool, complicated handshake that had obviously been practiced. And then separated to go talk to their other friends. So cute. Like a secret "hey, dude, what's up" type of handshake. Love it.............

"here's the new do!!"

I told you I was committed! LOVE IT. Teresa rocked it out. But who gets their hair cut at 7:30 pm on a Sunday night? Oh, hairstylists that don't have time to do it any other time!!
Thanks SO much Teresa for being such a great friend and hairstylist! Love ya..............

"crockpot chili and a new do....."

This recipe is actually "soup mix in a jar", but bottom line is.....it's chili. SO GOOD. I made it in my crockpot. I made up about 6 jars of the dry ingredients so all I had to do was add the browned meat and tomatoes and sauce. Tyler and I made it a project and went to the store and bought the dried beans, etc and he read the recipe and measured and dumped into the jars. So fun. Then I made little tags for each jar so I have the directions.On busy weekday mornings I can just throw it all in the crockpot and I have yummy, bubbly chili ready when I walk in the door. Add cheese to make it even more yummy.
"Chili in a Jar"
1/2 c. dried red kidney beans
1/2 c. dried navy beans
1/2 c. dried black beans
1/3 c. minced dried onions (seems like a lot, but it's perfect)
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp. dried parley flakes
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. each salt & pepper
1/2 tsp. dried minced garlic
Layer in jars. (or put in crockpot)
Brown and drain 1 lb. ground beef. Add 6 cups water. Ground beef to crockpot. Add 16oz can tomatoes. 1 small can tomato paste (6 oz). Cover and cook 9 hours on low. ok. Friday was thinkin' I'm ready to cut my hair. Was going to do it after work but took 2 more haircut appts and ran out of time. Just talked to Teresa. She told me to meet her down at the salon in 15 minutes. Crap. Now I'm commited. Hopefully I love it. Oh, well.....it's only hair!

Will post tomorrow with my new do...........................

"life..................."

"muffins, quilts and the lost shoe"

This is a very random post. But I am random sometimes, so it works!
I took a quilting class about 8 years ago with my sister Donna. I made this pumpkin quilt and have had the top done for, ummmmm, about 8 years. I forgot (and don't have the time or patience) how to sew the borders, finish the backing and machine quilt it.
I just like to make the quilt tops.
And when I garden I don't like to weed, just plant the flowers.
And I don't like to make cupcakes or cookies but just like to decorate them. So I guess it fits my personality.
So last year I BEGGED my mom to finish it for me. We went to the fabric store and picked it all out. Then my grandma got sick and my mom spent a lot of time taking care of her.
So this year I overheard her saying she was going to sew something for my sister so I didn't let that one go. I called her (and begged again) for her to dig out my quilt and please, please, please finish it. She finished it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy, happy day. I LOVE IT. SO MUCH. Makes me SO happy. Thanks mom!!! It looks great. Means more to me than you know. Doesn't take much to make me happy. I have been using it every single day. And it's fall so it's perfect.........................

So here is another random post about my shoe.

I wore these to work on Friday. After work I had some errands to run and luckily I had a pair of flip-flops in my car. My feet thanked me for that. So these shoes were left in the car (drives my hubs crazy if ANYTHING is left in the car). Saturday morning Nicole had a volleyball tourney in Portland and they had to be at the high school at 5:45 am. yikes that's early.

So later in the morning I went out to my car to look for an umbrella cause we were headed to Jessie's wedding later and I didn't know if it would rain. So I was going to take my shoes in the house so I didn't "get in trouble" from hubs for leaving my shoes in the car. lol.

There was only 1 shoe. I looked under the car. Under the seat. No pair. Just one lonely shoe.

So I thought "crap, Nicole got out of the car this morning early in the pitch dark at the high school". My shoe must have gotten kicked out in the parking lot. I was leaving in about an hour to go pick up Kam for the wedding. So Tyler and I pick her up and tell her the story and that we are going to run by the high school in hopes the poor, lonely shoe is still there.

We pull in the parking lot and don't see the shoe. Dang. I liked those shoes. Oh well, it's just a shoe.

Until we get closer and it is gloriously perched (yes, this is exactly how we found it!!) on this pole. In the high school parking lot. Just waiting for me. We were hysterical laughing in the car. I had to take a pic and share this story. What are the chances?? Thanks to whom-ever saved my shoe. Here it is in all it's glory. (I texted hubs at work before I went to the school to look for it and his response was "well why were your shoes left in the car in the 1st place". whatever...............

So everyone knows I HATE TO BAKE. I don't know why. I love to cook and spend hours in the kitchen, but baking is not my thing. I will make homemade from scratch applesauce, tortilla chips, granola, spaghetti sauce, soup, etc. but don't like to bake.

But..............................................I found an awesome, healthy muffin recipe that only makes 1 dozen. So only one time in the oven and I'm done. My kids LOVED them. So did I. So yummy I had to share! (great texture too)

Oat Bran Muffins

2 c Quaker Oat Bran hot cereal, uncooked

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c. skim milk

2 egg whites, slightly beaten

1/4 c. honey

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

cinnamon

1 med. mashed ripe banana

Heat oven to 425. Line 12 muffin cups with paper baking cups or spray bottoms only with no-stick cooking spray. Combine dry ingred: mix well. Mash banana in separate bowl. Combine milk, egg whites, honey and oil. Mix just until dry ingred. are moistened. Add banana. (seems really runny, but that's fine). Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 15-17 min or until golden brown. (2 weight watchers points). Enjoy!

"jessie's wedding"

Today little miss jessie got married!
Such a beautiful bride. venue. decor. Best reception I have ever been too. She is a talented young lady. Only have a few pics from my phone. Once she posts hers I will "borrow" them. So happy and in love. Congrats on a fabulous day...............
Mrs. Jessie Brown Stole this pic from Amy's facebook but need to resize it~! Me and Kam.Tables and decor were awesome. So personal. Pretty colors. Simple. I want to have a wedding again just for the reception.

My boys was my "date". So handsome. And charming. Was nice spending the day with him :)

This is my outfit. Got this cute dress at Kohl's. Vera wang. Loved it. Comfy and cute.